On Sat, 03 Apr 2004 19:18:12 -0500, Peter Kemp
wrote:

On Sat, 03 Apr 2004 15:32:04 -0400, nobody wrote:

Peter Kemp wrote:
I'm just glad I get an exemption from the process thanks to a nice
shiny government visa, because otherwise I would *ot* come to the US

I thought it was currently the opposite: all those entering on a visa are fingerprinted.
In october, it will be all travellers whether on a real visa, or a 90 day visa waiver.

For standard tourist visas you are correct, anyone holding one goes
through the process. I've got a different type of visa as I'm in the
US on UK government business. Which is exempt from the procedures (and
also means that I tend to spend less time at immigration even than US
citizens).
Still takes too bloody long though - of the 30+ countries I've been
to, entering over half I've never had to spend more than 20 seconds at
immigration (and quite often just walk past showing the *outside* of
my UK passport), and I'll be buggered if they're getting my
fingerprints without a fight.

---

That surprises me. You must have a very special visa. Even the visas
that airline crews hold have required them to be fingerprinted and
photographed each time they enter the US since January this year. Air
New Zealand crew members were telling me it routinely takes them an
hour to get through the formalities at LAX.
--==++AJC++==--