News: US Begins Collection of Biometric Information on Non-Citizens Departing Country

Since 2004, the United States has collected biometric information from foreign visitors upon arrival, but not departure. That is now changing. The Obama administration is launching a pilot program to collect biometric information from non-U.S. citizens when they leave the country, according to Voice of America. The federal government began testing the system in Atlanta and Detroit this week. Robert Mocny, who leads the US-VISIT program, said

"We want to have biometric exit procedures because we want to have a better sense of who is in the country and who has left the country."

Departing non-citizens are required to give fingerprints that will be compared with prints taken when they applied for their U.S. visas or resident alien cards. The federal government aims to extend the program to all U.S. airports and seaports next year.

"Once a visa is issued and tied with a biometric, once a passport is issued and tied to a biometric, that passport or visa cannot be used by anybody else," added Mr. Mocny, who leads the US-VISIT programme. "There are tens of millions of lost or stolen passports that circulate the globe on the black market used by international criminals and terrorists. This [biometric verification] puts a stop to that."