The government has announced that starting Monday, everyone visiting Britain will need to be fingerprinted.
Liam Byrne, Immigration Minister said anyone from any one of 133 countries applying for a British visa would be required to have their fingerprints checked against a specific database.
Byrne stated that the new system, which has been gradually introduced since September 2006 has already been a success, capturing biometric information from over a million people and detecting approximately 500 instances of identity fraud.
One of the central issues in the government’s new immigration plan is to log and check the biometric information of all visitors to the UK. The strategy also includes introducing a points based system, similar to the one in place in Australia in order to attract skilled migrants to the UK.
In addition, the new strategy also includes a police border force as well as fines for employers who do not take the necessary steps to make sure that their workers are legally allowed to work in Britain.
