January 6, 2003

Passenger Manifest Requirements Designed to Enhance National Security

Effective January 1, 2003, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) will require all commercial carriers to submit detailed passenger manifests electronically to the INS before an aircraft or vessel arrives in or departs from the United States.

The Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002 requires the submission of Advanced Passenger Information (API) on all temporary foreign visitors. Along with any other information that the Attorney General may choose to add to the list, the information as of now will include:

• complete name
• date of birth
• gender
• citizenship and country of residence
• passport number and country of issuance
• U.S. visa number, date and place of issuance (where applicable)
• alien registration number (where applicable)
• address while in the United States

The goal is to utilize this information to enhance security and to ensure that foreign nationals traveling in and out of the U.S. are doing so with proper authorization and not in violation of INS regulations.

The proposed rule implementing the new passenger manifest requirements has been published and can be viewed below. The rule will be finalized after the 30-day comment period.

  INS to Require Advance Submission of Passenger Data (PDF/102 kb, 1 pages)

  Federal Register: Manifest Requirements Under Section 231 of the Act (PDF/80 kb, 11 pages)