http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1001970--visa-from-india-show-us-your-fingerprint?bn=1
NEW DELHI—Canada appears to be heading for another diplomatic dust-up with India.
As part of an update of Canada’s immigration safeguards, the federal government is planning to begin demanding that Indian citizens applying to travel to Canada provide their fingerprints, a requirement that visitors from other countries, such as Mexico and China, are not going to face immediately.
Canada has been eager for several years to introduce biometrics to its border controls. The technology has already been employed for years by other Western countries to battle immigration fraud.
Currently, Canadian border agents rely on photo identification to decide if the person standing in front of them matches their passport.
Biometrics cuts out that subjectivity, using digital measurements of a person’s fingerprints, face, and retinas that can be stored on computer chips and machine-readable strips.
Data can be checked at border entry points, where travelers are asked to put their fingers on scanners. The systems are said to be so sensitive that they can distinguish between identical twins.
Ottawa has decided on fingerprint technology instead of facial recognition software, and according to people familiar with the matter, India is a favoured candidate to be one of the first countries for the rollout of the $200 million program.
That amount is not enough to introduce biometrics in every Canadian overseas mission, so immigration officials are now trying to decide which countries should be first.
Security hotspots like Pakistan and Yemen are at the top of the list, but there was room for one large-volume nation as well, according to sources, and India is the recommended choice over China.
The decision could damage relations between Canada and India, which have only recently begun to improve.
Last year, Canada was flayed on the front pages of India’s leading newspapers after visa officers at the Canadian High Commission refused applications from several current and retired Indian military officers because of their involvement with the paramilitary Border Security Force, which was formed following India’s 1965 war with Pakistan and still patrols areas in Kashmir and near the Bangladesh border. Canadian diplomats wrote in refusal letters that the BSF is a “notoriously violent unit” that engages in “systematic torture.”
The Canadian government acted fast to defuse the scandal — even though some of the military officers interviewed as part of their visa application had admitted to taking part in torture.
Joseph Caron, who has served as head of Canada’s mission to both India and China, agreed that introducing biometrics in India before China would be sensitive, but said the Indian government could be convinced the decision was good news.
“Having this technology means having better, more reliable records,” Caron said.
While some officials at Citizenship and Immigration Canada favour adding India to the biometrics rollout, no firm decisions on a final roster have taken place, said one person familiar with the matter.
A spokesperson for Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Kelli Fraser, said the government was committing $174 million over five years to introduce the biometrics program, starting in 2013.
Fraser wouldn’t address the political sensitivities of including India and excluding regional rival China in the roll-out.
“The list of countries is still under consideration at this time and there is no set list at this time,” Fraser wrote in an email to the Star.
It’s still possible the biometric requirements could be introduced simultaneously to both countries. High-ranking officials with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade are said to be lobbying against including India in the initial rollout.
“Any policy that lumps India in with troubled countries is bad optics,” says Rana Sarkar, president of the Canada-India Business Council.
India has been a trouble spot for visa fraud in the past.
Two years ago, Jet Airways, the country’s largest private carrier, came close to losing its landing privileges in Canada after Canada Border Service Agency agents discovered dozens of the airline’s passengers arriving at Pearson International Airport with fake travel documents.
In most cases, a person with an extensive international travel history applied for and received a legitimate Canadian visa. The photo page of their Indian passport was then replaced with a doctored one and used by a different person.
Biometrics would make that kind of fraud far more difficult. It would also help to identify foreign nationals who have a criminal record or are on government watch lists.
There would be at least some disadvantages to introducing biometrics.
Currently, Indian business executives who travel to the United States or the United Kingdom must book an appointment to have their fingerprints scanned. Those traveling to Canada haven’t faced that requirement, perhaps making Canada a more favourable destination.
There are also questions over how Indians living abroad would be treated. If Indian citizens in Canada were forced to provide biometrics but those in the U.K. weren’t, that would invite further criticism.
In 2006, Citizenship and Immigration Canada spent $3.5 million on a biometrics field trial at its offices in Hong Kong and Seattle, as well as the refugee-processing centre in Etobicoke.
During the six-month trial, 14,285 visa applicants provided fingerprints and high-resolution photos, and verification was accurate in 96 per cent of cases. The sole case of identity fraud in the trial involved a person claiming refugee protection at the Refugee Intake Centre in Toronto, the CIC said on its Website.
It’s possible outrage in India over Canadian proposal might be tempered by the Indian government’s own program that’s using biometrics to assemble a database covering all of the country’s 1.2 billion citizens.
“I think the sensitivity towards biometrics might have fallen off a bit because of that,” Sarkar says.
NEW DELHI—Canada appears to be heading for another diplomatic dust-up with India.
As part of an update of Canada’s immigration safeguards, the federal government is planning to begin demanding that Indian citizens applying to travel to Canada provide their fingerprints, a requirement that visitors from other countries, such as Mexico and China, are not going to face immediately.
Canada has been eager for several years to introduce biometrics to its border controls. The technology has already been employed for years by other Western countries to battle immigration fraud.
Currently, Canadian border agents rely on photo identification to decide if the person standing in front of them matches their passport.
Biometrics cuts out that subjectivity, using digital measurements of a person’s fingerprints, face, and retinas that can be stored on computer chips and machine-readable strips.
Data can be checked at border entry points, where travelers are asked to put their fingers on scanners. The systems are said to be so sensitive that they can distinguish between identical twins.
Ottawa has decided on fingerprint technology instead of facial recognition software, and according to people familiar with the matter, India is a favoured candidate to be one of the first countries for the rollout of the $200 million program.
That amount is not enough to introduce biometrics in every Canadian overseas mission, so immigration officials are now trying to decide which countries should be first.
Security hotspots like Pakistan and Yemen are at the top of the list, but there was room for one large-volume nation as well, according to sources, and India is the recommended choice over China.
The decision could damage relations between Canada and India, which have only recently begun to improve.
Last year, Canada was flayed on the front pages of India’s leading newspapers after visa officers at the Canadian High Commission refused applications from several current and retired Indian military officers because of their involvement with the paramilitary Border Security Force, which was formed following India’s 1965 war with Pakistan and still patrols areas in Kashmir and near the Bangladesh border. Canadian diplomats wrote in refusal letters that the BSF is a “notoriously violent unit” that engages in “systematic torture.”
The Canadian government acted fast to defuse the scandal — even though some of the military officers interviewed as part of their visa application had admitted to taking part in torture.
Joseph Caron, who has served as head of Canada’s mission to both India and China, agreed that introducing biometrics in India before China would be sensitive, but said the Indian government could be convinced the decision was good news.
“Having this technology means having better, more reliable records,” Caron said.
While some officials at Citizenship and Immigration Canada favour adding India to the biometrics rollout, no firm decisions on a final roster have taken place, said one person familiar with the matter.
A spokesperson for Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Kelli Fraser, said the government was committing $174 million over five years to introduce the biometrics program, starting in 2013.
Fraser wouldn’t address the political sensitivities of including India and excluding regional rival China in the roll-out.
“The list of countries is still under consideration at this time and there is no set list at this time,” Fraser wrote in an email to the Star.
It’s still possible the biometric requirements could be introduced simultaneously to both countries. High-ranking officials with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade are said to be lobbying against including India in the initial rollout.
“Any policy that lumps India in with troubled countries is bad optics,” says Rana Sarkar, president of the Canada-India Business Council.
India has been a trouble spot for visa fraud in the past.
Two years ago, Jet Airways, the country’s largest private carrier, came close to losing its landing privileges in Canada after Canada Border Service Agency agents discovered dozens of the airline’s passengers arriving at Pearson International Airport with fake travel documents.
In most cases, a person with an extensive international travel history applied for and received a legitimate Canadian visa. The photo page of their Indian passport was then replaced with a doctored one and used by a different person.
Biometrics would make that kind of fraud far more difficult. It would also help to identify foreign nationals who have a criminal record or are on government watch lists.
There would be at least some disadvantages to introducing biometrics.
Currently, Indian business executives who travel to the United States or the United Kingdom must book an appointment to have their fingerprints scanned. Those traveling to Canada haven’t faced that requirement, perhaps making Canada a more favourable destination.
There are also questions over how Indians living abroad would be treated. If Indian citizens in Canada were forced to provide biometrics but those in the U.K. weren’t, that would invite further criticism.
In 2006, Citizenship and Immigration Canada spent $3.5 million on a biometrics field trial at its offices in Hong Kong and Seattle, as well as the refugee-processing centre in Etobicoke.
During the six-month trial, 14,285 visa applicants provided fingerprints and high-resolution photos, and verification was accurate in 96 per cent of cases. The sole case of identity fraud in the trial involved a person claiming refugee protection at the Refugee Intake Centre in Toronto, the CIC said on its Website.
It’s possible outrage in India over Canadian proposal might be tempered by the Indian government’s own program that’s using biometrics to assemble a database covering all of the country’s 1.2 billion citizens.
“I think the sensitivity towards biometrics might have fallen off a bit because of that,” Sarkar says.
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