Virtually all foreigners aged 14 to 79 must undergo electronic fingerprint scanning when they apply for a visa or arrive in the United States. Citizens of countries with a visa regime with the US submit their fingerprints at the US embassy when obtaining a visa, as well as at the airport upon entry. Fingerprints are taken during the first visit to the US and then compared on each subsequent trip.
The obtained data are checked against databases of the FBI, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Homeland Security. According to Michael Chertoff, since 2004 scanning has allowed the detention of more than two thousand criminals and visa violators. The official also mentioned the case where the fingerprints of a person who had been denied an entry visa were found in Iraq, on the steering wheel of a car bomb detonated by terrorists.
For now, all 10 fingers are scanned only in Washington, but already in the first months of 2008 the practice will be implemented in nine other major US international airports. In the future, it is planned to introduce this procedure at all border crossing points, including seaports and land border crossings. US officials insist that this innovation will not create any problems for law-abiding travelers, but will serve to ensure security.
Incidentally, the United States has currently declared a 'yellow', elevated level of terrorist threat. At the same time, on air transport this indicator is assessed as 'orange', meaning high. Intelligence reports an increased danger of new terrorist attacks, as well as growing activity of Al-Qaeda cells in various regions of the world. Under such conditions, the US leadership considers the strengthening of security measures fully justified.
Fingerprinting is done using modern digital equipment and takes just seconds. According to representatives of the Department of Homeland Security, no delays or complaints have been noted so far in connection with the new border crossing procedure. Incidentally, representatives of the US tourism industry supported the government's decision and expressed hope that the new security measures will not deter those wishing to visit the United States.
Notably, in 2004 the new control measures caused a sharply negative reaction in several countries. For example, in Brazil they began taking fingerprints of all arriving Americans.
In the near future, the United Kingdom and the European Union also intend to make fingerprint scanning mandatory for foreigners. In Japan, since November 20, fingerprints and photographs are taken of all arriving foreigners over 16 years old. In connection with these measures, Russia has begun introducing biometric passports.