List of countries/airports who take fingerprints and other biometric data
Dec 27, 2017, 4:22 pm
#106
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: BNE
Programs: NZ*G, QF Bronze, VA Red
Posts: 563
Jan 21, 2018, 9:27 pm
#109
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: SGN/SIN
Posts: 44
Nope. Only passing thru immi but seems hit and miss. I use the automated turnstiles but have noticed sometimes they sometimes take fingerprints/photos at the booths and sometimes not. A friend visited before Xmas (US passport) and was only photographed and no fingerprints; nothing on way out.
. Can anyone confirm if there are biometrics taken in Hong Kong Airport for transit?
Jan 22, 2018, 5:46 pm
#111
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: IAD
Programs: Delta AmEx Gold, United MileagePlus Explorer, Former Delta Silver Medallion & United Premier Silver
Posts: 121
Feb 5, 2018, 2:13 am
#112
Join Date: Oct 2006
Programs: AS, FB, MB, MR, HH
Posts: 347
Canada no fingerprints taken, except in rare circumstances in secondary inspection.
However introduction of Primary Inspection Kiosks (PIK) means Canada can now take a photo of ALL pax (citizen, resident, visitor) on arrival. Legally though you are entitled to proceed straight to a CBSA agent with a paper form if you so chose. There is no legislation making the use of PIK mandatory, though the airport-employed maze lizards will put up stiff resistance.
PIK are currently operating for international arrivals at these airports , YOW, YVR, YYZ (T3), YEG, YHZ, YUL, YQB, with more airports to follow.
PIK are not to be confused with the older ABC kiosks, still in operation at YYC, which do not take a photo.
However introduction of Primary Inspection Kiosks (PIK) means Canada can now take a photo of ALL pax (citizen, resident, visitor) on arrival. Legally though you are entitled to proceed straight to a CBSA agent with a paper form if you so chose. There is no legislation making the use of PIK mandatory, though the airport-employed maze lizards will put up stiff resistance.
PIK are currently operating for international arrivals at these airports , YOW, YVR, YYZ (T3), YEG, YHZ, YUL, YQB, with more airports to follow.
PIK are not to be confused with the older ABC kiosks, still in operation at YYC, which do not take a photo.
Feb 24, 2018, 7:42 pm
#113
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 35
I was in for a pleasant surprise when arriving in China about two weeks ago: No fingerprint scanners to be seen anywhere at PEK (Beijing Capital Airport). Seems like the roll-out is happening much slower than expected - I would have thought that, with the manpower available, the Chinese government would have pushed this through quickly, but alas, I won't complain! It makes me wonder whether there scanners in operation anywhere except for SZX.
As a consequence I've added a note to the most recent version of the table. I have also added Cuba as per okamzikprosim's comment.
Thank you for reporting this! Pretty much the same is happening for departures at AKL (Auckland, New Zealand) now - all passport holders eligible for Smartgate are asked to use them despite being no official rule to do so, and staff gets agitated easily when questioning this. Strangely though, this is not true for arrivals (yet).
As a consequence I've added a note to the most recent version of the table. I have also added Cuba as per okamzikprosim's comment.
However introduction of Primary Inspection Kiosks (PIK) means Canada can now take a photo of ALL pax (citizen, resident, visitor) on arrival. Legally though you are entitled to proceed straight to a CBSA agent with a paper form if you so chose. There is no legislation making the use of PIK mandatory, though the airport-employed maze lizards will put up stiff resistance.
Mar 8, 2018, 12:38 pm
#114
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 4
Does anyone know if Switzerland is taking fingerprints from arriving visitors now? I have seen a mention here and also when Googling around about them installing some fingerprint stations, but do they use it for visitors in general or only certain special cases?
Mar 8, 2018, 2:02 pm
#115
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 35
There have been fingerprint scanners at (for example) ZRH for a long time, but I've never seen them being used - not surprisingly since there is no regular fingerprinting yet when entering Schengen. So the answer is no, Switzerland does not take any - that may change in 2020 when the Schengen Entry/Exit System is supposed to be in place. I assume the Swiss are just overprepared.
Mar 10, 2018, 3:35 am
#116
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: NW London and NW Sydney
Programs: BA Diamond, Hilton Bronze, A3 Diamond, IHG *G
Posts: 6,343
I just visited the UAE and unlike on my last visit some time ago, they didn't take my photo or do an iris scan. This time I used the Emirates terminal (3) at DXB but I used Terminal 1 previously.
Mar 11, 2018, 9:44 am
#117
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 4
There have been fingerprint scanners at (for example) ZRH for a long time, but I've never seen them being used - not surprisingly since there is no regular fingerprinting yet when entering Schengen. So the answer is no, Switzerland does not take any - that may change in 2020 when the Schengen Entry/Exit System is supposed to be in place. I assume the Swiss are just overprepared.
Would also like to ask about the Netherlands. Does anyone know if biometrics are taken when entering the Netherlands? from AMS airport mainly. From Googling it I haven't seen anything about biometric scanning in the Netherlands, but maybe anyone can confirm that?
Mar 11, 2018, 11:46 pm
#118
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 264
There have been fingerprint scanners at (for example) ZRH for a long time, but I've never seen them being used - not surprisingly since there is no regular fingerprinting yet when entering Schengen. So the answer is no, Switzerland does not take any - that may change in 2020 when the Schengen Entry/Exit System is supposed to be in place. I assume the Swiss are just overprepared.
Mar 12, 2018, 7:00 am
#119
Join Date: Oct 2016
Posts: 41
Schengen points-of-entry should all have fingerprint scanners for visa-holders, but these are not for recording biometrics but for comparison with the fingerprints already recorded in the VIS-database. This will change though when the electronic entry/exit system gets implemented. 2020 is the target date but it's an continent-wide IT project on a staggering scale so I'm guessing some delays in the implementations would not be surprising.