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Checking in with ol' Uncle Sam

 
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Today, as part of the process of becoming a Permanent Resident, I had to go down to the USCIS support office and get my biometrics taken. Basically, fingerprints and a photograph. Whilst I was sitting there, I realised that Ive never given my fingerprints before. Not whilst I was living in the UK, applying for my drivers license or passport or whatever.

Dont get me wrong, Im not too bothered about giving away my fingerprints, (Ive never been in trouble with the law and I have nothing to hide) but I was wondering if this is a system thats particular to immigrants, or whether in the US at some point in a citizens life, you have to hand over such biometric info in order to gain a drivers license or passport?

Thanks,

Mark
 
mister krabs
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I had to be fingerprinted when I worked in the securities industry. If you work with children, I believe that you need to have a background check including fingerprints.
 
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In US, you dont have to give your fingerprints while getting a driver's license or passport, but you do have to let them take your photograph. This applies to everybody, whteher they are a citizen or an immigrant.

You do have to give your fingerprints to become a permanant resident. The fingerprints are forwarded to the FBI that runs your fingerprints against their database. I think they might even run them against a database of international criminals. I dont know if they send the fingerprints to your home country, but they just might.

I dont know how people without hands become permanent residents
 
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All lawyers in the U.S. have been fingerprinted.

I had to get fingerprinted as part of the process to adopt my daughter from China (in one week we leave to go get her!!!).

What they are looking for is to see if your prints match a set they've lifted from a crime scene OR matches those of a convicted felon.

When i got my teacher's certification, i did not have to be fingerprinted, but that was 10 years ago. it may have changed since then.

also, i thought i heard once that california drivers licenses have your thumbprint encoded on the magnetic strip. don't know if that's REALLY true or not...
[ December 29, 2004: Message edited by: fred rosenberger ]
 
pie sneak
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Originally posted by Thomas Paul:
If you work with children, I believe that you need to have a background check including fingerprints.



This is true. My wife had to do so upon employment at a daycare and we both had to back when we were camp counselors.

I've also had to get them when I was getting licensed to sell securities and had to get them when consulting at a government client.

I've had (at a previous employer) a hair sample run once, but I think that was for a drug test.
 
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I have lived in the US all my life (41 years) and have never been finger-printed.

I too work with children and had to fill out forms to allow for a back-ground check. Our church requires it. More accurately our church's insurance company requires it.

Like Mark, I don't mind because I have nothing to hide. I don't even hedge on my tax returns. Not because I'm a boy-scout, because I like to sleep at night. A clear conscience can save a lot of money on therapy bills.
 
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Those handling money working in a bank have to be bonded including having fingerprints taken.

When I was very young, maybe 7 or 8, and playing soccor I can remember having my fingerprints taken. I really don't remember why. I can just remember it being done.
 
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I don't remember whether my wife was fingerprinted when she applied for her green card, but she had to be fingerprinted last week because she teaches children. It must be a very new requirement, because she's been doing it for over a decade, and this is the first time.

I've had to be fingerprinted each time I've applied for or renewed a state concealed weapons permit.
 
Mark Fletcher
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With regards to my situation, its the second time Ive been fingerprinted in as many weeks. The first time was for my Employment Authorization Document (EAD), that permits me to legally seek work in the United States.

I filed both the Permanent Residency and the EAD applications at the same time and at the same office, so I dont know why they had to do it twice. Even more confusing is that the first biometric appointment was free, the second one I had to pay $70 for the privilege of gathering the exact same information! Maybe these various government agencies dont like to share info with each other...

Ho-hum. In the meantime I sharpen my cooking, cleaning and dusting skills, eagerly awaiting the EAD to pop into the mailbox.
 
Wanderer
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[GB]: When I was very young, maybe 7 or 8, and playing soccor I can remember having my fingerprints taken. I really don't remember why. I can just remember it being done.

I reember hearing of some program encouraging parents to get their children fingerprinted as a potentially useful measure in case a child is abducted. Could've been something like that.

Personally, I don't recall ever being fingerprinted. Except by myself when I was a kid, pretending I was a detective.
 
blacksmith
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I was fingerprinted as a kid as part of a tour of the FBI. I thought it was just a fun thing to do, though my parents were worried it was some nefarious plot of J. Edgar Hoover's to clandestinely collect information on all Americans.

The other times I can remember being fingerprinted had to do with getting security clearances.

On the other hand, I've only once gotten a driver's license without a photograph.
 
Thomas Paul
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Originally posted by Warren Dew:
On the other hand, I've only once gotten a driver's license without a photograph.


Back in the old days (when I was in college), NY didn't have pictures on driver's licenses. When they raised the drinkingn age they decided that it was too easy for people to swap driver's licenses so they started putting pictures on them. (You did know that the drinking age used to be 18, right?)
 
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