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mlacks

I’ve been to China three time in the past three years; I’ve never had to be fingerprinted.

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Been over 40 times this year, get my finger prints checked every time I go through the Shenzhen border.

Was in Shanghai yesterday, at Pudong. Got all 10 fingerprints and face scan.

Anecdata but I got fingerprinted just passing through Shanghai airport in transit at the end of 2018.

I haven't visited the US or transited through a US airport but again anecdotally I've heard this happens there too (even in transit).

The US has been doing that for about 15 years, based on laws (such as US-VISIT) passed after 9/11.

Jan 2004: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3875747/ns/us_news-security/t/us-b...

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/other-vi...

https://epic.org/privacy/us-visit/

> The US has been doing that for about 15 years

Except for US citizens and Canadians. Interestingly, Canada is the only country exempt from the US fingerprinting requirement, at least for tourism or business entry.

I would assume because they consider Canadians generally lower risk, have good relations with Canadian authorities, and really don't want to slow down the line at border crossings.

I'm not sure about transit but when I (EU citizen) have been to the US they took all ten of my fingerprints, and this has also been the experience of my friends.

(Incidentally, my own government doesn't even have any of my fingerprints...)

Your handle suggests you're Dutch: every Dutch passport issued in the last decade (and hence, I think almost every current valid Dutch passport?) has your fingerprints. In fact, the Netherlands is the only EU country so far (I think) that's storing them all together centrally, not just in the passport.

https://web.archive.org/web/20100108102201/http://www.nrc.nl...

That article is from 2009. I believe a few years later fingerprinting was scrapped again due to public backlash. Now they're implementing it again due to EU regulations.

I wouldn't be so certain that your government does not have your fingerprint... if it's European you can bet that at least your secret services have it as part of "we spy on your citizens, you on ours" agreement.

Of course they do - at least in Germany. Your biometrics are part of your personal ID and passport. It is only thumb and index finger though plus facial scan / photo.

The prints are only stored on the passport/ID card and not indexed by the government (although there are plans to change this)

Incidentally, when EU countries introduced biometric passports in mid 2000s, USA was one of the first countries to actually require the fingerprints and not accept older but otherwise valid documents.

> even in transit

There isn't the concept of international transit in the US. You have to "fully" enter the country as there aren't separate international terminals with passport checking and whatnot.

There's a short stay transit visa if you are just using the US as a connection point, though.

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