Beginning January 1, 2004, millions of foreign tourists, business travelers and students arriving in the US will be subjected to more intensive checks at US ports of entry like airports and seaports.

Once visitors arrive, they will be fingerprinted, photographed and checked against a terrorist watch list before entering the US. The new program, announced this week by the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is called "US VISIT: United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology".

US VISIT will affect visitors from all countries that are currently subject to a visa requirement.

Countries not affected include Canada (citizens are required only to present a driver's license upon arrival in the US) and the 27 "Visa Waiver" countries (see list).

However, by October 2004, even the visa waiver countries will be required to use biometrics (ie fingerprinting and facial scanning) to identify visa applicants in order to retain their visa status, so if you are a citizen of one of these countries you should prepare to be checked at the US embassy in your country when you apply for a visa.

Immigrant advocates caution that the US VISIT system may lead to some serious mistakes, caused by identical names in the terrorist database. In rare cases, innocent arrivals could be identified as terrorists.

The system may cause some delays at airports, but immigration officials claim these delays will be minor.