Travel to the United States appears to be getting ever more complicated. escape editor Nicole Garnon tells you what you need to know before you go

FOLLOWING the post 9/11 review of security, travelling to the USA is becoming increasingly baffling.

A complex web of rules and regulations governing visas, visa waiver programmes, machine-readable and biometric passports leaves the ordinary traveller feeling more than a little bemused.

Most people travelling from Britain to America with an ordinary British passport are able to do so without the need for a visa under the United States Visa Waiver Programme.

All this entails is a bit of form-filling while on the plane.

BUT from October 26 the US requires that ALL British visitors, including children, hold machine-readable passports.

Without such a passport it is unlikely that travellers will be able to enter the USA without a visa.

After October 26 children currently on another person's passport will need to obtain their own machine-readable document for visa-free travel to the States.

Machine-readable passports will continue to be valid for visa-free travel to the US under the VWP until the passport expires.

All passports currently issued in Britain are machine-readable but if you are carrying an older passport check well in advance of your journey that your passport is machine-readable.

If not you will have to make an appointment with the US Embassy in London to make a visa application, which will cost you £60.

According to the UK Passport Service website the way to check if your passport is machine-readable is to look for two lines of letters, numbers and chevrons ('>>>') printed across the long edge of the personal information page (the page with photograph and personal details).

The machine-readable text will appear on a white strip on older passports and directly on the pink page of newer passports.

If there are no such lines of text on the personal information page, the passport is not machine-readable.

BIOMETRIC PASSPORTS

FROM October next year travellers will only be eligible under the Visa Waiver Programme if they carry a biometric passport.

The USA wanted to introduce this regulation this year but it has been delayed while work is completed on developing the necessary technology.

Meanwhile, from September 30 this year anyone aged between 14 and 79 arriving in the USA will be finger-printed and photographed on arrival.

Useful information

www.ukpa.gov.uk

www.embassy.org.uk

www.fco.gov.uk

Exclusions

SOME travellers may not be eligible to enter the United States visa free under the VWP.

These include

* People who have been arrested, even if the arrest did not result in a criminal conviction.

* Those with criminal records, however long ago the offence was committed and however minor the offence.

* Those with certain serious communicable illnesses (such as HIV)

* Those who have been refused admission into, or have been deported from, the United States, or have previously overstayed on the VWP.

* Such travellers must apply for special restricted visas. If they attempt to travel without a visa, they may be refused entry into the United States.