British travellers are being warned to check their passports or face the risk of not being granted entry into the US after the introduction of tight immigration rules requiring travellers to have an electronic passport.
US lawmakers introduced the new rules at the start of last month requiring all travellers visiting the US to have a biometric, or e-passport. The move to tighten up security followed the San Bernardino shootings in December when 14 people were killed by Syed Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik.
Anyone without an e-passport is required to apply for a visa from the US embassy or consulate, a process that can take up to 72 hours. Thousands of travellers are unaware of the change and many have been forced to stay in the UK after arriving at the check-in desk.
Holidaymakers are angry that American authorities and the travel industry have not done more to alert travellers. Tour operators and airlines said that passengers were responsible for complying with passport and visa rules.
It is understood that the British passports affected are those issued between April and October 2006, before the introduction of the biometric passport. About six million passports are handed out each year so three million Britons could be caught out by the change.
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Biometric passports are identifiable by a universal symbol on the front which indicates the document has an electronic chip inside. US citizens travelling to the UK do not need an electronic passport.
Vic Ryan from Nottinghamshire was stopped from flying to Florida because he fell foul of the regulation.
He wrote in a Facebook post: “I [arrived] at the check-in desk to be advised that I would not be allowed to travel as I did not have a biometric passport whilst the rest of our family had them [and] despite calls to the USA from the lady on check in they would not permit travel.”
Will Day, a Briton living in the Cayman Islands, was unable to travel to the UK via the US for his father’s funeral because he did not have an e-passport.
A spokeswoman for the US Customers and Border Protection said it “encourages travellers to check their passports and their current [Electronic System for Travel Authorisation] status to make sure they are in compliance with the requirement”.