U.S. Visitors Fingerprinted and Photographed

New York, NY —

Today, the Department of Homeland Security will begin to implement a program that requires visitors with temporary visas to be photographed and fingerprinted by customs officials at all points of entry. The new procedures are meant to help keep track of when foreigners traveling with temporary visas enter and exit the country. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez reports:

More than 8500 international flights carrying over a million passengers arrive at JFK airport each month.

Today new security measure will affect the many foreign visitors who pass through here. Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Kimberly Weissmann explains:

WEISSMANN: What we're doing is just adding two additional processes basically taking inkless digital finger scans of each index finger and photographs and we don't see that this new process would significantly add any additional time to the overall inspection process.

Weissmann says the photographing and fingerprinting will only take 30 extra seconds per person. The new measures go into effect at 115 airports and 14 major seaports nationwide. Foreign visitors will also be expected to follow a set of procedures when they exit the country as well. Automated Kiosks are supposed to be set up for travelers to scan their visas and repeat the fingerprinting. The process is intended to be self serve and will be gradually rolled out during the first few months of the year. But some are concerned about the new entry and exit procedures.

Gaiane Kazarian manages a travel agency in Queens that caters to the Armenian and Russian communities. She says many of her clients who live abroad come to visit relatives in New York City on visas including her own mother:

KAZARIAN: I picture my mom coming over ok, she doesn't speak the language when people come over maybe its somewhere in their head you know they get nervous, not for some certain obvious reason just because they are coming to another country they are going to meet their family and in this situation going through this procedure will be like one more step to frustration

Kazarian is conflicted about the new tracking system though. She worries her customers will stop traveling, on the other hand she says there could be an upside:

KAZARIAN: It may even help the business cuz once the people know its safe to come over they may feel more secure.

The new information gathered on foreign visa holders will be stored in a database that will be accessible to Customs and Immigration officials, consular offices as well as certain federal, state and local law enforcement authorities. How long it will remain there is still unclear, according to government officials. Garrison Courtney is the spokesman for the Immigration Customs and Enforcement agency, the branch of the Department of Homeland Security that will be regularly monitoring the database for visa violations:

COURTNEY: So that's what we're going to be able to do now is we're going to be able to look at this process on a day by day course and say look this person is supposed to leave yesterday or last week or a month ago versus oh it looks like you didn't leave the country six years ago and it brings more accountability to the system.

24 million foreigners entering the country annually are expected be affected by the enhanced security measures. But there are also several million that won't be. Children 14 and under and adults 79 and older will be exempt as well as visitors from the 27 countries that are part of the US's Visa Waiver program. France, Germany, Singapore and Japan are among those on the list. According to the state department the visa process has always been based on reciprocity. Kelly Shannon is a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Consular Affairs and says the new security measures could subject Americans traveling abroad to new rules as well:

SHANNON: We can't know what other foreign countries plan to do although one can safely assume they may reciprocate

At least one country has already decided to implement a similar process. Americans traveling to Brazil will now be photographed and fingerprinted upon entering the country.

For WNYC: I'm Cindy Rodriguez