- VANCOUVER (CP) - Visa applicants
to the United States, including Canadians who want to study or work there,
are now being fingerprinted as part of a new biometric identification program.
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- The non-immigrant visa fingerprinting began earlier this
week at the U.S. consulate in Vancouver and has previously been underway
in other large Canadian cities, said Vancouver consular chief Bradford
Johnson.
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- "It has to do with the enhancement of security,"
Johnson said at a news conference.
-
- "It has a history that predates Sept. 11,"
he said in reference to the terrorist attacks of that date in 2001 in the
United States.
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- Visa applicants must submit to two fingerprints - the
index finger of each hand - as well as the usual photograph.
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- The program dates back to 1996, he said, when Congress
decided it wanted a system to determine who was entering and leaving the
United States.
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- "Previously, the U.S. had no way of knowing who
had left our shores," he said.
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- Under the program, the person's visa would be examined
by U.S. Customs officials in the usual way. In addition, while under questioning
the person will give another set of fingerprints that can be checked against
those given when the visa was applied for.
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- When the program is completely in place by 2005, visa
holders will be required to undergo a third fingerprinting when they depart
the country.
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- The information that is gathered by the U.S. Department
of Homeland Security will not be shared with the CIA or FBI or other agencies,
said Johnson.
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- "The State Department has a fine record and its
confidential procedures can't be changed."
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- Eventually, the system will be in operation at 115 airports
and 14 seaports in the U.S., said Johnson.
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- Copyright © 2003 Canadian Press
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press/20031108/ca_pr_on_tc/biometric_security
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