U.S. opts for more checks on entry

The Department of Homeland Security said yesterday that beginning this fall it would extend fingerprinting and registration requirements to citizens from 27 of America’s closest allies, including Britain and Japan, who enter the United States under the visa-waiver program.

The change “will add security by allowing us to check travelers coming from visa-waiver countries against our terrorist and criminal watch list,” Undersecretary for Border and Transportation Security Asa Hutchinson said.

Foreigners entering with a visa have been photographed and fingerprinted at 130 of the nation’s largest air and seaports since Jan. 5 under the department’s US-VISIT system — designed to weed out overstayers and terrorists, or other malefactors.

The extension of the program to the 13 million annual short-term visitors from the 27 countries — mainly in Western Europe — that are members of the visa waiver program is designed to close what many see as a large loophole in US-VISIT.

Mr. Hutchinson said the move, scheduled for Sept. 30, might attract “some questions and comments and kickback from the international community.” But he added that the change is not expected to increase immigration wait times unduly.

Nonetheless, the Travel Industry Association of America, which represents the U.S. tourism industry, was “greatly disappointed and very concerned,” said President and Chief Executive Officer William S. Norman.

Citing the possibility for “potential negative reactions in key inbound tourism markets in Western Europe, Japan and other visa-waiver countries,” Mr. Norman called for a big campaign by the Department of Homeland Security to explain the new measures and the need for them to visitors.

In particular, he said there was concern in the industry that, given the recent hiring freeze imposed after budget shortfalls in the department, there were not enough inspectors and equipment on hand to make sure lines did not lengthen.

Others also expressed the same concern. “I personally hope this won’t have an effect on the number of travelers from Germany,” a German Embassy official told United Press International on the condition of anonymity. He also said there was no official reaction from the German government

But a British Embassy spokesman was more sanguine. “Our nationals who are visa holders have been doing this [at ports of entry] since January 5,” Paul Johnston said. “We’ve had no complaints that I’m aware of about it, and we don’t expect any from this [extension].”

Mr. Johnston said that the primary concern of the British government was the looming deadline for visa-waiver countries to encode biometric facial recognition data on passports.

State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said there was a recognition “that we’re trying to both meet the requirements of security and facilitate travel. And we all agree that biometric passports are desirable and necessary.

“There seems to be difficulty in meeting those requirements. An extension is a good idea. And at the same time, the US-VISIT program, I think, has proven to be a pretty low-hassle way of protecting the traveler and protecting the homeland.”

The law that created US-VISIT set an Oct. 26 deadline for visa-waiver nations to have a biometric passport program in place, but only two of 27 countries are expected to meet that date, said Daniel B. Smith, of the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs.

“These countries are making great efforts,” he said, “but for various scientific and technical reasons. … It makes sense to extend the deadline.”

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