Irish visitors to U.S. to be fingerprinted

Visitors will also have their faces digitally photographed.
Ireland is among the 27 countries in the visa-waiver program that are now being included in the U.S.-VISIT program, a security-checking process that was introduced after Sept. 11.
From Sept. 30 of this year, travelers heading for the U.S. will have their two index fingers scanned and a digital photograph taken to verify their identity. The fingerprinting will not involve the use of ink and the entire process should only take a little over 20 seconds.
“Our allies will see this as a good security measure,” said Asa Hutchinson, deputy director of the Department of Homeland Security, when he announced the changes at a news conference Friday.
The new move will not draw any objection from the Irish government, it is understood.
The new security check will not mean any change in the visa-waiver program itself. Irish visitors to the U.S. will still be able to travel to America without first having to secure a visitor’s visa at a U.S. embassy or consulate.
Asked if the new measures might deter travel to the U.S. by Irish or other nationalities concerned about privacy issues, a Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman said the move was not expected to have a detrimental effect on travel plans.
“It will keep some people away who might not want scrutiny, and that should be reassuring to vacationers and legitimate business people who travel to the U.S.,” he said.
Officials said they did not expect long delays at airports when the new rules are implemented.
“It takes about 23 seconds on average to process a person,” Hutchinson said.
Last January, the U.S. government began fingerprinting and photographing visitors from nations other than the visa-waiver countries. The move prompted some anger, and specific retaliation from Brazil, which imposed similar checks on visiting Americans.
About 5 million people have been processed so far under the U.S.-VISIT program and more than 200 with prior or suspected criminal or immigration violations have been stopped, according to U.S. government statistics.
Those discovered trying to gain entry to the U.S. included convicted rapists, drug traffickers, individuals convicted of credit-card fraud, a convicted armed robber, numerous immigration violators, and individuals attempting visa fraud.
Passengers arriving from Ireland will have their prints and photographs taken by Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers at Dublin and Shannon airports.
The check was extended to visa-waiver nations because most of them were not expected to make an October deadline for the introduction of so-called biometric passports.
A deadline of October 2003 was extended by a year, but biometric passports are not now expected to become standardized and fully available to all European Union citizens until the end of 2006.
The fingerprinting and photo recording of faces is an interim measure until such passports are in universal use.
The visa-waiver countries are Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.