JEDDAH, 2 April 2006 — From Oct. 26 this year British citizens, who currently do not need a visa to enter the US, will need visas unless they have biometric passports.

The new kind of passport to be issued in the Kingdom by the British Embassy in Riyadh was scheduled to start last month at a charge of SR610 (£91) for adults and SR410 (£59) for children. Initially available only in the standard 32-page format, the new style passport contains a chip with the passport holder’s information loaded on it. This will enable the document to be machine read.

“At this stage,” a statement from the embassy said, “passports will be issued without using iris scanning and fingerprinting. This requirement will be initialized at a later date. Passports issued under the new biometric system will be valid for visa-free travel to the US under the current waiver agreement.”

There was no information as to whether any charge would be made for the upgrade. Biometric passport or standard, the visa waiver agreement runs out on Oct. 26. However, the waiver may, subject to agreement from the US authorities, be extended.

Biometric profiling is an automated process that verifies an individual’s identity based on his or her physical characteristics. Examples of biometric technology include machines that recognize facial features, fingerprints and iris patterns.

The first biometric passports will contain information that appears on the information page of the current machine-readable passport plus biometrics based on facial features, derived from specially taken photos.

The machinery for the process of upgrading the biometric information on the chip with iris scans and fingerprints is available only in Riyadh.

The UK Passport Service (UKPS) says that the chip included in the new style passport stores the passport holder’s digital photo and signature. “Other personal details printed on the passport bio-data page is also be stored on the chip. The chip complements the security features currently inherent in the machine readable zone of the passport. The machine readable zone is needed to ensure immigration desks can continue to use existing readers.”

The reason for introducing the new passport, says the UKPS, is that “the technology is eminently suitable for border-control checking. It enables immigration officers to produce an image of the passport holder for checking the authenticity of the document against the person.”

The UKPS is still considering a secondary biometric in a later version of the passport. Precisely how much information about passport holders that will contain has not been released.

Although asked to comment on the reasons behind the new requirements for biometric passports and detail the procedures, no information had been received by the time of going to press. However, according to the US government visa website, www.travel.state.gov/visa, since Oct. 26, 2004, “visa waiver travelers from all 27 Visa Waiver Program countries (of which the UK is one) must present either a machine-readable passport or a biometric passport at the US port of entry to enter the US without a visa.”

The machine-readable passports are those that have a bar code but no chip. The website confirms that there are no further requirements for machine-readable passports issued before Oct. 26, 2005. However, “machine-readable passports issued between Oct. 26, 2005 and Oct. 25, 2006 require digital photographs printed on the data page or integrated chip with information from the data page.” And “machine-readable passports issued on or after Oct. 26, 2006 require an integrated chip with information from the data page (e-passport).” The information appears at best confusing and even contradictory.