As Travel.ru reports, these devices will contain microchips with a unique identification code, through which the ministry's computers can easily find the document with the owner's name, country of residence, biometric data, and dates of arrival and departure.
Under a one-year system testing program, the ministry plans to begin issuing high-tech identifiers to foreign guests at several border points. The purpose of this technology is to simplify monitoring of guests' arrivals and departures and to identify those who are living on an expired visa. In addition, it should speed up document verification procedures at checkpoints. Border guards only need to scan the chip from a distance, which transmits its identifier by radio, and they automatically receive all necessary data.
The new system is part of the US-VISIT program. The program, which the government began a year ago, is part of a broader national security initiative developed after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. To date, the United States has processed 17.5 million foreigners through the US-VISIT program, 407 of whom, in accordance with the new procedures, were arrested or denied entry.
Under a separate but related program, the State Department is experimenting with introducing identification devices, or RFID tags, into US passports to combat their theft and counterfeiting. The government is urging other countries to do the same. At the same time, human rights activists believe that RFID technology could provide the government and corporations, which are beginning to use it to track goods, with too broad opportunities to monitor citizens.
_