US to fingerprint all visitors

All British travellers arriving in the United States will be fingerprinted and photographed from tomorrow.

Until now, the procedure applied only to visa holders, but Homeland Security officials decided to expand the programme.

It means even travellers arriving under the visa waiver programme will have their digital photographs taken and fingerprints scanned. The policy affects people from 22 countries, including Britain, who are able to travel to the US without a visa for less than three months, provided they are not seeking work.

Britons, and other foreign nationals travelling under the visa waiver programme, will now be screened when they arrive at the 115 major airports and 14 major sea ports in the US.

The information will be checked against security databases to verify the travellers' papers and flag names which appear on terrorist or law enforcement watch lists.

The Department of Homeland Security estimates the new requirement will affect 33,000 people coming to the United States every day. The Association of British Travel Agents raised concerns that the policy could result in even longer immigration queues at US airports.

A spokeswoman in London said the problems may be worse at bottlenecks such as Miami, Dulles in Washington and Houston, Texas.

She added: "The US authorities have assured us that they have appropriately resourced airports so now it is a matter of seeing whether it is implemented smoothly." She said some travellers had raised concerns about privacy, but added: "We think it will probably enhance the safety for travellers to the US."