Visitors (and foreign residents) to be Fingerprinted

[Keith Woolford]

Visitors to be fingerprinted

The National Immigration Service has reported that, starting this week, it will begin fingerprinting all visitors to the country.

+ info

• Spanish version

"This system seeks to strengthen the security measures for entry into the country," the agency said.

Visitors will only be fingerprinted once. The measure will also apply to foreigners living in Panama.

The change will mean that foreign residents will have to use the immigration line reserved for tourists and not native Panamanians.

http://www.prensa.com/in_english/Turistas-extranjeros-registrar-Aeropuerto-Tocumen_21_4612248734.html

Edited November 2, 2016 by Keith Woolford

[Uncle Doug]

Well, there goes one of the benefits of having permanent residency.  

[JudyS]

It started already.  I came into the country on Oct. 26 and used the Residents line, not the tourist line.  I was photographed and finger printed (both hands, all ten fingers).  My hands were dry and she tried several times to get a print of my right thumb.  I don't know if it ever took.  It isn't ink.  It's electronic.  The funny thing was, the woman taking my prints was very pregnant.  In the middle of the print-taking, the baby kicked her hard and she started going "OH OH".  We both had a good laugh.  It seems to be OK to go through the residents line, because they have the equipment there too.  Nobody told me I was in the wrong line, and I had no problem getting through, except for that non-print thumb.

[Bonnie]

I don't object to this as much as I object to TWO security checks (and two lines) plus the hand examination of carry ons when leaving Tocumen. Fortunately, when I traveled in late September I had nothing too personal in my carry on because, in full view of the entire waiting room, the woman removed everything from my case and displayed it on a table. They were doing the same for all ladies' carry on bags. The display attracted many eyes.

What does "visitors will only be fingerprinted once" mean? Once in a lifetime? Once a trip? How would they know if you had been fingerprinted previously unless they fingerprint you?

Edited November 2, 2016 by Bonnie

[Deborah]

I had the same experience as Judy did, when I returned on October 8.  I was in the residents' line and was fully fingerprinted there.  No one said to me or the people I was travelling with that we needed to go to the visitors' line.  Even with this new procedure, the residents' line was a breeze to get through, compared to the visitors' line!

[Bud]

Does this apply to [legal] residents with cédulas? We have already been photo'd and fingerprinted, etc.

[Doug Tyler]

There was no 'residents and citizens' line yesterday. We were fingerprinted and iris scanned. First time in my life. Who is this information shared with? I've got a pretty good guess.

[Uncle Doug]

In order for this to make any sense at all, this would have to apply to all border crossings. 

[Keith Woolford]

5 hours ago, Bonnie said:

What does "visitors will only be fingerprinted once" mean? Once in a lifetime? Once a trip? How would they know if you had been fingerprinted previously unless they fingerprint you?

I'm thinking that when they scan a Passport upon entry, the terminal will show whether the corresponding fingerprints have been entered into the system or not. 

Edited November 3, 2016 by Keith Woolford

[TwoSailors]

You would think!!!

[Jim Bondoux]

Our experience with this: we came in at Tocumen earlier in 2016 and went through the resident/citizen line with our cedulas. We were photographged and fingerprinted.

We arrived at Tocumen again at the end of August and went through the resident/citizen line - no fingerprinting or snapshot. My guess that if our mugs match the picture on the computer monitor, they don't make a new record.

FWIW

[Bud]

Marcelyn and I have just returned to our home in Boquete after traveling internationally. We both have legal residency, and cédulas for identification/documentation purposes. Upon arrival at Tocumen we decided to go through the citizen/resident line (as opposed to the visitor line) as we have done for years.

This time I was photographed but not fingerprinted. Marcelyn was both photographed and fingerprinted. The extra procedures added at most one minute to our processing time. I cannot explain why I was not fingerprinted.

There was no explanation (signs, verbal discourse, etc.) as to these entry documentation changes. The immigration lady behind the stand was friendly and professional, and ended the processing with a smile and welcoming us home.

[Bud]

Marcelyn and I returned to Panama from international travel within this past week. On this entry we were NOT fingerprinted, but both of us were photographed. As in the recent past, the lines at immigration have been changed so that there now are three (actually, four) lines:

1. returning Panamanian citizens
2. returning Panamanian legal residents
3. tourists
4. diplomats and flight crew

The immigration line reconfiguration actually works to our benefit because groups 1 and 3 were the longest. There were exactly zero in line for group 2, and so we were through immigration in less than five minutes.

Fingerprinting or not is perhaps a changing policy based on their experience and results.

BTW, the immigration officer (a lady) was very pleasant, had a warm and engaging smile on her face, and ended our interaction with "welcome home" (in English). We said "gracias, muchas gracias."

[Bonnie]

Well, it's certainly nice to hear some good news after a very trying few days.

[Bud]

On 1/12/2017 at 7:45 AM, Bud said:

Marcelyn and I returned to Panama from international travel within this past week. On this entry we were NOT fingerprinted, but both of us were photographed. As in the recent past, the lines at immigration have been changed so that there now are three (actually, four) lines:

1. returning Panamanian citizens
2. returning Panamanian legal residents
3. tourists
4. diplomats and flight crew

The immigration line reconfiguration actually works to our benefit because groups 1 and 3 were the longest. There were exactly zero in line for group 2, and so we were through immigration in less than five minutes.

Fingerprinting or not is perhaps a changing policy based on their experience and results.

BTW, the immigration officer (a lady) was very pleasant, had a warm and engaging smile on her face, and ended our interaction with "welcome home" (in English). We said "gracias, muchas gracias."

Again, just a few days ago upon returning to Panama from international travel, Marcelyn and I found the same four categories for arriving passengers to go through the passport control station. Long lines in categories 1 and 3 as listed above, but we were the only two people in the category 2 line (returning Panamanian legal residents line). We were through there in less than three minutes. And again, no fingerprints were taken, no pictures taken, etc. A very pleasant arrival experience.

My conclusion is that fingerprinting and picture taking of arriving citizens and legal residents is now history. Maybe it was too much trouble with too little benefit.

[Keith Woolford]

On 11/2/2016 at 6:52 PM, Keith Woolford said:

I'm thinking that when they scan a Passport upon entry, the terminal will show whether the corresponding fingerprints have been entered into the system or not.