US moving to track visitors - Fingerprinting on entry, exit 'immigration' planned


published: Monday | December 22, 2003

By Lloyd Williams, Senior Associate Editor

COME WEDNESDAY, December 31, the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will be implementing its 'US-VISIT' programme to enable it to effectively track visitors to the country.

Officially stated, the programme will enable the U.S. Government to more accurately verify the identity of incoming visitors and confirm compliance with visa and immigration policies, thus enhancing its entry and exit system.

Specifically, \"The goals of US-VISIT (for Visitor and Immigration Status Indicator Technology) are to:

Enhance the security of our citizens and visitors

Expedite legitimate travel and trade

Ensure the integrity of the immigration system

Safeguard the personal privacy of our visitors.\"

But a major focus of the programme's target will be visitors who overstay their visas ­ that is foreign citizens who enter the United States legally but do not leave when their authorised period of admission expires, even though they have not been granted an extension or a change of status. The issue of overstaying has been getting serious attention in the U.S. because four of the 9/11 hijackers who entered the U.S. on legal visas had overstayed their time. The focus among DHS agencies now is on the extent of overstaying, weaknesses in overstaying tracking systems and how weaknesses in the the overstaying tracking system and the level of overstaying might affect domestic security.

The most notable change the US-VISIT system will bring and that which will impact most on international visitors, including Jamaicans, will be new exit procedures, verifying their departure from the United States.

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