Hi All,

We just returned from vacation in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Awesome time there, but when arriving back in PHX, the experience through US Customs was curious. First, we are US citizens, and haven’t been out of the country for the last 12 years so I’m only basing this on ‘old’ experience.

It used to be you presented your Passport to the Customs Official and they asked you if you had anything to declare, etc. They’d stamp your passport and then you were on your way.

This time, we approached the Custom Official with passports ready and he said to put them away and to simply look into the optical scanner. He asked if we had anything to declare, and then let us pass. Same treatment for everyone.

This seemed really odd to us. So now our orbital scan is somehow recorded, but how is it related to our passport, or any other sort of ID? We haven’t had (to our knowledge) any orbital scans elsewhere prior.

Are the passports chipped and we were innocuously scanned while approaching?

Any insight?

Thanks,

Todd

Just a guess, but it was a biometric check for deception in answering the question 'Do you have anything to declare?"

Pupil contraction or dilation, eye movement, micro-changes in facial expression, and also measuring micro-tremors or stress in your voice.

Anyone who gets flagged by the machine gets pulled aside.

Now, if they ask you about your mother...

The trick... know that a tortoise and a turtle are not the same species!

Fedgov is collecting biometrics on everyone they can, thus the eye scan. I've seen it in other countries too.

Were you in a US Citizen line?

For immigration, which is verifying your identity and are legal to enter, they look at your passport. I've been through many times with work and personal travel, and they usually just glance at the passport. A few years ago they started having cameras at immigration and would take a photo from close enough to be an eye scan, and also scan in your passport. TSA scans in your ID in the USA and they may have cameras set up at their podium too.

So it is quite possible the immigration guy saw your US passport and didn't bother to look at it in detail, just assuming it was real. Then they scanned your eyes for identification. The database didn't flag you as unknown or not ok to let in.

I expect the government is keeping all this data on who is traveling, where they're going, which ports of entry they use, and matching it to as much biometrics as possible.

If you sign up for one of the TSA or immigration programs to get through faster, they collect fingerprints, eyescans, and a photo.

If your experience was with Customs, that is controlling what items come in. They ask if you have anything to declare. They don't have anything to do with your passport.

Not sure if this is the same thing you went through.
Back in March 2020 we came back to Port Canaveral Florida from an NCL cruise. Customs was on the ship and they had a facial recondition system set up.
You look at the camera and if the light turns green you are cleared through customs if the light turns red you go to the customs agent for further inspection.
From what I remember if you we not a US citizen you had to go through the customs agent. The facial scanner was only for US citizens.
My wife and I turned green and off we went. My guess is it checks against the passenger list/scanned passports the cruise line submits to customs when you return to the port.

When we came back from a Disney cruise back on December 2022 to Port Canaveral they did not have a scanner set up so we went through the old way of presenting your self to customs.

Disney was in a different terminal than NCL so only certain cruise lines may be using this system.

U.S. passports are chipped with an electronic inlay in the cover.
From the DHS website:
“The chip holds the same information that is printed on the passport's data page: the holder's name, date of birth, and other biographic information. An e-Passport also contains a biometric identifier. The United States requires that the chip contain a digital photograph of the holder.”
Can’t remember when it was added. I got my current passport several years ago and it has the chip.

quote:

If your experience was with Customs, that is controlling what items come in. They ask if you have anything to declare. They don't have anything to do with your passport.

I think you're mistaken. Customs Officers are most definitely responsible for immigration/citizenship checks at the border or functional equivalent, i.e. airport.

Had a similar thing happen to us upon returning from Chile via Miami.

We have Global Entry and in that que we stood in front of a camera that took our picture. By the time we made it up to the agent he said “Good morning Mr. smlsig do you have anything to declare?” I said no and was on my way after he ran my passport through a machine.

After a 10 hour flight I’m not sure the picture was all that flattering! But it was a quick process which I was grateful for.

I don't think it is an eye scan, but a facial recognition that checks with the digital image associated with the chip in your passport.

The patterns of the human iris are as unique as fingerprints, as are the patterns of the retinal vasculature at the back of the eye, a thing about which I know quite a bit.

If they are registering iris patterns, that's no surprise, since it's easily done without special instrumentation, but if they are scanning the blood vessels embedded in the retina, then the technology as advanced quite a bit since I left the field in 1999. Back then, the iris had to be chemically dilated in order to see the retinal vasculature, as when you go to the eye doctor and they put drops in your eyes which make things fuzzy and overly bright for a while afterwards.

I don’t think it was the V-K test because my wife would have set off the alarms. I’ve known she is a replicant for some time. I try not to cross her because she is a tough bastard.

Chip and facial-rec. seems the most plausible given the extremely short duration looking into the camera.

Was just curious.

Thanks all!

When I got my driver's license in Washington in 2010, they told me I had to take off my glasses. I asked them why, and they said it was because the photo they were going to take was not just to show that it was me when I presented the license, the photo was for biometrics as well. So, for at least a dozen years now, it's been done at the state level in at least some states. Really wouldn't be surprised to learn that all these photos are on a federal database in high res with everything they mark in their biometrics profiles. The timeframe for that probably pre-dates 2010 by, oh, say nine years or so....

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:


...We have Global Entry and in that que we stood in front of a camera that took our picture. By the time we made it up to the agent he said “Good morning Mr. smlsig do you have anything to declare?” I said no and was on my way after he ran my passport through a machine...

Almost the same for us at ORD a month ago in the Global Entry lane. We put our faces up to the screen, very soon afterwards the agent said "Mr & Mrs Sigmund, come on down" and we went on to collect our checked bags. We had passports in hand but I don't think anyone looked at them.

This scanner has always been at the first stop, which I think is Immigration. Then we get our checked bags and go through Customs, which even faster as we already have the slip from the agent (we used to get it from a machine) at first stop. I think we get profiled as "harmless old people."