U.S. to broaden
tracking programFingerprinting of foreign travelers
will extend even to strong allies
such as Japan and Britain
WASHINGTON » A program requiring foreigners to be fingerprinted and photographed before entering the United States is being expanded to include millions of travelers from some of America's staunchest allies, officials said yesterday.
The move affects citizens in 27 countries -- including Japan, Britain and Australia -- who had been allowed to travel within the United States without visas for up to 90 days. Officials said the change was prompted in part by concerns that terrorists might try to exploit those exemptions.
The requirement for visitors from Japan and some other Asia-Pacific nations "could have a devastating effect on Hawaii," according to a state official.
"This is not going to be positive," said Frank Haas, tourism marketing director of the state's Hawaii Tourism Authority.
"We could have people in line for four hours or more," said Marsha Weinert, tourism liaison in the governor's office. "That's not the type of aloha we want to extend to visitors coming into our state."
The state had joined the Bush administration's earlier call for a two-year delay in implementing the program. Hawaii tourism officials said the reprieve was necessary to keep tourism from being hurt.
Gilbert Kimura, Hawaii manager for Japan Air Lines, said he was awaiting official notification from Tokyo. He said he could not yet say specifically how this would affect tourism from Japan, but added, "Any time you have these kinds of restrictions, it would have an effect on tourism."
The new requirement will affect only Hawaii's two international airports, Honolulu and Keahole-Kona on the Big Island, said Scott Ishikawa, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.
The changes in the US-VISIT program will take effect by Sept. 30. Travelers from the 27 countries will be fingerprinted and photographed each time they enter the United States through any of 115 international airports and 14 seaports. The program will be expanded to border crossings later.
Citizens from those countries still will not have to go through the consulate interviews and background checks that people from other nations must do to obtain visas.
The 27 countries are Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
The Bush administration made the move after determining most of the so-called "visa-waiver countries" will not meet an October deadline to have biometric passports, said Asa Hutchinson, undersecretary for border and transportation security. Such passports include fingerprint and iris identification features that make the documents virtually impossible to counterfeit.
Hutchinson said the change will enhance security while ensuring that law-abiding visitors are not subjected to lengthy secondary screenings at the border.
But he also said the decision was based on intelligence that "terrorists would look to programs such as the visa-waiver program to exploit because of fewer security checks."
The US-VISIT program was passed by Congress in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In January the government began fingerprinting and photographing visitors from nations other than the visa-waiver countries.
About 2.6 million people have been processed so far, and more than 200 with prior or suspected criminal or immigration violations have been stopped, according to Homeland Security.
Program adds 27 more nations
By Sept. 30 the government will begin to fingerprint and photograph people visiting the United States from 27 "visa-waiver" countries in addition to many others already subject to the requirement. Some facts about the change:
» The visa-waiver program allows citizens from 27 countries to travel to the United States for tourism or business for up to 90 days without a visa. The countries in the program occasionally change.
» The countries are considered to have more secure passports and to be relatively stable, and they provide visa-free travel to their countries to U.S. citizens.
» Canadians are not required to have visas and are not part of the visa-waiver program.
» Canadians can travel throughout the United States with proof of Canadian citizenship for up to six months at a time. If a Canadian comes to the country to invest, he must have a visa to enter and would have to go through the US-VISIT process.
» Mexicans with border crossing cards, or so-called laser visas, can travel to the United States for three days but are restricted to 25 miles from the border, or 75 miles if they enter in Arizona. Mexicans are interviewed, fingerprinted and photographed when they apply for the laser visa.
» Mexicans who want to stay longer or travel outside the restricted area must have visas and go through the US-VISIT process.
» Diplomats and staffs of foreign government countries and international organizations, such as the United Nations, are exempted from being fingerprinted and photographed.
SOURCES: DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, STATE DEPARTMENT