Photo scan of visitors to US

FOREIGNERS entering US airports and seaports from all but 28 nations began being fingerprinted and photographed yesterday.

The move was part of a new programme Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said will ensure that borders are secure in an era of terrorist threat. Mr Ridge was at Atlanta International Airport in Georgia to meet with some of the first foreign passengers from Brazil and Chile to go through the new system.

Other top federal officials also planned to be at airports across the US to help draw attention to the new policy.

"We want to keep our borders open. We are a welcoming country,"

Mr Ridge said. "We want to secure the country as well. We want them to come to the US to work and to visit and to study. We also need to make sure we have a record of who comes in and when they leave."

He revealed that during a pilot programme that preceded implementation of a nationwide system of such checks, authorities turned up nearly two-dozen people, including some with records as felons, and deported them.

"If you are a non-immigrant alien," he said, "we would like to identify you through a digital fingerprint and a photo scan." All 115 US airports that handle international flights and 14 major seaports are covered by the programme, under which customs officials can instantly check an immigrant or visitor's criminal background. Called US-VISIT, or US Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology, the programme will check an estimated 24 million foreigners each year, though some will be repeat visitors.

The only exceptions will be visitors from Ireland, Britain and 27 other countries mostly European nations whose citizens are allowed in the United States for up to 90 days without visas. Inkless fingerprints will be taken and checked instantly against a national digital database for criminal backgrounds and any terrorist lists. The process will be repeated when the foreigners leave the country as an extra security measure and to ensure they complied with visa limitations.

Homeland Security spokesman Bill Strassberger said that once screeners become proficient, the extra security will take only 10 to 15 seconds per person. Foreign travellers also will continue to pass through regular customs points and answer questions.

Photographs will be used to help create a database for law enforcement. The travel data is supposed to be securely stored and made available only to authorised officials on a need-to-know basis. A similar programme is to be installed at 50 land border crossings by the end of next year, said Mr Strassberger.

The US system consists of a small box that digitally scans fingerprints and a spherical computer camera that snaps pictures. It will be used for foreign nationals travelling on tourist, business and student visas who enter through an airport or seaport.