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Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 15:37:51 -0800
X-Mailer: Lotus Notes Release 5.0.11 July 24, 2002
[This post and some of the others regarding this topic have all
the necessary information, so please no more messages regarding
the passports. Thanks, the moderator]
Laurent
your passport is still fine after September 2003 but you are required to
have a visa in your passport for entry into the US. If you have a new
passport you will not have to have a visa for visits of up to 90 days to
the US (a.k.a. you will fall under the visa waiver rule). If you intend to
stay longer, work, study etc you will always have to get a visa.
New Swiss Passport
After September 30, 2003, only Swiss citizens traveling to the U.S. with
the new Swiss passport (available beginning January 1, 2003) will be
eligible to travel under the Visa Waver Program (VWP). Swiss citizens
traveling to the U.S. with the old passport will not be able to enter the
U.S. under the VWP if the entry occurs after September 30, 2003. Holders of
the old passport will require a visa after this date.
FORTHCOMING CHANGES TO VWP
Beginning on October 1, 2003, VWP applicants must not only meet the
criteria detailed above, but also apply for entry with
machine-readable passports. Otherwise, they will need to apply for
U.S. visas.
Beginning on October 26, 2004, VWP applicants must be in possession
of machine-readable passports with biometric identifiers, unless
their machine-readable passports were issued prior to October 26,
2004 and will remain valid for at least six months beyond their
contemplated stay in the U.S.
The info above is from US embassy in Bern.
Further info under www.usembassy.ch
Second: The Swiss Government just announced that you can extend your old
passport up to the year 2005 (since there are some problems with delivering
new passports, etc). See the Swiss newspapers for details (none of the
official web pages nor the Swiss embassy in DC had that posted.....!)
Good luck
Michael P Rudolf, PhD.
Scientist II, Tumor Immunology
IDEC Pharmaceuticals Corp
3010 Science Park Road
San Diego, CA 92191-9080
Tel: 858-431-8481
Fax: 858-431-8715
e-mail: mrudolf_at_idecpharm.com
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Received on Mon Mar 10 2003 - 20:10:23 PST
