Jordan Times
Thursday, January 15, 2004
US-Visit system implemented in Jordan
By Jumana Bississo
AMMAN — US Consul to Jordan Daniel Goodspeed on Wednesday unveiled the intricacies of “US-Visit,” the new entry-exit fingerprinting system adopted for visitors applying for visas to the US.
The US-Visit programme — United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology — was implemented in the US on Jan. 5, 2003 and launched in Jordan three-weeks ago as part of the visa processing procedure for all non-US citizens.
The biometric system will be utilised for travellers applying for a visa to the US, whereby two fingers are scanned by an inkless device in the course of the interview.
The technology processes the information absorbed by the fingerprint scan and filters it into a US database in order to further monitor travellers coming in an out of the United States, as well as providing a means of enhancing security measures.
“It [biometrics] is an iron-clad identity marker... it simply leaves no room for misidentification,” Goodspeed said in a press conference.
The finger printing process in Jordan is similar to what the traveller will experience upon arrival in the US, Goodspeed added.
“It is a very simple addition to the standard on-going entry process... It only takes about 30 extra seconds to take a digital snapshot of the traveller and a scan of the traveller's two index fingers,” he told journalists.
“The system is not intrusive and is easy,” added US Press AttachÈ Justin Siberell.
The fingerprinting data obtained will be stored and remain part of the visitor's travel record — the information will only be made available to authorised officials and select law enforcement agencies, Department of Homeland Security Under Secretary for Border and Transportation Security Asa Hutchinson was quoted as saying in the International Information Programmes' Washington File website.
According to Goodspeed countries cannot swap database information obtained through the finger scanning procedure.
The programme will “eventually require that visitors go through a “checking-out” process when leaving the country as well,” Goodspeed added.
Kiosks — stand alone desks — will be used for travellers to “swipe” their passports and provide another set of fingerprints before departure.
There are currently two US `checkout' points being tested, one in Baltimore and the other in a Miami seaport.
By the end of 2004, there will be an estimated 80 operating checkout kiosks in airports around the United States.
Currently, only select nationalities, including Jordanians, are required to “check out” before leaving the US, as part of the National Entry/Exit Registration system, a separate programme that will be “subsumed by the US-Visit system,” said Siberell.
The US-Visit programme has been in development in the US since 2000 but it was only after Sept. 11, 2001 that there was an increased need for such a programme to come into effect on an international scale, the consul said.
“Sept. 11 intensified efforts to develop such a tracking system which was expanded further to include a biometric element — capturing some element of an individual that is unique to them,” explained Goodspeed.
“It was always a matter of when not if biometrics would be used,” stressed Siberell.
Fingerprinting is the only biometric tool in use by the US government although other systems exist, such as iris scanning. However, they do not have an extensive database to refer back to.