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U.S. Embassy Vilnius will Begin Fingerpint Scans for VISA Applications

August 19, 2004

Media event:

American Embassy is kindly inviting media representatives to participate in the planned event on Monday, 23 August 2004.

Please arrive at 10.30 a.m. at the main embassy entrance on Akmenų 6, Vilnius.

Ms. Eglė Špokaitė, Ms. Edita Mildažytė, Mr. Šarūnas Marčiulionis and Mr. Edmundas Jakilaitis will be on hand to use the new system.  

Registration required: please provide names of visitors by Friday, 20 August, 4 p.m.  

Tel: 370 5 2660330; e-mail: litevkaitea@state.gov

On 23 August 2004, the U.S. Embassy in Vilnius will begin collecting digitally scanned fingerprints from U.S. visa applicants in Vilnius.  This new procedure will be instituted in accordance with the current U.S. law, which requires that biometric identifiers be collected from all visa applicants by October 24, 2004.  

Two electronic finger scans will be collected from each applicant by using a scanner.  No ink will be used; the process takes only seconds.  Prints of the left and right index fingers of the applicants will be taken.

All visa applicants will have to be finger-scanned except: children under 14 years of age, applicants over 79 years of age, and government and international organizations employees traveling on official business.

Only those who are applying for a new visa must be fingerprinted.  Previously issued visas will remain valid; no one will need to renew a valid visa until it expires.  

If a visa applicant refuses to be finger scanned, his or her application will be considered incomplete and therefore not processed.  However, an applicant who later decides to provide finger scans could reactivate that application.

The collection of fingerprints is the latest step in the U.S. government's efforts to improve the security of the visa process.  On January 5 of this year, fingerprint scans and digital photographs began to be taken of all travelers arriving in the U.S. with visas.  These efforts of the United States Government should enhance security, expedite legitimate travel and trade, and protect the integrity of the immigration system by ensuring that the person entering the United States is the same person who applied for the visa.