Senior officials in Hawaii have said that a mobile biometrics system will trialled towards helping improve immigration identification.Senator Mazie K. Hirono announced today that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will conduct a six month mobile biometrics pilot program for immigration benefits on Hawaiʻi Island, Kauaʻi, and Maui from May through September.Iimmigrants who require biometric intake and interview services currently need to travel to Honolulu. The cost factor of air transportation for neighbour island residents is in addition to the time off from work or school, and USCIS processing fees.”This pilot program will provide neighbour island residents with more equitable access to biometrics services as they apply for immigration benefits,” said Senator Hirono, reported MauiNow.comIn June 2016, Sen. Hirono wrote to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director urging him to restore mobile biometrics services to neighbor islands. This extended pilot program follows a successful one-week biometrics collection on Maui that Senator Hirono announced in January.”The Hawaiʻi Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association is very pleased that at long last, biometrics services have resumed to most of our neighbor islands. Requiring individuals to travel to Honolulu for biometrics appointments causes significant hardship to Hawaiʻi's many immigrants who do not live on Oʻahu. We hope the program will continue long past the 6 month pilot time frame,” said Asako Shimazu, Chair, American Immigration Lawyers Association Hawaiʻi Chapter.
Hawaii to use mobile biometrics system on neighbouring islands
