Five Country Conference Data Sharing Protocol (21/08/2009)
The Five Country Conference (FCC), consisting of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom and United States of America, is a forum for co-operation on migration and border security. In June, the FCC agreed a fingerprint matching Protocol and the UK has already signed agreements with Australia and Canada to implement the Protocol. Under the agreements, the UK is able to exchange fingerprint information of foreign criminals and asylum seekers with those countries. And as a result, immigration offenders will find it harder than ever to hide their past from the authorities in any of the five countries. In trials, 3.5% of fingerprints analysed matched other records; this translated to hundreds of visa applications being exposed as bogus and many resultant prosecutions.
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And as a result, immigration offenders will find it harder than ever to hide their past from the authorities in any of the five countries.