Effective July 1, 2009, all Visa Waiver Program (VWP) emergency or temporary passports must be electronic passports (e-Passports) to be eligible for travel to the United States under the VWP. This includes Visa Waiver Program (VWP) applicants who present emergency or temporary passports to transit the United States. An e-Passport contains an integrated chip that stores biographic data, a digitized photograph, and other information about the true bearer.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection may exercise discretion at the ports of entry for cases in which VWP applicants are traveling for medical or other emergency reasons.

A VWP national arriving in the United States with a non-compliant passport, for other than emergency travel reasons, may be detained for further processing and/or denied admission.