Visa Waiver Travel To The United States Requires Machine-Readable Passports(August 2003)

Consular Section of the Embassy of the United States of America

United States (U.S.) visa policy permits citizens of certain countries to travel to the U.S. without a visa, when they meet certain requirements, under U.S. laws. For information about travel without a visa, click on the links below.

• Visa Waiver Program (VWP)
• Mexican and Canadian NAFTA Professional Worker
• Citizens of Canada, Mexico, and Bermuda

A machine-readable passport can generally be identified by the presence at the bottom of the biographical page of two printed typeface lines that can be read by machine.  These lines electronically provide some of the information contained on the upper part of the biographical page.  If a traveler has any doubt as to whether a passport is machine-readable, he or she should check with the passport-issuing authority for that country.

Machine-readable passports enhance security as they can be scanned at entry and exit points to verify the integrity of the passport data.  Because MRPs facilitate rapid and precise identification, they enable faster processing of travelers at ports of entry.  They also provide for advance passenger information so that border inspectors can do much of their processing before a flight arrives.

Citizens of VWP countries who do not possess MRPs and who are residents of the Democratic Republic of the Congo may apply for a non-immigrant visa at the U.S. Embassy’s website: http://kinshasa.usembassy.gov/.  Applicants must go to CITI (CITIBANK) at the intersection of Avenue Ngongo-Lutete and Avenue Colonel Lukusa in Gombe to pay the MRV fees on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays between 8:30 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. They should bring their receipt showing payment of $140 when they are received on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings at 8:00 a.m. to the Consular Section.  Note that the $140 fee is not refundable if the visa is denied.