Lines getting longer for international visitors
The national average wait for international visitors at US airports is 43 minutes. The longest average wait: 73 minutes at Honolulu. In second and third place: Honolulu, and Dulles.
But there’s a good chance those waiting times will get even longer this fall, says Pacific Business News.
Starting 30 Sept., international visitors are set to go through an extended immigration process that includes fingerprinting and digital photographs.
In addition, a program scheduled to go into effect 26 Oct. will require citizens of the 27 countries that are part of the US visa-waiver program to carry biometric passports to enter the US.
The biometrics passports would feature the owner’s biometric identity, which could be face, fingerprint or hand geometry.
Visitors from Canada and Mexico are exempt from the new requirements.
The new rules could impact 20 million passengers, whose waiting time would be at least several minutes more, said Pacific Business News.
Said Cathy Keefe, spokeswoman for the Travel Industry Association of America:
“We understand the need for security but our concern is that it will clog up entry into the United States.”
The Us House, however, voted recently to extend the deadline for requirment for biometric identifiers. The measure at this time is pending in the Senate.
Both the Travel Industry Association of America and the Natonal Business Travel Association lobbied hard for the delay.
Report by David Wilkening
David
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