US embassy cable - 05VIENNA2332

UNCLAS VIENNA 002332 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR CA:JARZT; CA/PPT FOR MHOLLY; CA/VO/F/P:DLOPES 
DA ROSA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF, AU 
SUBJECT: VISA-WAIVER PROGRAM: PASSPORT-RELATED 
REQUIREMENTS FOR VWP TRAVELERS AND PARTICIPATING 
COUNTRIES 
 
REF: STATE 125862 
 
1. ConGen delivered demarche per reftel on Friday, July 
7, to Dr. Heinrich Pawlicek, head of the Interior 
Ministry's office responsible for passport matters.  Our 
contact expressed some concern about compiling the 
requested information in the four weeks of peak vacation 
season, but promised to assemble as much as possible by 
the August 6 deadline. 
 
2. Pawlicek was not surprised by the request for 
information, having spoken at length on the need for 
progress on biometric identifiers at a recent SCIFA 
meeting.  He confirmed that Austria will not/not meet the 
October 26 deadline for Level I certification.  He 
indicated a delay at the Finance Ministry had caused 
funding for the Austrian biometric passport to not have 
been available as quickly as he had originally hoped. 
His office therefore made the decision to proceed 
directly to e-passport issuance, beginning in May 2006. 
Austria will seek Level II certification at that time. 
 
3. There will be no phase-in of the new passports. 
Passport issuance will be centralized in Vienna on one 
date, and all passports - diplomatic, official and 
regular - will be issued as e-passports as of that date. 
Only emergency passports issued abroad or at the Vienna 
airport will not be e-passports. 
 
4. In response to our questions, Pawlicek informed us 
that Austria issues approximately a half-million 
passports a year, or roughly 42,000 per month.  Thus, we 
can expect that in November and December of 2005 alone, 
Austrians will obtain approximately 85,000 new passports, 
none of which will meet the VWP photo-digital passport 
requirement.  A survey by the Austrian government a few 
years ago indicated that more than 70 percent of Austrian 
passport applicants travel within Europe.  We estimate 
that of the remaining 30 percent of Austrian travelers, 
only a third would be traveling to the United States. 
Using that reckoning, then, we would expect around 4,000 
travelers who would normally be able to use the VWP to 
apply for visas every month.  Post notes that our annual 
NIV workload is currently only around 9,000 applications 
a year. 
 
BROWN