How does the scanning process work if one doesn have fingers?
” he asked. “Those without fingers are, by law, exempt,” Pettit said. Pettit also said the visa process will be faster this year and that the average wait for a visa should be no longer than 10 days. This comes as welcome news after thousands of Russians found themselves waiting months for visas last year. The U.S. Embassy said at the time that it was struggling with a backlog of applications as it tried to implement post-Sept. 11, 2001, security measures. “We’re convinced that this year the entire procedure should be much better,” Pettit said. As part of the security measures, all U.S. nonimmigrant visa applicants between the ages of 14 and 80 are required to begin providing prints of their left and right index fingers as part of their applications by Oct. 26, 2004. The U.S. Embassy in Moscow starting taking fingerprints Dec. 9. Pettit said by telephone that predictions about a broadly negative Russian reaction to the new rules had been overplayed. “There had been in the press word th
