Australian IT

US plans biometric database for visas

February 18, 2003
By Karen Dearne

In a project of unprecedented scale, the US plans to capture fingerprint, facial or iris biometrics when people apply for passports or visas to enter the country.

This data will be cross-matched when visitors arrive at any one of the US's 422 ports of entry.

The system will cost between $US1.3 billion ($2.22 billion) and $US2.9 billion, according to the US General Accounting Office.

Annual operating costs of up to $US1.5 billion are estimated.

Under the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act, the system is supposed to be operational by October 2004.

Countries in the Visa Waiver Program, including Australia, will be required to incorporate biometrics in their passports if they wish to retain visa-free entry status.

International Biometric Group Washington director Denny Carlton said the scope of the challenge was enormous.

"The prospects for meeting the aggressive deadline are not good," he said.

In a study for the White House, IBG found fingerprints to be the most effective biometric for issuing visas and border control.

It has, however, recommended the deployment of three systems to provide a choice - fingerprint, face and iris recognition.

"The US Government needs a technology that's going to accommodate the interests of different countries," IBG special projects director Michael Thieme.

"We know certain countries are just not going to tolerate giving fingerprints."

There were many technical problems to overcome Mr Carlton said.

"Biometrics will have to be effective at the Canadian border in winter and the Mexican border in summer," he said.

"US consulates are not staffed to accommodate a personal visit from everyone applying for a visa."

IBG recommends "deploying ATM-like self-service kiosks" to capture applicants' biometric samples.

Meanwhile, Mr Thieme said, centralised databases were essential.

"It makes sense to store biometrics centrally when people acquire travel documents, because everybody has to be compared against everybody else," he said.

"At a border, you are just comparing one person to one record.

"For that, you could have regional databases where face or fingerprint data collected in Australia could be held for matching under a share arrangement."

Shared databases would provide a way around the tricky problem of some countries not wanting to hand over their citizens' data to the US.

Mr Thieme warned there was "nothing to stop the US putting in its own scanners at ports to start building its own databases".

"I am not advocating that, but there's simply no approach that's viable that can preclude the use of databases."