South African visitors to the US will have to submit their fingerprints as part of their visa applications, as America begins to use biometric technology in an effort to counter suspected acts of terrorism.
According the US Department of Homeland Defence, prospective visitors from the ages of 14 to 79 will have to submit their fingerprints. America`s Cape Town consulate will begin collecting fingerprints from 12 January and the consulates in Johannesburg and Durban will begin to do so later in the year.
The "fingerscan" method, which takes a digital scan of the right and left index fingers, is fully digitised and only adds seconds to the immigration process, says the visa office at the US Consulate General in Cape Town. The data will then be stored as part of the visitor`s record.
Daniel Claffey, consulate assistant public affairs officer, says the pilot programme that was conducted in Atlanta over the past few months nabbed about 21 people for various crimes, including fraud and rape.
"Since the terror attacks on 11 September, we did need to tighten up our system. It was too loose."
Claffey says the system was designed to combat identity theft.
"For example, people used to commit photo-substitution of identity photos. Now hidden in the barcode would be digital information of fingerprints and now you know that the person sitting on the plane next to you is who he says he is," Claffey says.
He says the relevant technology is being installed in the Cape Town consulate this week and it should be up and running by 12 January.
Visitors from countries that are on the visa waiver programme will not need to submit fingerprints. There are 27 countries that are on the programme and their passport-holders do not require a visa when entering the US for less than 90 days. However, ultimately all visitors to the US will be fingerprinted.
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