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Countries with Bad Border Policies
If you know of any other countries that systematically
do something nasty to all or most visitors,
please let me know (email rms at gnu dot org).
Likewise, if your personal experience indicates
any of this information is inaccurate, please tell me.
Kuwait
demands
DNA samples from all visitors. Surely you can
find a way to avoid going there.
Certain countries demand the fingerprints of
visitors. These are the US, Argentina, Uruguay,
Panama, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan,
Cambodia, Malaysia, Ghana, Uganda, and Saudi Arabia.
Don't stand for such treatment — refuse to go!
Be careful about transfer flights through these
countries, too. Sometimes transfer passengers are
required to "enter the country" and give their
fingerprints. (International transfers in the US are
such a hassle, in other ways, that even US citizens
would do well to choose other routes.)
Passport control at Uganda's Entebbe airport demands
fingerprints from some travelers when they leave. It
is especially nasty to pop this demand on people
departing, since that deprives them of the chance to
avoid it by staying away.
In Feb 2015 I got a report that
Cambodia did not
take fingerprints from a visitor entering from Laos.
Argentina does not take fingerprints of people
entering or leaving by land. It does take fingerprints
of passengers in the Buquebus going to or from Uruguay.
China demands
fingerprints
from foreigners.
Indonesia has started taking fingerprints of visitors
at some airports. An Australian visitor who got
a visa on arrival reported this in Medan. At present
(February 2012) this may not be in effect in all
airports, but be careful before you go.
The United Arab Emirates takes iris scans of every
visitor. In one way, this is not as bad as
fingerprints, because you don't leave iris prints
on things you touch. However, there is a concern that
iris scans could be used to recognize people automatically
as they move on the street. Thus, I urge people
to refuse to allow their irises to be scanned by anyone, ever.
Japan demands an iris scan, too, in some cases.
I do not know details.
Kenya is reported to take fingerprints of some visitors
on the way in, and others (maybe everyone) on the way out.
Tanzania
is now requiring fingerprinting when entering
and exiting the country via air and land.
Yerevan airport takes fingerprints of departing passengers.
Therefore, if you visit Armenia, don't fly out of Armenia.
Go overland to Georgia and leave from there.
The UK is
going to check fingerprints of visitors, but only for
those that were required to give their fingerprints when
applying for a visa.
Two fingerprint checks are not much worse than one; but just
one is enough reason for the affected people
to refuse to go to that country.
Canada demands fingerprints
from people entering with a visa.
It is not hard to alter fingerprints.
It is too much trouble and expense to do
for no particular reason, but if it really matters
to you,
it is perfectly feasible.
A
resistance movement in the 1980s eliminated mandatory
fingerprinting in Japan.
Now the job has to be done over again.
Copyright (c) 2009-2017 Richard Stallman
Released under CC Attribution 4.0 license.