Fingerprints, iris recognition and tagging 'to cut immigration'

The UK is to get its own US-VISIT-style biometric system to record the fingerprints of immigrants coming into the country, the government has announced.

In a move designed to raise the political stakes on the issue of immigration, Home Secretary Charles Clarke announced today that all visa applicants will be fingerprinted once they arrive at UK ports of entry.

The fingerprinting procedure is expected to be in place by 2008.

In addition to the biometric rollout, the UK government will be putting in place 'electronic borders'.

The e-Borders scheme, which begun its trial in December of 2004 on a selected few routes, will run for 39 months and will be replaced with a full implementation at the end of the trial.

The e-Borders system will capture, review and store data about immigrants on travel routes. As well as collecting arrival and departure information, the system will mean carriers will be obliged to submit information about their passengers to the UK authorities before the travellers' arrival.

The names will be cross-referenced against existing databases of banned individuals and passenger name records (PNRs), which hold personal data about the passenger, will be measured against risk scales to determine if the visitor is thought to pose a threat.

The Home Office report into the new immigration policy said: "The database of information and increasing collection of biometric data will make it harder for people to conceal their identity."

Iris scanning will also make an appearance in the e-Borders system. Certain categories of regular traveller will be allowed to pass through immigration faster by giving an iris scan.

The implementation of the biometric technology will start at Heathrow terminals two and four on 28 February, with terminals one and three, both Gatwick terminals, Birmingham, Manchester, and Stansted airports having the technology live by the end of the year.

The report claims the system will be "watertight", despite significant problems with a similar government system.

Clarke also announced that electronic tagging will be used to keep track of immigrants whose applications are turned down.

The controversial scheme will also a points system introduced to favour immigrants with job skills considered vital to the UK, such as teachers and IT workers.