POEs to Begin Scanning 10 Fingers
Posted Dec 07, 2007
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced plans to replace current two-fingerprint scanners with ten-fingerprint scanners at all U.S. ports of entry within the next year. The new fingerprinting requirement is one of the top priorities for the DHS, as it furthers efforts to keep potentially dangerous individuals out of the United States, while making legitimate travel more efficient. On November 29, 2007, the DHS started the initial transition at Washington Dulles International Airport. By early 2008, nine U.S. airports will collect additional fingerprints from international visitors. All U.S. citizens and permanent residents, as well as certain parolees, are exempt from this fingerprint collection requirement, which focuses on foreign nationals entering the U.S. in nonimmigrant status.
©MurthyDotCom
Fingerprint Collection : Part of US-VISIT Program
©MurthyDotCom
The ten-fingerprint collection initiative is being led by the DHS's US-VISIT program. Long-time readers of MurthyDotCom and the MurthyBulletin may recall from our January 13, 2006 article US-VISIT Installation Completed at Additional Land Ports, that the US-VISIT program uses biometric data (fingerprint scans and photographs) at the Ports of Entry. This system is used to verify the identity of a foreign national seeking entry into the U.S. and to ensure that the foreign national is not on a list of known suspected terrorists, immigration violators, and criminals. The U.S. Department of State (DOS) is already using ten-fingerprint scanners at most of its visa-issuing posts to facilitate travel and to reduce the chances for dangerous individuals to enter the United States. More information on US-VISIT can be found on the DHS WebSite.
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