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Pakistanis can travel to US with non-MRPs

ISLAMABAD: The United States Embassy in Islamabad on Monday said Pakistan was not a visa-waiver country and Pakistani travellers could continue to use non-machine readable passports with valid US visas, as the June 26, 2005, machine-readable passport requirement applied only to citizens of US visa wavier programme countries.

Following new rules being implemented by the US Department of Homeland Security, all travellers from countries under the Visa Waiver Programme must carry a machine-readable passport.

The rule was enforced in October 2004 but to facilitate travellers, the Department’s Customs and Border Protection Bureau had given officials at ports of entry the discretionary authority to grant one-time exemptions on a case-by-case basis to Visa Waiver Programme Travelers without a visa or a machine-readable passport.

However, the Department of Homeland Security will end this exemption policy and begin full enforcement of machine-readable passport requirements on June 26, 2005. The embassy said the nationals of Visa Waiver Programme countries might visit the US for up to 90 days to conduct business or tourism without a visa. “The requirements regarding machine-readable passports are not intended to discourage Visa Waiver Programme nationals from travelling to the US. Rather, this is the next step in increasing security at US Ports of Entry.” staff report

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