Brit3964

I seem to remember reading somewhere that it's up to the individual airports to decide how they handle the incoming visitors, LPRs and USCs regarding which line to use. A sensible idea would be to have a new separate line for LPR's only. That way it won't piss off the USC's with potential delays and still allow LPR's to pass through with relative ease. It'll all come down to budgets and space available of course, so the bigger airports will have the room and money to equip a new line.

I found PHL to have the longest wait. It was about a 50/50 mix between USC's/LPRs and visitors, SFO & ATL I went straight through with no wait. My mom comes over quite regularly and it's a lottery at CLT. Sometimes it's quick, sometimes it's a 2hr wait.

MsElui

surely its not to get another set of your fingerprints but to verify the person seeking entry at that time is in deed the person who actually went through the GC process in the first place?

i dont have a GC yet - but I must say i dont give a toss if they want more copies of my fingerprints. Its certainly no big deal for me apart from a delay in processing time.

nettlebed

Not sure if it's still the case, but in the late '80s PHL did not have a permanently staffed immigration section. I remember arriving early from LHR once, and having to sit on the plane while we waited for the immigration staff to arrive and get set up in the terminal.

Brit3964

That's the intention of it. But as I said earlier, the only way around it would be for somebody to steal your identity, ie. look and speak like you with your fingerprints..all 10 of them! Who would be willing to do that when there are easier ways to enter? The older style GC's with no expiration date will soon be not accepted at the POE's once the that rule goes into effect.

Brit3964

Well it was in 2002 when I came back in through PHL so I guess not much change there

MsElui

yes - but they can get in that way NOW - ie pretending to be a GC holder whom they vaguely resemble and the new procedure will prevent that.

surly

I'm all for making LPRs go through the visitors line if it makes the USC line shorter and quicker.

Can I go through the British Citizen line in London with my US Passport? It does say place of birth United Kingdom on my US passport.

surly

Helps to keep the riffraff out too.

Octang Frye

The phrase is "I couldn't care less", meaning that it isn't possible to care any less than you already do. Sorry, a pet peeve of mine.

You're new here. Welcome. I was being facetious when I made my comment. Anyone who seriously uses the "if you have nothing to hide" argument is swiftly added to the list of people I never want to have any association or communication with because they are clearly complete morons.

Steerpike

Come on, Octang - Americans use the 'could care less' variant and, like many phrases, doesn't bare too much analysis - it's an expression, not a legal statement.
You can object to the process because it's tedious, because it's pointless, because it wastes money, and for many other reasons, but objecting to it on the basis of 'government surveillance' or whatever is a bit of a stretch on this one.

Like I said earlier - I wish people would worry more about banks, insurance companies and other private entities mis-using your SSN information ... Identity theft is REAL ...

Tracym

That was my impression.

According to Mr. F on another thread, they're not taking a full set of fingerprints anyway - a digital pic and one finger. So perhaps it won't be a huge delay - guess we'll see.

hobbes79

To be argumentative, the same could be said about a dishonest individual that vaguely resembles a US passport holder.

By the same logic, all US citizens should be finger printed as a requirement for a US passport and be finger printed every time they enter the country to verify they are the person on the passport...

I'll put $5 on hearing the two words "against" and "constitution" within 3 mins if that ever happens

Brit3964

That remains to be seen although that Cnet article mentions all 10 fingerprints "Refusing to give prints of all 10 fingers will result in being denied entry to the country"

Maybe they would normally only take one print and if that doesn't check out, then they would take all 10?

Brit3964

Correct. If they were really serious about the fraud issue, that loophole should be closed. The day they do start fingerprinting every USC for passport issue is the day Americans will have given up their freedom and civil liberties IMO. Note the 2002 DHS law only applies to non-USC's for secure entry-exit procedures. They daren't try to apply it to USC's...yet, hopefully never.

chartreuse

Exactly. They are not serious, this is just an example of Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureacracy in action. Somebody at DHS wants to increase head count to make himself more important. That necessitates extra duties. Those duties have to be performed on somebody, and performing them on USCs would create a stink. Hello, what's this? LPRs? They're furriners, ain't they? They can't complain, so problem solved.