Canada Immigration To Introduce Biometrics for Temporary Residents to Stop Identity Theft

Canada may implement biometrics to evaluate credentials of work permit or a student visa applicants.

Better Late Than Never: Presently, the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) is implementing a five year long plan in association with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to introduce the biometrics program.

Biometrics will significantly strengthen the toolbox that is in place to identify and stub identity theft which will in turn significantly strengthen the confidence of citizens that they are safe and that nobody out there will impersonate them or steal their credentials and pass on as their own, which amounts to a criminal breach of trust. The use of biometrics for verification significantly reduces the possibility of an individual posing as or being mistaken as someone else.

Canada aims to be at par with its southern neighbor, USA and the UK which already use biometrics to screen the incoming stream of foreigners which helps them to screen the passengers and separate the inconspicuous yet potentially dangerous elements from the genuine ones entering the country. In fact, several other countries are moving in the same direction in order to secure their own people and the borders from such elements.

Big Brother is Watching: As a result of the implementation of the biometrics project, persons applying for a visa will be required to have all their fingers scanned for finger prints, a photograph taken, which will help invigilators in identifying the suspicious ones from the database that will be shared with other countries for identifying the problem spots. CBSA, on arrival of the visa holder at the Canadian ports of entry, will verify that the person holding the document is the same person who is issued the visa.

The biometrics project, which is in development stages currently covers those people who need either a visa or a permit to enter Canada. This includes people coming into Canada either as workers or as students. This project was announced in the budget session in 2008 and is planned to be implemented between 2011 and 2013. However, no plan has been established to screen those non Canadians entering Canada, possibly as tourists as a part of the biometrics initiative.

Effective Surveillance and Quick Apprehending Enabled: Trials held in 2007 proved that the use of biometrics can be quickly and accurately used to correctly identify a person when he is travelling and also helps in detecting identity frauds while not compromising on service standards.