WASHINGTON (Reuters) --Countries whose citizens do not need visas to visit the United States could lose that privilege.
This is because they are likely to miss a deadline to include extra security data on passports, U.S. and industry officials said.
Officials from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the majority of the 27 "visa waiver" states -- most of which are European but also include Japan and Australia -- would probably not meet the Oct. 26 deadline for including so-called biometric features, such as digital photographs or fingerprints, in all new passports.
"These countries simply, most of them, cannot comply," said James Williams, director of a visitor registration program launched by the Department of Homeland Security on Monday to fingerprint and photograph visitors who do require a visa.
Some 15.1 million people came into the United States under the visa waiver program last year, and their spending accounted for about two-thirds of outlays by overseas visitors.
Williams said a number of countries, including Britain and Japan, had told DHS they were likely to miss the deadline.
Citizens of countries that fail to meet the target would be required to apply for U.S. visas ahead of their travel.
This would cause big logistical challenges and anger many potential visitors. Leisure industry sources say it could also cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars in missed travel spending.
"Since the 9/11 attacks, the Americans have come up with some regulations that are really over the top," one European diplomat said.
"Changing every single passport in our country will really be a huge effort," said another. "There are consultations with the U.S. about this matter."
Williams said Japan had told DHS that 1.5 million Japanese would be forced to apply for advance visas if they could no longer simply hop on a plane to the United States.
Security concerns
Steven Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies, said the new regulations may not be well received by some states, but were necessary because of security problems caused by the visa waiver program.
"You want to have visa waiver aliens subject to the same entry-exit controls that everyone else is, because we've already had terrorists from visa waiver countries," he said, citing convicted British "shoe bomber" Richard Reid and accused 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, who is French.
Richard Webster, the director of government affairs at the Travel Industry Association of America, said the October deadline was "unworkable."
"The majority of the countries in the visa waiver program are nowhere near being ready to have programs in place to actually issue biometric passports," he said. "That will act as a very firm trade barrier for millions of individuals coming to the U.S. for business and pleasure."
He said studies estimated that without the visa waiver system, the United States would lose at least $10-15 billion in visitor revenue each year.
Current U.S. legislation does not allow for exceptions or delays to the deadline, but DHS officials and Webster said Congress would be discussing the problem this year. A U.S. interagency group was also working on resolving the issue.
Webster said he knew there would be significant opposition from some members of Congress, but said his group would lobby hard for a legal change.
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