Government Unveils Biometric Exit Process at Atlanta Airport

March 31, 2005
US-Visit program records fingerprints, photos and passports as foreigners leave country

ATLANTA (AP) - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has started a new exit process for foreign visitors at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Robert Mocny, Deputy Director of the US-VISIT program, says foreign visitors with a visa or under the U.S. Visa waiver program must now officially report their exit from the country.

Visitors must record their fingerprints, have their pictures taken and have their passport digitally recorded at their departure gates.

Mocny said at a news conference at the airport Thursday that the procedure "closes the loop" on a visitor's official status in the United States.

To enter the United States, foreign visitors must digitally record their fingerprints and have their picture taken.

Previously, there was no real-time way of tracking foreign visitors when they left the country.

The pilot program started in January, 2004 at Baltimore-Washington International Airport and the Miami International Cruise Line terminal. Homeland Security officials hope to install the new exit procedures at all international airports and seaports by the end of the year.