You have to have biometric data and signature if you use ESTA.
If you are heading to to the US after April 1 this year you have to ensure that your passport can be read electronically, otherwise you may run into problems.
The Travel agents and airlines SAS and Norwegian, have already notifies their passengers of the changes on its website.
If your passport can not be read electronically and do not have biometric data and signature, you need to apply for a visa at the US Embassy.
Norway is one of a total of 38 countries participating in the US Visa Waiver Program (VWP). This allows you to use an online application, called ESTA application, for travel authorization to USA, .
This means that Norwegians can visit the United States as tourists, or use the United States as a transit country, by just having a machine-readable passport – the so-called E-passport.
With E-passport and ESTA release you will, all other things being equal, not have to apply for a tourist visa before the departure from Norway. But without ESTA or visa will be rejected at the airport in USA. You can only apply for ESTA online.
All Norwegians who have been issued passports by October 3rd 2005, have passport that can be read by computers.
If you’re wondering if your passport is a E-passport, you can look for the small square marked at the bottom in the front of the passport. If this symbol is on your passport, this means you’ve got a E-passport.
Source: Newspaper Dagbladet / Norway Today
