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| Tighter US entry checks begin |
| 2004-09-30 |
| 01 October 2004 NEW YORK: Visitors from Europe and elsewhere who don't need visas for short trips to the United States have been fingerprinted and photographed on arrival at US airports as part of an expanded effort to secure American borders. Travellers arriving from 27 "visa waiver" nations overnight had to undergo two digital index-finger scans and have their photographs taken before clearing immigration portals. The new procedures apply to nearly two dozen European countries such as Britain, France and Germany as well as Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore and Brunei. It extends a programme started in January that requires people arriving in the United States with visas to have their pictures and fingerprints taken. Canadians and some Mexicans are exempt as are people under age 14 and over 79. The Mexicans who are exempt are those who visit the United States frequently, have been issued Border Crossing Cards and are staying for a short period within "a border zone.' US officials said the extra safeguards would take about 15 seconds per person and could help prevent another attack like that on September 11, 2001, by giving law enforcement officials a more complete record of who is in the country. Most people said they were comfortable with the heightened security. "It went fast," said Gael Colloc'h, a Frenchman arriving from Paris at New York's John F Kennedy International Airport. "It's normal to have control when you come into a country." With relations strained between Paris and Washington over the war in Iraq, he suggested Americans going to France should be subjected to the same requirements. Caren Flavin, a British arrival at JFK, said, "I think the UK and everybody should have the same system, because you don't know who is going to be on the flight." "It is going smoothly. There are no problems," said Department of Homeland Security spokesman Garrison Courtney. "The United States wants to remain an open country to visitors and tourists, but after 9/11 we understood that there needed to be a better system to ensure people are complying with the visa laws," he said from Washington, adding the new procedure would help achieve that goal. TIGHTER SECURITY After the September 11, 2001, hijacked plane attacks on New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, when almost 3,000 people were killed, US officials ratcheted up security at airports and ports, causing longer lines and delays for many Travellers. The new policy — at airports and seaports and at 50 busy US land crossings by year end — extends a programme begun on January 5 that requires everyone travelling on a visa, except diplomats, be fingerprinted and photographed on arrival. The expanded US-VISIT Program will affect about 13 million visitors annually from the 27 nations. Visas are required for visitors from many other countries and for those on extended stays for work or school. When the United States began the programme, it sparked irritation from Brazil, which in February began subjecting Americans travelling to the Latin American nation to the same procedure. The 25-nation European Union has pledged it will introduce biometrics into visitors' visas and EU passports. US Attorney General John Ashcroft said in the Netherlands after meeting with EU ministers at a resort near The Hague, that the United States had no interest in deterring Travellers. "The United States cares very deeply about the way it is viewed by the people of Europe," Ashcroft told reporters. "It is not a new idea. The idea of biometric identifiers is being embraced worldwide as a way of providing integrity to travel documents," he added. Since the US-VISIT programme began in January, 8.5 million foreigners have been processed, helping officials check them against lists of wanted criminals and suspected terrorists. About 280 people have been stopped because of the checks for suspected criminal or immigration violations. The programme has not yielded any terrorist suspects, US officials said. The 27 countries affected are Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Britain, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. |
| Posted by:Mark Espinola |