European Union
The European Union promotes free movement between member states. While reducing border checks is generally a good thing for privacy, the flip side is that the EU effectively requires everyone to have their fingerprints taken either at the border or from the age they have to start carrying a mandatory (or effectively mandatory) ID card.
Mandatory fingerprinting of citizens
Regulation (EC) 2252/2004 and Regulation (EU) 2019/1157 mandate that all biometric passports and identity cards issued by EU member states must contain at least two fingerprints. The United Kingdom and Ireland - both outside the Schengen free travel area - were given opt-outs.
Conveniently, a lot of European countries also mandate that everyone must have an ID card. Even without this, one of these identity documents must be carried when crossing internal EU borders, and the majority of people will get a passport to travel internationally at some point. This effectively means that all citizens are legally required to have their fingerprints taken.
Mandatory fingerprinting of visitors
From 2025, the EU is introducing the Entry/Exit System and the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) for anyone visiting member states in the Schengen area without an EU passport, even if they are from a country with visa-free access such as the UK.
This will impose similar rules to United States, in that you must submit information about yourself online and pay an application fee to get permission to enter the country in advance, and then fingerprints are taken at the border.
The EU's webpage on the subject clearly states: "If you refuse to provide your biometric data, you will be denied entry into the territory of the European countries using the EES."
Not very friendly.
Ireland and the Common Travel Area
The Republic of Ireland is in the European Union, but unlike most other members, is not in the Schengen area. This is because they are instead in the Common Travel Area, allowing free movement between the British isles.
You do not need to have your fingerprints taken to get an Irish passport, but since it is an EU passport, it allows entry into other EU countries without fingerprints being taken at the border.
Nothing to hide
One interesting thing about the UK is that only 85% of the land has an owner that is registered with the government. There are cases in which the official advice given for identifying the owner is to "ask in the local pub".
This culture is in stark contrast with that of certain European countries: in Sweden, every adult must have their home address as public information. You can look up any Swedish citizen by their legal name on https://hitta.se or numerous similar websites, and it will tell you where they live. In Germany, every personal website must have an "Impressum" page publicly displaying the owner's home address.
See also
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_identity_card_policies_by_country
- Most European countries also require phone numbers to be registered to your legal identity.
- United States
- International travel