Brussels, 06/07/2007 (Agence Europe) - As of the end of 2007, EU nationals wishing to travel to the United States will have to provide fingerprints of their ten fingers, a top official of the US Homeland Security Department announced at the end of June.
High-tech fingerprint scanners will be tested from the end of 2007 in ten American airports and will be widely used from the end of 2008, explained P. T. Wright, the deputy director of the US VISIT programme, during a recent visit to Brussels to present the new scan mechanism to the European Union. The current control system that has been in force since 2004 requires a facial photograph and a two-print biometric fingerprint capture. At the end of the year, all embassies and consulates issuing visas for the United States will be under an obligation to collect all ten fingerprints. This new requirement will also concern nationals of the European Union - which currently benefit, with other countries, from a specific Visa Waiver Programme (VWP) - as well as nationals of other countries, who require a visa to enter the United States. All persons between 14 and 79 years of age who do not have American nationality will have to comply with this system. Fingerprints will be collected according to the strictest rules on protection of privacy, Mr Wright said, saying the control will not mean more delay as it only takes ten seconds. A comparison will be made between fingerprints collected and the lists established by the different American security agencies to restrict access to the US territory by certain passengers. The FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) and the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency), will have access to the prints. In the United States, biometric data can normally be stored for 75 years. According to Mr Wright, this system will not only make it possible to identify dangerous persons with greater certainty, but will also allow errors of identification to be avoided. Scanning the ten fingerprints allows practically “100 percent match accuracy”, he said. The ten pilot airports used for testing out the project are Boston Logan International, Chicago's O'Hare, Houston Intercontinental, Detroit Metropolitan Airport, Atlanta International, Miami International, John F. Kennedy International, Orlando International, San Francisco International and Washington Dulles International. Border controls (ports, airports, border crossings) may be strengthened in the near future to include complementary biometric data from facial scans and retina scans, he said. The current US-VISIT programme is used in 115 airports, 15 ports and 154 land border crossings. Until now, 100 million fingerprints are on record and over 34,000 persons on the lists have been refused entry to American territory thanks to this system.
The European Union recently decided to place a vast ten fingerprint capture system in place as of 2009, the Visa Information System (VIS) (EUROPE 9444). Once fully operational, VIS will be connected to all consulates issuing visas in Schengen states and all Schengen area external border crossing points. (bc)