Air America breaking news: "USA to fingerprint ALL visitors !!!"

On Sat, 03 Apr 2004 16:43:30 GMT, Cyrus Afzali
wrote:

On Sat, 03 Apr 2004 15:08:54 GMT, "Pete"
wrote:

...and even with that, it's still going to be faster than most customs
checks in 99% of the countries in the world.

When I arrive at JFK, I often wait 10-30 minutes in line, and I am a
USA citizen. The other lines are worse, and this is without the finger-
printing and photographing. I contrast that to countries like Finland,
Sweden, Austria, and Switzerland, where I breeze by passport control
hardly slowing down. I am sure this is the same for Denmark, Norway,
Iceland, and many other European countries. Your 99% must exclude
Europe, right?

If the country in question is part of the US-VISIT program, or
whatever it's called, the queues are often much shorter and the
screening is done before departure from the country you visited. I
just returned from Ireland a few weeks ago and all screening was done
in Shannon. The only thing done here was the agricultural
questionnaire.


Ireland is one of the very few exceptions in having pre-clearance, has
been for years. That doesn't help other Europeans, Australians, New
Zealanders, etc.
--==++AJC++==--

Chad Irby schrieb:

In article ,
"nobody760" wrote:

So the message is visiting the USA is more trouble than its worth so I'll go
some place else.

Yeah, that two minute fingerprinting and photo is *sooo* hard after a
six-hour plane flight...

...and even with that, it's still going to be faster than most customs
checks in 99% of the countries in the world.

Obviously you have never stood in line at SFO behind 4 other jumbojets
of passengers and 2 officers on duty.

T.


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In article ,
"Sjoerd" wrote:

That's not true. US immigration queues are amongst the longest in the world.

From the number of people, or from the speed of the process?

And the funny thing is, the people who are complaining about the US
wanting photos and fingerprints to come in are often from countries that
already insist on that for their own citizens (like Brazil).

--
cirby at cfl.rr.com

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In article ,
"Marie Lewis" wrote:

Please note that we all have the rest of the world to visit. Why visit a
country which treats us as criminals?

On the other hand, you could always visit Spain, and relax on their
nice, safe, high-speed trains. Or the ones in France.

--
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YAWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Chad Irby" wrote in message
om...
In article ,
"Marie Lewis" wrote:

Please note that we all have the rest of the world to visit. Why visit
a
country which treats us as criminals?

On the other hand, you could always visit Spain, and relax on their
nice, safe, high-speed trains. Or the ones in France.

--
cirby at cfl.rr.com

Remember: Objects in rearview mirror may be hallucinations.
Slam on brakes accordingly.

In article ,
Wolfgang Schwanke wrote:

Chad Irby wrote in
. com:

In article ,
"nobody760" wrote:

So the message is visiting the USA is more trouble than its worth so
I'll go some place else.

Yeah, that two minute fingerprinting and photo is *sooo* hard after a
six-hour plane flight...

It's not the _time_ it takes which offends people.

If people were worried about bureaucratic nosiness, they wouldn't go to
most of Europe in the first place.

--
cirby at cfl.rr.com

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In article ,
AJC wrote:

On Sat, 03 Apr 2004 13:57:38 GMT, Chad Irby wrote:

...and even with that, it's still going to be faster than most customs
checks in 99% of the countries in the world.

You don't get out very much do you?

I'm sure *you* don't, if you think US Customs and Immigration is bad,
compared to most places. Try any of the African nations, for example.
Or Russia.

--
cirby at cfl.rr.com

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Slam on brakes accordingly.

In article ,
"Lennart Petersen" wrote:

99% ? Interesting. I transferred recently in 6 minutes from International
to domestic including security check. Was in Sandefjord Norway.
How many transfers international-domestic are done in less 6 minutes in U.S
?

You're taking a very unusual example (EU internal transfers), and
pretending that it's common worldwide.

Now, *that's* interesting.

--
cirby at cfl.rr.com

Remember: Objects in rearview mirror may be hallucinations.
Slam on brakes accordingly.

Chad Irby wrote:

In article ,
"nobody760" wrote:


So the message is visiting the USA is more trouble than its worth so I'll go
some place else.


Yeah, that two minute fingerprinting and photo is *sooo* hard after a
six-hour plane flight...

I agree that it isn't much time for one person, but doesn't that at
least double the amount of time the person spends with the immigration
officer? And if we double it for each person, how long does that make
the average time in queue.


...and even with that, it's still going to be faster than most customs
checks in 99% of the countries in the world.

I assume you meant Immigration and not Customs, as Customs is generally
nothing more than handing the form to the Custom's person on the way out
of the room.
99 percent?? Really? In Europe, I can't recall I am even asked more
than one question. I would guess the process takes under a minute
normally. I also experienced nothing more than a look at the passport
and a couple of questions or less in Mexico (MEX & CUN) and Costa Rica
(SJO) last year.
Immigration delay is one of the reasons I hate flying into SVO, but the
99 percent figure really is not even close.

I don't think adding the photo and fingerprints would add much time to
each person, but multiply that by everyone in the queue and remember
that some airports already have long waits for immigration checks.

Dick Locke wrote:

On Sat, 03 Apr 2004 13:57:38 GMT, Chad Irby wrote:


.and even with that, it's still going to be faster than most customs
checks in 99% of the countries in the world.


Say what? The US is one of a few countries that doesn't allow arriving
passengers to pick a green lane if they have nothing to declare.

We don't need one. I can't recall ever waiting for Customs. You usually
just hand them the form on the way out.