U.S. Bound Irish Travellers Will Now be Fingerprinted
DUBLIN - Irish people travelling to the United States will be fingerprinted and photographed before being permitted to board flights bound for the United States under new security arrangements announced April 2.
Officials from U.S. Customs and Border Protection will take fingerprints and digital photographs of all Irish travellers at pre-clearance points at Shannon and Dublin Airports, with the new system to be fully implemented by September 30.
The U.S. Embassy in Dublin has confirmed that all Irish people – regardless of whether or not they were travelling on a visa – will be obliged to comply with the new regulations, but stressed it would take “seconds” to complete the process. The U.S. Embassy estimates that about one million people went through its pre-clearance points in Ireland last year.
At present, Irish citizens are among those from 27 countries who can travel to the U.S. for up to 90 days without a visa. The new arrangements will affect citizens of Andorra, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.
|
