WASHINGTON DC, United States (CMC) – The United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency says it has completed the expansion of biometric facial comparison technology at all international airports across the United States to further secure and streamline travel from the Caribbean and other places.

“This innovation effort is a critical milestone for the biometric Entry/Exit program, and complements biometric boarding, which is currently at select departure locations,” said CBP in a statement.

It said the Simplified Arrival is an enhanced international arrival process that uses facial biometrics to automate the manual document checks that are already required for admission into the United States.

“This process provides travellers with a secure, more touchless travel experience while fulfilling a longstanding Congressional mandate to biometrically record the entry and exit of non-US citizens,” CBP said.

In addition, it said Caribbean and other foreign travellers, who have visited the United States previously, may no longer need to provide fingerprints, as their identity will be confirmed through the touchless facial biometric process.

“I am very proud that CBP accomplished this critical milestone to deploy facial biometrics at entry at all US airports and continues to play a significant role in the travel recovery efforts,” said Diane J. Sabatino, deputy executive assistant commissioner, Office of Field Operations, CBP.

“The use of facial biometrics for identity verification brings travellers one step closer to a truly touchless process that is secure and streamlines travel while protecting their privacy and enhancing the customer experience.”

CBP said it and its stakeholder partners have been expanding the use of facial biometrics through public/partnerships “to further secure and streamline travel well before the COVID-19 pandemic to meet the biometric exit mandate while supporting air travel modernisation efforts.”

When a traveller arrives at an international airport, CBP said he or she will pause for a photo at the primary inspection point.

CBP said an officer will review and query the travel document, which will retrieve the traveller’s passport or visa photo from government holdings and compare it to the new photo.

It said new photos of US citizens will be deleted within 12 hours, and that photos of most Caribbean and other foreign nationals will be stored in a secure Department of Homeland Security system.

CBP said US travellers and Caribbean and other foreign nationals, who are not required to provide biometrics and wish to opt-out of the new biometric process, can simply notify a CBP officer as they approach the primary inspection point.

“These travellers will be required to present a valid travel document for inspection by a CBP officer and will be processed, consistent with existing requirements for admission into the United States,” CBP said.

Since September 2018, CBP said it has leveraged facial biometrics to prevent more than 1,450 imposters from illegally entering the United States by using genuine travel documents that were issued to other people.