Homeland Security Proposes Data Changes for Advanced Travel Authorization

Homeland Security Proposes Data Changes for Advanced Travel Authorization

A New Data Element in Travel Authorization

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has proposed a significant change to the data collection process for the Advanced Travel Authorization (ATA) document. ATA is a document required for travel to the US under the humanitarian parole program designed for Cubans, Venezuelans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans. The change will directly impact the parole program for citizens of these countries when they apply for this crucial travel authorization.

The proposed change involves adding a new data element related to the physical location of the applicant. This includes longitude and latitude, which would be captured at the time of the submission of biometric information via the CBP One app. This means that when the parole beneficiary scans their face, their geographical location will also be sent to the US.

CBP One: A Digital Gateway

The CBP One app is instrumental in collecting essential information from individuals who submit an ATA application to travel to the US and apply for conditional freedom under this process. The app collects information such as facial photographs, photos from the passport or electronic passport chip, alien registration number, full name, date of birth, and passport number.

The DHS has established new conditional freedom processes that allow certain non-citizens and their immediate family members to apply for advanced authorization to travel to the US. They can then seek a case-by-case discretionary grant of parole. To support these processes, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) office developed the ATA capability within CBP One, allowing individuals to submit information as part of the application process.

ATA Collection and Its Expansion

Through an emergency approval, the CBP established ATA collection. Initially, this capability was used by Venezuelan citizens and their immediate family members who sought authorization to travel to the US under the parole process established by DHS for Venezuelans. Later on, DHS developed similar parole processes for citizens of Cuba, Haiti, and Nicaragua, and their immediate family members.

If the ATA is denied, the individual is not authorized to travel to the US to apply for parole under this process. However, if the user is not authorized to travel under this process, they can still seek entry to the US through another process, including submitting an application for parole consideration to USCIS or applying to the State Department for a visa.

Linking Biometric Data with Biographical Information

The facial biometric data collected from non-citizens will be linked to the biographical information provided by the individual to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). This data collection will facilitate background checks of non-citizens seeking to obtain advanced authorization to travel. This will also allow airlines participating in CBP’s Document Validation (DocVal) program to validate an approved advanced authorization to travel, facilitating the generation of a boarding pass for non-citizens without having to use other manual validation processes.

CBP One allows the user to capture the required biometric data, currently limited to a live facial photograph, and confirm the submission after viewing the captured image. CBP conducts a background check to determine if the individual poses a security risk to the US and to determine if the individual is eligible to receive advanced authorization to travel to the US and seek a discretionary grant of parole at the port of entry.