CBP says it has now confirmed more than 1 billion travelers' identities with facial biometrics

U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced on Oct. 5, 2026, that it has verified the identity of more than 1 billion travelers using facial biometrics, the camera-based check that compares a traveler's face to the photo on file instead of relying only on a document inspection.

Where it is used, per CBP: entry processing at every U.S. airport with international arrivals, including Preclearance locations; exit processing at 66 U.S. airports; 42 seaports, including debarkation at 25 locations with closed-loop cruises; and all pedestrian lanes at southwest and northern border ports of entry. CBP says it has started adding the technology to vehicle lanes at select land crossings and reports more than 98 percent accuracy.

Why CBP says it matters: Congress in 2013 directed the agency to identify every non-citizen who enters and leaves the United States. CBP says that since 2018 the system has identified more than 600,000 visa overstays and more than 2,300 impostors, meaning people traveling on someone else's documents.

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What comes next: CBP says it received $673 million under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed in July 2025, to expand biometric entry-exit systems at all U.S. ports of entry. It is testing cameras that capture travelers walking out of the country at a southwest port of entry, exploring a similar test for vehicles, and piloting "on the move" face checks for Global Entry members.

Your options and your photo: CBP says photos of U.S. citizens are discarded within 12 hours after the identity check, while non-U.S. citizens are enrolled in the DHS Biometric Identity Management System as a record of entry or departure. U.S. citizens and other eligible travelers who do not want their photo taken can tell a CBP officer and ask for a manual document check. Yes, you can still just hand over the passport and make eye contact with a human the old-fashioned way.

Official source: CBP national media release "CBP processes 1 billion+ travelers with facial biometrics, bolstering national security" (Oct. 5, 2026): https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/national-media-release/cbp-processes-1-billion-travelers-facial-biometrics-bolstering . More on the entry/exit program: https://www.dhs.gov/biometrics

This is a Notice Nearby publisher-desk brief based on CBP newsroom and media-release emails sent to publisher@noticenearby.com on Oct. 5, 2026 (the same release arrived on two lists and is published once). It is not a legal notice and not Legal Publication. Photo: a CBP officer works beside a biometric boarding camera at a departure gate at Houston's international airport, Feb. 12, 2018 (an archive photo), by CBP Photography, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (resized).