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May 20, 2003
Coming Soon: Most Travelers to US to Be Photographed and Fingerprinted
On Monday, May 19th, Department of Homeland Security Asa Hutchinson
unveiled the new U.S. Visitor and Immigration Status Indication Technology
(U.S. VISIT) which will check the identity of aliens with visas who come
into the United States. This system is to go into place as of January 1,
2004 and will replace the current paper-based I-94 system. Aliens who do
not require visas to enter the U.S. will not be subject to the US VISIT
system.
As part of this system, aliens who enter the U.S. with visas will have
their travel documents scanned and have their identity verified through
at least two biometric identifiers, which initially will require aliens
to be fingerprinted and photographed. In the future, other biometric identifies
could be added such as facial recognition or iris scans as the technology
is perfected. In addition, aliens will have their identities checked against
lists to determine if they should be denied entry based on terrorist connections,
criminal violations or past visa violations. Upon entry, aliens will also
be required to submit information on their immigrant and citizenship status,
nationality, country of residence and address in the United States. Aliens
will be required to give complete information; incomplete information will
not be accepted as has sometimes been the case in the past. Finally, this
system will also verify the alien’s departure and identification when they
leave the U.S.
In connection with the US VISIT system, the Department of Homeland Security
has created an Office of Compliance within the Bureau of Immigration and
Customs Enforcement to compile and analyze all the information collected
by the new system. The Office of Compliance will review the information
for visa violations and have field enforcement units investigate any possible
visa violations. This information is to be made available to inspectors,
agents, consular officials and other law enforcement agencies but only for
limited purposes such as identifying overstays or other visa violations,
assisting in the adjudication of immigration benefits and assisting federal,
state, and local law enforcement agencies as appropriate.
The US VISIT system is expected to provide enough comprehensive information
to keep track of nearly all alien visitors in the U.S. and as such, is basically
expected to replace NSEERS, a program which has singled out only certain
individuals for registration. Any remaining elements of NSEERS such as port
of entry arrival registration, is expected to be implemented into the US
VISIT system.
GT will continue to monitor the implementation of this new system and
provide updates.
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