Among the toughest questions posed to the Chicago bid team this week in Copenhagen was one that raised the issue of what kind of welcome foreigners would get from airport officials when they arrived in this country to attend the Games. Syed Shahid Ali, an I.O.C. member from Pakistan, in the question-and-answer session following Chicago’s official presentation, pointed out that entering the United States can be “a rather harrowing experience.

Chicago’s Loss: Is Passport Control to Blame? - NYTimes.com

Just so you know, the United States government has on file my photograph and all of my fingerprints, taken every time I have entered the US. Green Card applicants have more detailed biometric data taken. Some of the smartest American friends I’ve met here are unaware of this process, presumably because if the government tried to get this sort of data from them there’d be a civil liberties outcry.

That’s from the UK, who are bestest friends with America. Brazil—where the Olympics will be held in 2016—has a rather wonderful, reciprocal approach to passport control where they simply impose the same requirements on you as your country does on them. As a result, US citizens visiting Brazil will have to pre-register, pay $130 and have their photograph and fingerprints taken. Via: The New York Times.