BANGALORE – The U.S. has planned to extend its global traveler program to Indian citizens that will allow selected international passengers to detour normal immigration and customs procedures. It is expected to be formalized once the meeting of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Barack Obama is held later in September in Washington, reports Hindustan Times.
India will be the second developing country that will be eligible to apply. To begin with, there will be a trial period, where only a small number of Indians in the vicinity of 150 will be included under this programme.
The Indian immigration department, part of the country’s intelligence setup, will be providing the names of candidates who are interested and eligible along with the necessary fingerprints scans to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency.
U.S. sources claim that it will be their agencies carrying out further background checks soon after which the names will be entered in Global Entry Trusted Traveller Network.
