US to take fingerprints of all visitors

The United States has announced plans to fingerprint and photograph all tourists from Britain and its other closest allies when they enter the country.

The United States has announced plans to fingerprint and photograph all tourists from Britain and its other closest allies when they enter the country.

Under existing rules to strengthen security against terrorists, those in the US with work or student visas have already had to undergo such checks since January 2004. They will be extended to all visitors, even those who previously did not require a visa.

The changes affect nationals from 27 countries, among them the UK, Japan, Australia and most European countries. They are due to come into force by 30 September, at all air and sea ports of entry into the US.

The decision, announced last night by the US Department of Homeland Security, was taken after Washington concluded that most of the 27 visa-waiver countries will fail to meet a previously imposed deadline to bring in state-of-the-art "biometric" passports, which include such fingerprint data, and which are all but impossible to forge.

The UK authorities have said they will not be able to issue the new passports, encoded with an individual's fingerprints and eye iris pattern, before mid-2005.

The new regulations will cover some 13 million visitors a year.

Canadians will be the only foreign nationals able to enter the US without the checks.