anallawalla - 8:07 am on Dec 13, 2008 (gmt 0)

Last month I (with Aussie passport) went from the US to Calgary and back to the US. The US INS at LAX or SFO requires us space aliens to give our index finger prints and a photo of one's face - not an iris scan as someone mentioned.

However, the US inspectors at Calgary airport had a scanner where I had to scan my thumbs and then the remaining four fingers of each hand. Either this scan is peculiar to the Canadian border or about to be rolled out to all airports.

There were notices to the effect that Americans and Canadians will need a passport as of 1 June 2009.