A Brazilian judge issued a ruling in late December requiring immigration officials throughout Brazil to subject Americans traveling in or through Brazil to the same procedures that Brazilians face in the Unites States.  Beginning January 1, immigration authorities began photographing and fingerprinting Americans entering Brazil.

However, the poorly equipped and understaffed immigration services could not keep up with the number of travelers and caused great delays. Some Americans waited up to nine hours to enter the country and many missed their connecting flights.  According to the Ministry of Tourism, the country’s international tourism business, which was just beginning to climb out of recession, is now declining due to the judge’s decision.

The Rio de Janeiro city government has asked a federal appeals court to overturn the judge’s ruling, but no date has been set to hear the appeal.    

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In response to the US-VISIT program, Foreign Secretary Delia Albert of the Philippines said in a written statement that although the government understands the reason behind the new measures and they find them generally reasonable, it will closely monitor the treatment of Filipino travelers to ensure that their rights and dignity are respected.

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On December 12, 2003 the Canadian government announced the creation of the new Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) as part of a newly formed Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.  The new agency will apply a risk-management approach to expediting the flow of low-risk goods and travelers across the US-Canada border.  The purpose of the new agency is to improve emergency preparedness and responses to natural disaster and security emergencies, and to improve connections to domestic emergency preparedness networks.