Robert Kerr, a spokesman at the United States Embassy, said Tuesday that beginning early next year, officials will begin to take fingerprints of every Bahamian applying for a US visa.
Under the new plan, applicants will be required to place their index fingers on an inkless fingerprint scanner.
The fingerprints will be taken and saved in the computer and used to effectively verify the identity of visitors arriving to and departing from the United States, as well as confirm compliance with visa and immigration policies.
Every time an individual travels, he or she will be required to submit to a fingerprint scan to ensure that it matches the fingerprint recorded on the visa.
Mr. Kerr, however, was unable to say definitively how the new system will affect persons who already have visas that do not expire for several years.
“The process is designed to make the whole system safer for the travelling public – to be able to match up the visas with the people who are using them,” he said.
“In order to use this procedure, you would have to be in the system as having applied and received a visa legally. So, in this case, it would be that more difficult to engage in illegal activities like fraudulent passports and identity theft.”
The US Department of Homeland Security has pointed out that the entry and exit procedures address a critical need for tighter security, particularly following the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.
International reports reveal that at least three of the 9/11 hijackers had expired visas.
“Fingerprinting is key to preventing a terror attack,” said US Attorney General, John Ashcroft. “Terrorists and wanted criminals often attempt to enter the country using assumed names or false documents. But fingerprints don’t lie.”
Fingerprints offer an infallible means of personal identification, authorities have pointed out.
The strategy follows a law passed by the US Congress that requires biometric indicators (biological information) – like eyeball and finger scans – to be taken.
According to Mr. Kerr, it is hoped that the modernized procedure will not result in travellers spending more time at the airport. However, he reminded travellers that the fingerprint scanning is “just one required step for international travelling.”
The “painless” scanning is estimated to take only 20 seconds.
He could not say whether fingerprinting would mean that the cost of a US visa would be increased from $100.
οΎ ”Each year, the US Congress determines that the total amount of visas issued needs to be reconciled with the total cost of engaging in the visa-issuing process,” Mr. Kerr said. “And those two figures need to balance.”
The introduction of a digital fingerprint scanner is not sitting well with Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell who indicated that such gains would come at a cost of social openness.
“We object to the fingerprints and we have made this known,” he said during an interview with the Bahama Journal Tuesday. “There are privacy issues. We also feel that it’s a little too criminal. Some people also feel that it’s an unnecessary intrusion.
According to Mr. Kerr, the process, which is already being phased in in certain countries, will be completed in The Bahamas by summer 2004.
Homeland Security officials have indicated that as the technology is perfected, additional biometric identifiers – such as facial recognition or iris scans – may be used as well.
By Macushla Pinder, The Bahama Journal
