U.S. to Fingerprint More Foreigners Filed at 10:47 p.m. ET WASHINGTON (AP) -- A program requiring foreigners to be fingerprinted and photographed before entering the United States is being expanded to include millions of travelers from some of America's staunchest allies, officials said Friday. The move affects citizens in 27 countries -- including Britain, Japan and Australia -- who had been allowed to travel within the United States without visas for up to 90 days. Officials said the change was prompted in part by concerns that terrorists might try to exploit those exemptions. While foreign governments expressed understanding, a U.S. travel organization worried the new restrictions could limit trips to America just as the number of foreign visitors was returning to the levels of before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The changes in the US-VISIT program will take effect by Sept. 30. Travelers from the 27 countries will be fingerprinted and photographed each time they enter the United States through any of 115 international airports and 14 seaports. The program will be expanded to border crossings later. Citizens from those countries still won't have to go through the consulate interviews and background checks that people from other nations must do to obtain visas.There are no changes in unique rules covering visits by Canadians and Mexicans. The 27 countries are: Andorra, Australia, Austria, 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 United Kingdom. The Bush administration made the move after determining most of the so-called ``visa-waiver countries'' won't meet an October deadline to have biometric passports, said Asa Hutchinson, undersecretary for border and transportation security. Such passports include fingerprint and iris identification features that make the documents virtually impossible to counterfeit. U.S. passports haven't been upgraded with those features yet, either. Hutchinson said the change will enhance security while ensuring that law-abiding visitors are not subjected to lengthy secondary screenings at the border. But he also said the decision was based on intelligence that ``terrorists would look to programs such as the visa-waiver program to exploit because of fewer security checks." The US-VISIT program was passed by Congress in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In January, the government began fingerprinting and photographing visitors from nations other than the visa-waiver countries. About 2.6 million people have been processed so far and more than 200 with prior or suspected criminal or immigration violations have been stopped, according to Homeland Security.House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., applauded the decision, saying it would strengthen security. His committee will consider the administration's request to push back the biometric deadline to October 2006. Hutchinson said adding the estimated 13 million annual visitors from visa-waiver countries should not create massive backlogs at airports and seaports. He said it takes only 23 seconds per person to take fingerprints and photos and check them against government files. He also said the existing system could handle the additional checks and new inspectors or computers would not be needed. However, fingerprinting the visa-waiver citizens could have ramifications for Americans when they travel abroad. When US-VISIT began last winter, Brazil retaliated by requiring Americans visiting that country to be fingerprinted and photographed. Hutchinson said he did not expect
other countries to follow Brazil's example. ``Our allies, they will
see this as a good security measure,'' he said. He also said the federal
government would welcome the visa-waiver countries moving to similar
measures. Britain's Home Office said it had no plans to require Americans
to be fingerprinted and photographed when entering that country. Australia's
foreign affairs ministry said it began advising Australians in January
that they may be fingerprinted upon entering the United States after
becoming aware that changes were in the works. The reaction among
citizens abroad varied. In Paris, bartender Kerwan Borne
scoffed at the change. ``Bravo, welcome to the dictatorship. Why don't
they put a bar code here,'' he said, pointing to the back of his neck,
``and stick a microchip in your arm?'' Legislation to Assist Undocumented Students Introduced in Congress Two bills aimed at helping undocumented students who are long-term U.S. residents when introduced in Congress in 2003. The DREAM Act in the Senate (S.1545) and the Student Adjustment Act (H.R.1684) in the House would legalize the status of undocumented children who meet certain requirements. These bills also would let these deserving children realize their educational dreams by allowing states to offer them in-state tuition rates. That is accomplished by amending the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 to again permit and states to determine residency for in-state tuition purposes. The practical effect of this amendment is that these deserving children will not be better able to afford college tuition. The House and Senate bills differ in their eligibility requirements. Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Richard Durbin (D-IL) introduced S. 1545, the Bipartisan Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act of 2003 on July 31, 2003. The Senate Judiciary Committee passed S.1545 out of committee. The DREAM Act would grant conditional permanent resident status to young people who came to the U.S. before the age of 16, have good moral character, have lived in the U.S. at least five years at the time of enactment, and have graduated from high school. To have the conditional status lifted, individuals would have to satisfy one of the following two requirements within six years of their high-school graduation. (1) Graduate from a two-year college or be pursuing a BA or higher degree and be, in good standing for at least two years (graduation from certain one-year occupational programs administered by accredited non-profit or public schools would also satisfy this condition); or (2) Serve in the U.S. Armed Forces for at least two years and, if discharged, receive an honorable discharge. In the House, Representatives Chris Cannon (R-UT), Howard Berman (D-CA) and L. Allard (D-CA) introduced H.R. 1684, the Student Adjustment Act, on April 9, 2003. Adjustment Act would legalize the status of young people who have good moral character, have lived in the U.S. at least five years, are in school in 7th grade or above, and are under 21 years of age.
Senators Larry Craig (R-ID) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA), and Representatives Chris Cannon (R-UT) and Howard Berman (D-CA), are the chief sponsors of an agricultural worker reform bill, the Agricultural Jobs, Opportunity, Benefits, and Security (AgJobs) Act (S. 1645 / H.R. 3142). This measure reflects both an historic agreement between representatives of farm workers and the agricultural industry, and the pressing need, for humanitarian, economic, and security reasons to reform our immigration laws in this sector of our economy. Because this bill reflects difficult compromises made by both sides, neither side in this historic deal got everything it wanted. Nonetheless, all have agreed to work together to make sure that the AgJobs Act becomes law. This measure would create an earned adjustment program for undocumented farm workers who would be eligible to apply for temporary immigration status based on their past work experience and could become permanent residents upon satisfying prospective work requirements. The legislation also streamlines the existing H-2A foreign agricultural worker program while preserving and enhancing key labor protections. Once enacted, these provisions would create a stable labor force and a useable program through which future workers could legally enter. By encouraging people to come out of the shadows and be reviewed by our government, this measure also would enhance our security by helping us know who lives and works within our borders.
On February 3, 2004, the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a proposal in the Federal Register to change the fees charged for processing immigration applications. The reasons cited for increases in application fees include higher costs of processing these documents, the new procedures for national security efforts, as well as plans for new programs and enhancements to other existing programs. The proposal also includes a service fee of $70 for Any individual who is required to have biometric information captured in connection with an application or petition...and whose residence is in the United States.@ The proposed rule also addresses the need for future fee increases beyond those proposed at this time. It says that beginning in FY 2006, Application fees will be adjusted on October 1st of each year based upon the inflation level enacted by Congress. If Congress has not enacted the inflationary rate by the start of the fiscal year (USCIS) will use the anticipated inflation rates used in the President=s annual budget request.@
The final regulation for PERM, a new, more-automated Labor Certification process, was sent to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on February 23, 2004. This is a milestone that has been long-anticipated. PERM is intended to automate the processing of labor certifications much in the same way they have accomplished it with Labor Condition Attestation (LCA) for the H-1B program. OMB now has up to 90 days to review the final regulation from the Department of Labor (DOL) and decide whether to send it back to DOL for further revisions or to send it to the Federal Register for publication (making it Official,@ but not yet in effect). |