travel to the usa

[saturday]

how do i know if i have a machine readable passport

[annavc]

If the page with your photo on it has a long line of numbers and symbols - then it's machine readable. Unless its a really old passport it will almost certainly be machine readable. One I got 7 years ago was so I think you should be safe.

[heathfield]

Here's a page showing what annavc means... http://www.flybmi.com/bmi/en-gb/travelinformation/preparingfortravel/visarequirementsintheusa.aspx

[mkt]

if youve got the new style red passport with then you'll be fine. i think they were brought into use 10 years ago...maybe longer. Very few people will still have the old style passport.

The bang up to date ones (last 3 yrs or so) will have your photo scanned (rather than just stuck on) and also a scan of your signature instead of a blank space for you to sign.