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November 3, 2003
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Monday
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Ramazan 7, 1424
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All US visa applicants to be fingerprinted
ABU DHABI, Nov 2: US embassies all over the world have started using biometrics as part of a new visa application process, the mission in the United Arab Emirates told AFP on Sunday.
The new procedures, which will be rolled out across all American embassies are part of a new US law that requires embassies to collect “biometric identifiers” from all visa applicants by October 26, 2004.
The UAE embassy is one of the first in the Gulf to introduce the new measures, according to press counselor Hilary Olsin Windecker.
Photographs and scanned fingerprints were selected because they were considered the “most effective and least intrusive identifiers,” Windecker said. Embassies will collect two fingerprints from each applicant using a scanner.
“Machine-readable, biometric enabled visas facilitate rapid and precise identification and will therefore enable more secure processing of travellers at ports of entry,” said the latest US-VISIT Fact Sheet from the US Department of Homeland Security.
Similar procedures have been in place at US ports of entry as part of security measures, enforced after the September 11 suicide attacks.
Visitors to the United States are required to undergo fingerprinting and photographing on arrival. They must also register with immigration officials on exiting, as part of new regulations applicable to male visitors, aged between 16 and 45, from several Arab and Muslim countries.
Many Arab students returned to their countries in the wake of the September 11 attacks and various Arab media have reported a decline in the number of Arab businessmen visiting the United States.
“The number of student applications in the UAE dropped by 20 per cent after 9-11 in the UAE,” said Windecker.
The US embassy in Abu Dhabi said no agreement has been made to provide fingerprints from visa applicants to other governments.
If a visa applicant refuses to be fingerprinted, US authorities will effectively refuse his or her application as incomplete. However, an applicant who changes their mind and decides to provide fingerprints later would have their visa application considered “without prejudice.”
The fingerprinting requirement does not affect citizens of countries participating in the visa waiver programme, who can travel to the United States without a visa.—AFP
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