Embassies to start fingerprinting visa applicants, to increase security and reduce fraud

(Due to the importance of the subject matter of this article, Part 3 of the article "You Can Use Your Old Section 245(i) Filing for a Newly Filed Case" will be published at a later time. — Editor)

Starting October 26, 2004, all US embassies and consulates around the world will start fingerprinting visa applicants as part of the standard visa issuance process. This includes people applying for visitor’s visas. (The US Embassy in Manila already started this procedure in September 2004). Upon arrival in the US, the person will again be fingerprinted by the immigration officers at the port of entry (i.e. airports).

According to the State Department, this fingerprinting procedure will verify the person’s identity, in order to detect and reduce the use of stolen or counterfeit visas, and to protect against the possible use by terrorists or others who might represent a security risk to the US. The new fingerprinting is designed not only to catch potential terrorists, but is also designed to reduce fraud in obtaining visas, such as assumed names and photo substituted passports.

In other words, fingerprinting will make sure that the person who was issued a visa at the embassy, is the same person who is seeking to enter the US. So, they will be fingerprinted at both the US Embassy, and again when they try to enter the US on that visa.

Under the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002, the U.S. Congress required the use of biometrics (fingerprints) in connection with the issuance of US visas. Under this law, embassies must issue only "machine-readable, tamper-resistant visas and other travel and entry documents that use biometric identifiers".

The fingerprinting will involve a person’s two index fingers, which will be electronically scanned, in a quick, inkless process during the consular officer’s interview. (In fact, my client, Sarah Geronimo, was among the first nonimmigrant visa applicants to be fingerprinted (or finger-scanned) at the Embassy, during the US embassy’s launch of this new biometric process, when she was applying for her entertainer visa in September 2004.)

The electronic data from the two fingerprints will be stored in a database, and would be made available to the immigration officers at the ports of entry, so that when the person arrives with their visa, they will again be fingerprinted by the immigration officer, to make sure that there is a "match", meaning the person who was issued the visa is the same person who is entering the US.

If a person refuses to be fingerprinted, his or her visa will be automatically denied, on the grounds that it is "incomplete". Therefore, either a person agrees to be fingerprinted, or he will not be issued the visa.

I know that many Filipinos, in the past, had attempted to enter the US on an "assumed name", where they might have used a photo-substituted passport or the passport of another person who may have looked like them. With the new fingerprinting process, people will no longer be able to get away with this, as they will not be able to ‘transplant" the other person’s fingertips onto their hands, so as to fool the biometric database.

In addition, this will also prevent people who were previously denied visas from "trying again" in a different name. This is because when they apply for a visa, they will be fingerprinted and if they are denied and then come back to the Embassy again under a different name, the database is going to show the same fingers for two different people.

The new fingerprinting requirement is keeping in line with Secretary of State Colin Powell’s policy of "secure borders, open doors", by facilitating legitimate travel to the US by international visitors, while maintaining the integrity and security of our borders and our nation.

The bottom line is that if a person wants to come to the US, they should do so legally, under their own name. People who want to come to the US should seek the advice of a reputable attorney, who can evaluate their circumstances, and advise them of their options, the chances, and to make sure their forms and documents are in order and that they proceed in accordance with the law.

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