This article in Wired covers the changes in entry restrictions to the US from September 30 2004. This stops short of the biometric passports originally tabled as required from October, but will still require visitors from “visa waiver” countries (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) to have fingerprints and photographs taken.
Interestingly, Brazil has reciprocated by requiring all American visitors to undergo the same requirements on entering Brazil. Given the ballyhoo over Immigration in the UK at the moment, it looks like our borders will be widened, not tightened in the coming weeks.
In a related article on the US demanding passenger details, Wired covers the recent European Parliament vote (229 to 202) which determined that
it was illegal for the United States to force European airlines to provide data on arriving passengers and threatened to go to court to block an agreement that calls for the information sharing.
Interesting times.
