UK immigration introduces fingerprinting to airports
December 01 2009 by Liam Clifford
UK immigration has launched a nationwide fingerprinting scheme across British airports.
The fingerprinting scheme is intended to identify irregularities,
through comparing immigrants’ fingerprints provided at the point of entry into
the UK with the ones they had taken when they applied for their UK
visas.
The UK Border Agency, which is responsible for monitoring people
moving to the UK and passing though Britain’s airports, explains, "the purpose
of these checks is to verify that the individual entering the United Kingdom is
the same person who gave their biometrics when they applied for their visa,
entry clearance or identity card for foreign nationals.” The statement
continues: "Using fingerprints enables us to do this with greater
certainty."
The new fingerprinting process will be essential for all
foreign nationals holding biometric UK visas, ID cards for foreign nationals or
entry clearances. They will also be required to pass through the usual security
checks when they arrive at UK immigration/airports.
The announcements were made
alongside the clarification of the role of the Identity and Passport Service,
which was created as a separate entity to the UK immigration department in 2006.
The clarification included the outlining of its strategic objectives,
responsibilities and accountabilities.
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