New U.K. biomteric trial at Gatwick

As of yesterday, passengers at London’s Gatwick airport are having their fingerprints recorded in a new trial. Immigration Minister Liam Byrne visited Gatwick’s North Terminal to see the BioDev project in action. The trial is part of the overhaul of the U.K. border security systems which already sees U.K. visas collecting fingerprints from visa applicants across the world. During the trial, which continues until April 2008, the fingerprints and photographs of passengers presenting biometric visas issued in Freetown, Sierra Leone will be checked again in the U.K. and anyone found attempting to enter the United Kingdom illegally will be refused entry. The trial builds on the Border and Immigration Agency target to check biometrics from all non-EEA (European Economic Area) non-visa nationals at the U.K. arrival control check-points by 2011. Byrne said that the “New fingerprint visas are fast becoming our first line of defense against illegal immigration. By establishing people’s identities beyond any doubt before they enter the U.K. we can stamp out multiple applications and identity fraud — ensuring entry only to those who are welcome. Biometric technology is transforming the way we protect our borders. Through projects like the BioDev trial we are creating a triple ring of security: identifying individuals before they travel to the U.K. through a biometric visa, then checking it at the border, and finally, from 2008, rolling out ID cards for foreign nationals in the U.K.”

Compulsory fingerprinting is now part of the U.K. visa application process in more than 100 countries worldwide. Fingerprints are checked against U.K. government records to see whether the individual is already known to the Border and Immigration Agency. The agency said that the new system has already found that 8,000 sets of prints matched quickly and successfully to individuals of concern, thus proving the effectiveness of the biometric checks.