Visitors to Japan, one of Hong Kong's most popular travel destinations, will be photographed and have their fingerprints taken at immigration checkpoints from late November as part of enhanced security measures to tackle terrorism.
Those refusing to comply will be refused entry.
The extra measures, which will take 20 to 30 seconds to carry out, are expected to operate alongside passport checks by immigration officers. Officials hope that in time they will not cause delays.
Japan's deputy consul-general in Hong Kong Hiroshi Sato said yesterday the new measures were part of an immigration law passed last May and followed bomb threats in Southeast Asian countries including the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand.
All non-resident visitors aged 16 and over would be subject to the measures, Mr Sato said. Residents, travellers aged under 16 and visitors on diplomatic or official duties are exempt.
Under the new policy, all tourists will have their fingerprints and photographs taken by a machine at the immigration counter where their passports are inspected. The machine will match the scanned images against its database to check for those on its watch list for terrorist activities or to check if the passport holder has been deported previously.
Shoko Sasaki, information management division director of Japan's Immigration Bureau, urged travellers to help minimise waiting time by filling in their landing cards properly.
