Originally Posted by ESpen36

Well, I entered Australia, and attempted to use Smart Gate. But the machine denied me. And so I approached the general line (which, fortunately, had nobody at 6am). But the officer said her computer was unable to read the electronic chip in my passport, and she referred me to secondary. There, another officer tried repeatedly to read the electronic chip in my passport, without success. Finally, they pulled over an Immigration supervisor who wrote down my details manually on a form and stamped me in. I asked if I needed to do anything to prevent it from happening in the future, and she just shrugged and said I didn't seem to have an active chip in my e-passport.


Has anybody else had an inactive/defective electronic chip in a US passport? I suppose most of the time we wouldn't notice because US CBP does not use the chip, nor does UK/Schengen/most countries for USC.

I'm just wondering if I should bother to contact the Dept of State to see about reprogramming or replacing the electronic chip, or whether it doesn't matter since I don't plan on returning soon to Aussie?