The UMD Passport program allows users to transfer their disc based PlayStation Portable games to the upcoming Vita for a small fee. Unfortunately, the program will not be available for in North America.

Sony told Kotaku yesterday that U.S. Vita users will not be able to transfer their PSP discs to the upcoming handheld.

The UMD Passport program was debuted in Japan at the Vita’s launch in December and allowed players to register their PSP discs to the PlayStation Network and download them to the new handheld for a small fee.

Unless Sony changes its mind, new Vita owners in North America will not have backwards compatibility with their PSP discs. PSP games purchased digitally can still be downloaded to the new system.

A spokesperson for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has told Gamasutra, “We haven’t made any announcements regarding the UMD Passport program for SCEE.”

Looks like that PSP Go purchase may finally be paying off for some.

The PlayStation Vita releases in the U.S. on February 22.