Visitors to US to be photographed, fingerprinted

WASHINGTON: Foreign visitors arriving at the US airports or seaports from January 1, 2004 will have their travel documents scanned, fingerprints and photos taken and identification checked against terrorist watch-lists. Homeland security undersecretary Hutchinson released details on Monday of the department’s new US Visitor and Immigration Status Indication Technology (VISIT) that will check the comings and goings of certain foreign travellers. The checks will apply to people, who arrive in this country holding visas, which last year was about 60 percent or 23 million of the foreign visitors, said the US official, who oversees the border and transportation security. “In 99.9 percent of the cases, the visitor will simply be wished a good day or sent on their way,” Hutchinson said in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. —AP

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