By DPA
Washington : For foreign nationals upset about being fingerprinted when they enter the US, it’s getting worse.
Over the next few months, major US airports from Boston to San Francisco will start requiring 10 fingerprints from most non-US citizens – not just both index fingers – to help prevent terrorism.
By the end of 2008, all US points of entry will enforce the rule, the Homeland Security Department (DHS) said Monday. The new rule will make it easier for border officials to check the fingerprints against a government database of terrorist suspects.
Dulles International, Washington’s main airport, started the new procedure Nov 20. New York’s Kennedy airport, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago O’Hare airport, San Francisco, Houston, Miami, Detroit and Orlando, Florida, will follow during the next few months, DHS said.
To enter the country, most foreign nationals aged between 14 and 79 who arrive in the US or apply for visas will have to provide the digital fingerprints as well as a photograph, DHS said.