Which countries require fingerprints on arrival?
Executive summary
A growing number of countries now collect fingerprints from arriving foreign travelers, most prominently the 29 Schengen/European countries implementing the EU Entry/Exit System (EES), plus a patchwork of nations in Asia, Africa and elsewhere that have already long taken biometrics at borders (including China, India, Russia, Kenya, South Africa and several Gulf and East Asian states) [1] [2] [3] [4]. Reporting and community tracking show variation in who is scanned, how many prints are taken, and whether collection applies to all nationalities, transit passengers, or specific visa types — and the available sources are a mixture of official EU/press outlets and travel sites or forums, each with limits that should temper certainty [1] [5] [6].
1. The big, confirmed change: almost all Schengen/European states now require fingerprints on first arrival
The headline shift is the EU’s Entry/Exit System: non‑EU/Schengen travelers must scan passports, provide fingerprints and a facial photograph at first arrival into the 29 participating countries, with rollout scheduled to be fully operational by April 10, 2026, and phased launches beginning in late 2025 [1] [7] [8]. Major destinations named in mainstream press — France, Italy, Spain and others — will collect fingerprint and facial data at automated kiosks or border desks, and refusal can mean denial of entry; children under a given age (reported as 12 in some outlets) may be exempt [5] [9].
2. Longstanding national programs outside Europe: China, India, Russia and several African states
Independent reporting and comparative studies indicate that China collects biometric data for visas and takes fingerprints on arrival, and India captures biometrics for e‑visa arrivals in many cases; Russia is reported to operate mandatory biometric screening at entry points; African states such as Kenya and South Africa are explicitly referenced in travel reporting as already taking fingerprints and photos at ports of entry [4] [3]. These accounts come from travel journalism and comparative privacy studies rather than a single global registry, so they describe established national practices rather than a synchronized rollout.
3. Asia, the Gulf and the Americas: a mixed picture with national programs and anecdotal reporting
Countries in East and Southeast Asia — Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and in some reports Malaysia and Cambodia — are consistently identified as collecting fingerprints or enrolling travelers into biometric schemes on arrival or first entry [10] [6]. Gulf states such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia appear in travel reporting as requiring biometrics for arrivals or visa holders [3] [11]. In the Americas, community lists and forum posts mention Panama, Argentina and Uruguay among countries that sometimes collect prints, but those claims come from less formal sources and include caveats about modes of entry (air vs land) and historical inconsistency [11] [6].
4. The United States: routine fingerprinting of foreign airline passengers and data retention
Analyses of biometric practices note that the United States records fingerprints and a photograph of foreign airline passengers arriving by air (with some exemptions), and that these records can be retained for years — descriptions in comparative and encyclopedic reporting say the U.S. system stores such data in immigration databases [12]. Travel forums also report varying on‑the‑ground experiences at U.S. ports of entry, with differences in how many fingers are scanned depending on the officer or kiosk [6].
5. How to read these lists — limits, agendas and why the picture keeps changing
Public lists drawn together by travel sites, forums and independent researchers are valuable but uneven: Travel Off Path, News outlets and EU material provide firm confirmation of the EES rollout across Europe [7] [9] [1], while community forums and advocacy pages compile broader country names with occasional contradictions and dated anecdotes [6] [11]. Some sources may amplify fears about privacy to push policy critiques, others promote convenience arguments for faster automated lanes; official government pages and the EU’s EES guidance remain the most authoritative for current legal requirements, and the reporting provided here cannot conclusively list every country that occasionally fingerprints arrivals because practices evolve and local implementation varies [1] [3].