Ten Scanned Fingerprints Now Required for Nonimmigrant Visas
Posted Aug 29, 2008
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The U.S. Department of State (DOS) recently published a Final Rule that generally requires any applicant for a nonimmigrant visa to provide a complete set of ten scanned fingerprints. This new rule became effective on August 20, 2008, when it appeared in that day's edition of the Federal Register.
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Full Scanning of Fingerprints to Ensure Greater Security
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While this amends the DOS's regulations, the Final Rule notes that the scanning of ten fingerprints from a foreign national applying for a nonimmigrant visa was implemented previously. A notice advising of this was published in the Federal Register on May 4, 2007. These fingerprints are used by the DOS to verify identity, conduct background checks, and to ensure the applicant has not applied for visas or entered the U.S. under a different name. The DOS may also use these fingerprints to check the applicant's eligibility for a nonimmigrant visa and to check for arrests or convictions that may prevent the issuance of a visa.
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Improved Technology Enables all Ten Fingerprints
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Requirements established by the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002 and the creation of the Biometric Visa Program put into place the system for fingerprinting all visa applicants. At that time, the technology involved taking two fingerprints. Now a ten-fingerprint process is used. Prior to this Final Rule, DOS regulations did not require that applicants for nonimmigrant visas provide ten fingerprints. The fingerprint requirement was announced in December 2004, as part of the Biometric Visa Program and has been in place at all U.S. embassy and consular posts around the world. Long-time readers of MurthyDotCom and the MurthyBulletin will recall a description of these changes in our Dec 17, 2004 article entitled, DOS Update - Dec 2004. The shift to the ten-fingerprint system is described in Report from U.S. Consulates in India and VFS Global Services, from Murthy Immigration Services Pvt. Ltd., Chennai, India, Nov 02, 2007.
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Who Must be Fingerprinted?
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The majority of applicants for nonimmigrant visas must be fingerprinted. Foreign nationals who are younger than 14 years or older than 79 years of age normally are not required to submit fingerprints, however.
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Conclusion
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This change reflects DOS efforts to confirm the identity and background of nonimmigrant visa applicants. This added protection, as well as other security measures, seems to be the direction in a post-9/11 world. We at the Murthy Law Firm will continue to track changes in visa application requirements, to inform our readers of updates, relevant to their immigration processes and their lives.