The United States will make fingerprinting compulsory for the issuance of all visas at its embassies in India from July 2004.
All US consulates in India will collect two electronic fingerprints from visa applicants and will issues visas, henceforth to be called as 'bio visas.'
The fingerprints will be collected at the time of visa application through an inkless process that will take about 30 seconds.
The process is already on at 130 of the 211 consulates that the US had throughout the world.
US consulates in India will be among the last to introduce this new requirement. By October 26, 2004, all US consulates worldwide will be collecting fingerprints.
Visas issued prior to the introduction of the fingerprint requirement will be valid through their expiration date.
Maura Harty, US Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs, says that the changes in the visa procedures are designed for a post-September 11 world where America wants to make its borders more secure.
Since January 5, 2004 almost all visitors arriving at the US sea and airports have had their fingerprints taken in a procedure similar to the process that will soon be introduced in the Indian consultates.
The process of collection of fingerprints will continue at the ports of entry from visitors, including those who do not require a visa and those who have been issued the new 'bio visa.'
Here's how the 'bio visa' will help US fortify its borders:
The fingerprints taken at the time of issuing the visa in the US consulates in India would be transmitted to a central database that would be accessible to US officers at the port of entry.
At the US port of entry, the fingerprints of the traveler will be scanned and compared to the fingerprint collected in the 'bio visa.'
The visitors will also have their digital photo taken.
On exit, there will be a departure confirmation system where visitors will scan their visas and repeat the fingerprint scanning process.
This would help enforce the idea that the person travelling on a particular visa is the same as the one who applied for it at the consulate.
The fingerprinting at the US consulates will be enforced across all categories of visas. Only in the case of diplomatic, official and international organisation employees and travellers under age 14 and over age 79 will be exempt.
Despite the new guidelines, Assistant Secretary Harty says that the US wants to work to streamline the visa process worldwide and ensure that everyone who is eligible for a US visa gets it without much inconvenience.
One of the biggest categories of visas issued from India is the student visa. The growth of the Indian student population in the US has been rapid -- doubling in just five years. According to the Institute of International Education, an independent non-profit organisation, for the second year straight more students from India are on US campus than any other country.
In 2002-03, there were 74,603 Indian students in the US.
Harty says that the US consulates in India have an average waiting period of about two weeks for student visas. In Chennai, 45 percent of the appointments for the next two months are for student visas.
In order to speed up as well as smoothen the process for students, US consulates in India will look to open up some additional appointments each month reserved specially for student visa applications.
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