QUOTE (Fischkoepfin @ Apr 21 2006, 08:43 AM)

Your brother should be fine as long as his passport his machine-readable, unless issued after Oct, 26 2005 (last January could mean both). I don't know why Italian passports issued after that date wouldn't have digitized pictures, but I guess it's possible.
Since you, however, live in the US, it might be a good idea for your brother to apply for a visa anyway just to make things faster at POE. Siblings don't usually raise red flags, but it can of course lead to some extra questions. The visa (B2) is normally good for ten years and multiple entries.
Carola, those that have passports issues after October 26, 2005 have two options: (1) go to select questuras to have digital photos taken for their passports or (2) apply for a tourist visa.
Please take note that if a passport is renewed, or you add additional pages, it counts as a new passport and you will need a visa to travel. We found out about this when my sister-in-law was refused travel last Christmas. My in-laws were aware of the change in regulations and so had applied and obtained their tourist visas, but the regulations did not mention renewed passports and the local questura told my sistere-in-law that she was fine....when she wasn't.
Fish, the reason that passports issued after that date don't have digitized pictures is that not all questuras are equipped to do them. The questura in Rome was supposed to have this equipment by the time the regulation came out, but it didn't.