Travel Question of the Day: Simon Calder on valid passports for the US

Have a travel question that needs answering? Ask our expert Simon Calder

Travellers need e-passports to visit Florida (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Q I am going on holiday to Florida in August. My passport was issued in 2010. I have heard I may need to get a new one because of the need to be biometric. Is that correct?

Ian Scott

A There has been concern in the past few months about some UK travellers being barred from the US because their passports did not contain a chip with biometric data. My understanding is that every British passport issued from 2007 onwards is an “e-passport” containing biometric information, and acceptable to the US authorities. The affected individuals were, as far as I know, all people who had obtained passports in 2006 that were the old type. So your passport should be valid for travel to the US up to and including the expiry date; there is no need to renew. Just make sure you get your Electronic System for Travel Authorization (Esta) approval in good time. The official site is esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/.

Every day, our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles readers’ questions. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder