The US is losing its appeal as a travel and study destination. An announcement from the Department of Homeland Security isn’t going to help.
It seems that the DHS has decided to increase the number of fingerprints required of incoming non-citizens from two to ten. Yes, ten. This is bound to make anyone’s trip to the US that much more of a headache.
Oh, and get this: by the end of 2008, the ten-print rule will apply to every non-citizen who leaves the United States as well.
According to the DHS website:
The transition from collecting two digital fingerprints to collecting 10 fingerprints from international visitors is one of the department’s top priorities because it furthers the department’s ability to keep dangerous people out of the United States, while making legitimate travel more efficient.
Don’t count on that efficiency part.
Obviously, if someone really wants to go the US, this new rule isn’t going to change anything. It’s just going to make it more inconvenient for everyone who travels in and out of the country. But added to the visa restrictions and other barriers (cost of travel, etc), it just nudges things a little more in the “never mind” direction.
This is not good policy if we want to attract bright, innovative people to the United States. They can easily go elsewhere, and we keep giving them reasons to do just that.
I can tell you that expats are shaking their heads over this one. We are already very familiar with the fact that those outside the US are finding fewer reasons to go there. We have discussions with locals and international types about this all the time, so we are closer to the non-citizens’ perspective than, say, the DHS. For more on the view from abroad, check out Richard Florida’s blog.
