United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology

The United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) is a continuum of security measures that begins overseas, at the Department of State's visa issuing posts, and continues through arrival and departure from the United States. Using biometric, such as digital, inkless fingerscans and digital photographs, the identity of visitors requiring a visa is now matched at each step to ensure that the person crossing the U.S. border is the same person who received the visa.

For visa-waiver travelers, the capture of biometrics first occurs at the port of entry to the United States. By checking the biometrics of a traveler against its databases, US-VISIT verifies whether the traveler has previously been determined inadmissible, is a known security risk.