Fingerprinting and photographing of arriving U.S. citizens will continue indefinitely under new rules that make the policy permanent. The interminable delays, however, may be over, as the rules call for the immediate installment of electronic fingerprinting machines and web cameras to speed up the process. Americans will no longer be called out of immigration lines and forced to stand in separate lines that move at a snailÂ’s pace. Brazilian federal police have also been granted the right to waive the requirement at ports where cruise ships dock if passengers cannot be processed without undue delays. The photograph and fingerprint policy was put in place Dec. 30 in retaliation for a similar policy initiated by the U.S. Some Americans arriving in Brazil were forced to wait as long as nine hours before being permitted entry.
