Collection of Biometric Data From Aliens Upon Entry to and Departure From the United States

Key Points

• The Department of Homeland Security is making it a permanent rule that all non-citizens must have their photo taken when they enter or leave the United States. This applies to travel by plane, ship, or walking across a land border. The goal is to create a more accurate system for tracking who is in the country and ensuring people leave when their visas expire.
• This new rule removes previous age limits for photographs. In the past, children under 14 and adults over 79 were often exempt from providing this information. Now, all non-citizens will be photographed regardless of their age. The government says this will help verify identities more accurately and help prevent the trafficking of children.
• U.S. citizens are not required to participate in this facial recognition process. If you are a citizen, you can tell a border officer or airline worker that you want to opt out. In those cases, an official will check your passport manually like they have in the past. If a citizen does choose to participate, the government must delete their photo within 12 hours.
• The government believes this technology is faster and more secure than checking fingerprints or paper documents alone. It helps stop people from using fake IDs or someone else's passport. By matching a live photo to the one on a traveler's visa or passport, the system can quickly confirm that the person at the gate is the person they claim to be.
• The policy officially takes effect on December 26, 2025. While this technology is already being used at many major airports, this rule allows the government to expand the program to all border crossings across the country. Officials estimate this will help identify hundreds of thousands of people who stay in the country past their legal limits.