<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/11/politics/11travel.html?th=&pagewanted=print&position=> The New York Times September 11, 2004 U.S. Acts to Notify Foreigners of Tougher Rules for Visits By RACHEL L. SWARNS ASHINGTON, Sept. 10 - Only three weeks before sweeping policy shifts begin affecting foreign visitors at American airports, officials say they are intensifying their efforts to inform travelers from more than 20 industrialized nations to prepare for tough new entry requirements. By the end of September, tourists from 27 nations, including Britain, Germany, Japan and Australia, will for the first time be photographed and fingerprinted on arrival. And beginning at the end of October, passengers from 22 countries, mostly in Europe, must carry machine-readable passports in order to visit without visas. Officials at the Department of Homeland Security plan to start advertising in newspapers in Britain and Australia later this month, informing travelers from those countries that airport inspectors here will start collecting digital fingerprints and photographs from them on Sept. 30. The officials, who have highlighted the new requirement in meetings with trade groups and journalists in London and Germany in recent months, also plan to attend a trade show in Hong Kong in coming weeks. On Wednesday, the State Department sent a cable to its consulates and embassies in the affected nations, encouraging consular officials to expand their efforts to inform travelers about the need to have machine-readable passports by Oct. 26. Consular officials have already been posting advisories on their Web sites and meeting with chambers of commerce, travel groups and news organizations, the department says. Tourists from Europe and other industrialized countries are not typically required to apply for visas to visit the United States, but they will have to do so if they do not have machine-readable passports by the Oct. 26 deadline. Officials at the Travel Industry Association of America, which represents the nation's largest airlines, hotels, cruise lines and car rental companies, say some people in Spain, Italy, France and Switzerland still lack such passports. Travel industry officials commend Homeland Security for its efforts but say the State Department is doing too little to inform travelers about the machine-readable policy. Rick Webster, director of government relations for the Travel Industry Association, said that without a concerted publicity campaign, some travelers might arrive at American airports without either the required passport or a visa. Starting next week, the industry group says, it will send hundreds of e-mail messages to travel associations, foreign journalists and others to advise them of the changes. Angela Aggeler, a spokeswoman for the State Department, said officials had been using various means, among them getting articles published in European newspapers, to spread word. The new policy that requires tourists from 27 industrialized nations to be fingerprinted and photographed affects travelers from 22 European countries and Brunei, Singapore, Japan, Australia and New Zealand who can currently travel to the United States for up to 90 days without a visa. Because students and other visitors from those nations who stay for more than three months are required to carry visas, they have already been subjected to these new security measures, which took effect for all visa carriers in January regardless of country of origin. The policy that requires travelers to carry machine-readable passports will now affect 22 of those 27 nations. The remaining five - Andorra, Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and San Marino - adopted the American standard in 2003. -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'