New rules implemented in the last days of the Bush administration will requires green card holders – lawful permanent residents of LPRs in official language – to be fingerprinted and photographed when arriving from abroad at U.S. ports of entry.
The Department of Homeland Security announced that the new rules will take effect January 18. Currently the biometric-based checking program applies such scrutiny only to foreign citizens entering the U.S. on a non-immigrant visa, or under the visa waiver program which applies to a number of countries including Ireland.
“Linking a person’s biometric information to his or her travel documents reduces the risk that a traveler’s identity or documents could be intentionally misused by someone attempting to gain entry
into the United States,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.
Under current regulations, anyone subject to the US VISIT program must provide digital fingerprints and a photograph and other information at the border so this can be checked against U.S. government databases for prior
criminal or terrorist activity.
Exempt from the new requirements include such individuals as those younger than 14 or older than 79 years old and Canadian citizens on short term visits. Irish green card holders between those age limits will have to comply
The Department of Homeland Security highlighted the new rules as one of its year end accomplishments on its website.
While green card holders are not facing a red light with the new requirements, it’s certainly a yellow one. Refusal to provide fingerprints of all ten fingers will preclude entry into the U.S. under the incoming rule changes.