Visa Approved, But Wtf?

[aussiestyle1983]

My wife just got her US tourist visa approved today so we will wait to recieve it in the mail to see how long it is for.

But now I need a visa as well..........................<deleted>?

Yes, I have a valid green card but I've been out of the US for over 1 year so its been cancelled, so they say.

Yes, I am an Aussie citizen and I qualify for the visa waiver programme, but I do not have the new e-passport and my current australian passport (M series only 2 years old) can not be used to enter as a visa waiver, as of October 2006.

So now I must apply for a tourist visa myslef to enter the USA, Hahaha! Mai pen rai!

I could get a new Aussie passport, but that will require afew more days of work and alittle extra cash, so I will just go for the US visa. If refused, I will just get a new passport (e-passport) and enter as a visa waiver.

Now for more waiting.....................

[aussiestyle1983]

What do I need to enter the United States under the VWP?

To request entry into the United States under the Visa Waiver Program, travelers must meet the requirements listed in Which travelers may use the Visa Waiver Program to enter the United States? Each VWP traveler must present his/her own valid machine-readable passport. See What do I need to know about VWP machine-readable passport (MRP) and e-Passport? and What is a machine-readable passport (MRP)? What is an e-Passport? for additional details. In addition to their passport, VWP travelers must also present a completed and signed I-94W Nonimmigrant Visa Waiver Arrival-Departure Record to U.S. officials at the port of entry. I-94W forms are free and often provided by travel agents, airlines or cruise ships prior to arrival, but may be picked up and completed on arrival at the U.S. port of entry. Travelers may also be asked to provide evidence of onward travel or other documentation on the purpose of their stay in the United States. Travelers entering through land ports of entry must pay a small land border fee as prescribed in 8 CFR 103.7((1).

What do I need to know about VWP machine-readable passport (MRP) and e-Passport requirements?

You need to know about important changes in passport and e-Passport requirements for travelers who are nationals of Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries applying for admission to the United States. Depending on when VWP travelers' passports were issued, the following passport requirements apply:

Machine-readable passports issued or renewed/extended on or after 10/26/06 – requires integrated chip with information from the data page (e-Passport).

Machine-readable passports issued or renewed/extended between 10/26/05 and 10/25/06 – requires digital photograph printed on the data page or integrated chip with information from the data page.

Machine-readable passports issued or renewed/extended before 10/26/05 – no further requirements.

Please refer to the Visa Waiver Program Traveler Guide on the U.S. CBP website for additional details on this program.

If you are a traveler from a VWP country and your passport does not meet these requirements, you may want to consider obtaining a new VWP-compliant passport from the passport issuing authority in your country of citizenship. Otherwise you cannot travel on VWP and you must obtain a visa in your valid passport for entry into the United States.

What is a machine-readable passport? What is an e-Passport (or biometric passport)?

A machine-readable passport has certain biographical data entered on the data page in accordance with standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Doc 9303, Part 1 Machine-Readable Passports. These standards address issues like the size of the passport and photograph, arrangement of data fields, and the two lines of printed machine-readable data that appear at the bottom of the page. Machine-readable passports can be read by scanning the two lines of printed data through special readers. Below is an example of how the biographical data page in a machine-readable passport might look:

Travelers should contact their country’s passport issuing agency or authority if they have any doubts related to whether their passport is machine-readable.

An e-Passport incorporates data related to an individual’s identity; current ICAO guidelines call for e-Passports to include facial recognition data. The contours of individuals’ faces are digitally mapped and stored on the chip so that a comparison of facial data for the bearer of the passport and the facial data of the person to whom the passport was issued can be made. You can readily identify an e-Passport, because it has a unique international symbol on the cover.

What should I know about machine-readable passports and family travel?

Families seeking to enter the United States under the VWP need to obtain an individual machine-readable passport for each traveler, including infants. Machine-readable passports typically have biographic data for only one traveler in the machine-readable zone. Because of the October 26, 2004 requirement that passport data be presented in machine-readable format, children included in family or parents’ passports may be denied visa-free entry into the United States since only the primary traveler’s biographic data is included in the machine-readable zone of the passport.

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After reading that, it conflicts with various other scources of infor which are as follows (keeping in mind that my current Australian passport is an M series passport, machine readable (not e-passport, but yes, it is machine readable) issued in march 2004)

The Passport officer at the Oz embassy told me I will need a US visa or I need to abtain a new e-passport because my current passport does not meet the US requirements.

The e-mail i recieved today from the vice-consul general at the Oz embassy said I will have no-problems with my current passport.

The e-mail I recieved from DFAT passport office in australia told me to contact the US embassy and ask them.

The visa officer at the US embassy we saw today when my wife was interviewed said he didnt know about aussie passports and I will need to contact the Oz embassy (which is why we went there after leaving the Us embassy) He also just told me to get a US visa to be safe.

Now my headache has grown.................... I just purschased the online pin to apply for the US visa but according to the info from the US embassy website about passport which I posted above, my passport should be ok. What to do?

[sohb]

The visa officer at the US embassy we saw today when my wife was interviewed said he didnt know about aussie passports and I will need to contact the Oz embassy (which is why we went there after leaving the Us embassy) He also just told me to get a US visa to be safe.

.-) They know how to police the world, but to answer silly questions about passports is to hard for them ... shocker.

[aussiestyle1983]

The visa officer at the US embassy we saw today when my wife was interviewed said he didnt know about aussie passports and I will need to contact the Oz embassy (which is why we went there after leaving the Us embassy) He also just told me to get a US visa to be safe.

.-) They know how to police the world, but to answer silly questions about passports is to hard for them ... shocker.

You couldn't be more correct!