The British Government's five-year Strategy for Asylum and Immigration entitled 'Controlling our borders: making migration work for Britain' published on 7 February 2005 announced that UKvisas will be collecting biometrics data from all visa applicants, irrespective of nationality. In the forward to the strategy the Prime Minister wrote:

We will fingerprint visitors who need visas, and those planning longer stays, before they arrive.

By the end of 2007 all applicants, will be required to supply 10 digit fingerscans and a digital photograph when applying for a UK visa.

Note:

Female applicants will be required to take off their veil for biometrics photo capture. A hijab will be allowed as long as full frontal view of the face is visible. VFS will ensure a female employee is present to capture the bio metric data and will provide privacy in the booth. Applicants are requested to cooperate. Please note that there is a surveillance camera and they are monitored. Biometrics enrolment is a must for visa processing and the same needs to be recorded, any applicant having objections to this may choose not to proceed with the application.

Applicants cannot be finger scanned if they are having henna or temporary injuries on their fingers.
Applicants must not wear colour contact lenses while being photographed.

Fingerscans

The fingerscan procedure uses an electronic scanner. No ink, liquid or chemical will be used and the procedure will normally take no more than 2 minutes to complete You should ensure that your fingertips are free from any forms of decoration (for example, henna), cuts, abrasions or other markings as these may affect your ability to provide acceptable fingerscans.

Digital photographs

These photos will be taken with full face and without sunglasses, coloured contact lenses or tinted spectacles, or head covering unless it is worn for religious or medical reasons. Your face should be clearly visible with no hair across the eyes.

Why?

We live in a constantly changing world. More travellers, greater mobility, new security threats and new technologies mean we must find new ways of working which keep us all secure but which also benefit customers.

Identity theft is a major and growing problem globally. It helps terrorism and organised crime, and undermines national economies. To protect the integrity of the visa system and to protect our customers, we want to ask every visa applicant around the world to enrol their fingerprints digitally, and to have a digital photograph taken, when they make a visa application.

We are not alone in doing this. Biometrics are becoming the industry standard for identity management. Very soon, we will be able to withdraw money from our bank accounts using fingerscans or iris scans. Increasingly, all passports will have a unique biometric identifier, whether this is fingerscans or an iris scan or a digital photograph. All EU countries are introducing fingerscan biometrics into their visas.

Biometrics is the next natural step in a progression of identifiers from signatures to photographs.

What does it mean for visa applicants?

The immediate impact is that, whereas applicants were previously able to apply for a visa by post or through a travel agent without having to come to the Visa Application Centre, we will be asking them to come in person to the nearest Visa Application Centre to enrol their biometric.

It will be simple and quick

Enrolment will simply mean presenting fingers on a glass screen, plus having a digital photograph taken; no ink, no mess; it will take no more than three minutes.

It will be discreet

We are extremely aware of the need to protect the dignity, privacy and modesty of our applicants; there will be special arrangements for customers to ensure that the finger-scanning and photographs are taken discreetly.

It will not delay your visa application

Biometric enrolment will not slow down visa applications; it will add about three minutes to the length of processing time. There will be no additional delay in the processing of visa applications by the British High Commission.
The British High Commission will continue to endeavour to process all straightforward applications within 2-5 working days and non-straightforward applications, which may require the applicant being called to the High Commission for interview, within fifteen working days.

What will you do with the information?

The biometric data will be stored on a central government database in the UK and checked against UK government records. It will be handled in accordance with the UK's strict data protection laws.

What are the benefits to visa applicants?

Right of Abode/Certificate of Entitlement/Overseas Territories Applications are exempted from Biometrics Enrolment and hence you may choose to send your application to the UK Visa Application Centre by courier and not necessarily come in person. If you wish to get your passport delivered by courier after processing you may opt for the courier facility (See Visa Fees Menu for courier charges)