WWICS Blog

Biometric Scanning of Immigrants to be Introduced by Canada
Posted on: 28 June 2011

As per the latest reports, Canada is all geared to introduce biometric scanning of the new immigrants. The initiative has been launched to improve the border security and reduce the chances of immigration frauds.

The Canadian government has decided to use fingerprint technology rather than facial recognition software and is investing approximately $200 million on the program.

On a biometrics field trial at Canadian offices in Hong Kong, Seattle and Etobicoke, $3.5 million was invested and during the trial, over 14,000 visa applicants provided fingerprints and photos, leading to the verification accuracy in 96 per cent of the cases.

Presently, photo identification is used by Canadian border officials when entering Canada to determine if the person before them is the same as listed on the passport. However, this process can be subjective, thus, to remove the subjectivity- digital measurements of a person’s fingerprints, face and retinas would be used in biometrics, which will be stored on computer chips and machine-readable strips. The government will introduce the use of biometric data, such as fingerprints and live photographs, in its visa-issuing process to accurately verify identity and travel documents of foreign nationals who enter Canada.

It is reported that Citizenship and Immigration Canada officials are trying to determine which countries will be first to have this technology introduced, however there have been buzz that the first phase of the project would be implemented in India.

“Canada is a popular immigration destination and many unscrupulous agents cheat the people by luring them to reach via illegal means. The inititive taken by CIC would go along way in reducing the illegal ways and ensure that the immigrants only reach in a legal manner. WWICS has always been promoting legal immigration and this step is sure to tighten the noose around the fly-by-night operators”, opined, Devinder Sandhu, Sr. Director, WWICS Group.