Originally Posted by
AAtticus
When coming back to LGW from TLV this week the UK Immigration Officer told me the chip in my electronic passport was not working (Passport is 5 months old). It wasn't a big deal as he just requested my national photo id (also with a chip).
I have a trip to the US coming up this week and realised that this might be a big issue as your passport is thoroughly checked even before boarding. A friend had a big issue with this some years ago and was even told after a lot of hassle that he flew on his own risk and might as well be on the first flight back after being denied entry.
On the state.gov website I found the quoted information below but is it also the case for visitors?
Is there any way I can check the passport before I leave or should I just try it (as I believe it's still a valid travel document?). I do not have an Android NFC device unfortunately.
Some of the UK RFID scanners are malfunctioning. And some are using the claim of non-functioning RFID as an excuse to request more documentation or otherwise ask further questions to delay/observe admissible persons. I'm having someone investigate communications to see if this just turned out like this inadvertently or if it's the result of a training/education module.
The U.S. passports remain valid for use even if/when the RFID chip isn't working. Same goes for UK passports being used at US POEs, but that doesn't mean it won't come with some increased scrutiny by those who are already perceived as suspect in the heads of those with suspect thinking. It rarely presents a problem at US POEs for those with UK passports.