Important Notice for Irish Citizens intending to travel to the U.S. from 26 th October 2004
From 26 th October 2004 , all Irish passport holders visiting the United States will require an individual machine readable passport to avail of the U.S. Visa Waiver Programme. Under the U.S. Visa Waiver Programme, passport holders from 27 countries, including Ireland , may enter the U.S. without visa for general business or tourist purposes for a maximum of 90 days. Otherwise passport holders must obtain a visa, in advance, from their nearest U.S. Diplomatic or Consular Mission.
Children, including infants, who are endorsed on a parent's passport must have an individual machine readable passport or else obtain a visa in the parent's passport.
Details are available on the U.S. Embassy website http://dublin.usembassy.gov/ireland/mrpassports.html
Are you affected by this change?
Most passports issued by the Passport Offices in Dublin and Cork and the Irish Embassy in London, representing over 90% of all passports in circulation, are machine readable and holders of such passports are unaffected by the new U.S. requirements. However if you hold a hand-written passport or are a minor endorsed on a parent's passport, you will be affected by this change in policy if you intend to visit the United States after 26 October 2004.
If you are in any doubt as to whether or not your passport is machine readable, you may contact the Passport Office in Dublin or Cork or your nearest Irish Embassy or Consulate.
Irish citizens abroad who do not envisage travelling to the U.S. in the near future need not apply for a machine readable passport at this stage and may continue to use a hand written passport issued by their local Irish Mission for entry to other countries, subject to existing visa requirements. They can apply for a machine readable passport at a later time if they wish to travel to the U.S.
How to apply
Persons living abroad should apply to their nearest Irish Embassy or Consulate. The Passport Office has made arrangements with Irish Diplomatic and Consular Missions whereby passport applications made by citizens resident abroad who wish to obtain a machine readable passport will be forwarded by Missions to the Passport Office in Dublin which will issue machine readable passports to them. Irish citizens resident abroad should contact their local Irish Mission for details of these arrangements.
Please note:
If you require a machine readable passport and intend applying through an Irish Embassy or Consulate, we strongly recommend that you apply for this in good time . Applications could take 8-10 weeks to be processed (allowing for transit and processing in Dublin ). It would be advisable to allow for such a delay when considering when to apply.
Further information on matters is available on the Department of Foreign Affairs webside –
Consulate of Ireland
Bangkok, Thailand
October 2003
