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Due to some family function, I had to apply henna on my hands 4 days back. I had my biometrics taken today (I have applied for UK visa). The staff, while taking my biometrics, told me that henna could create an issue at the time of immigration. Is that true? Because I haven't heard of such issues before.

And since I decided to proceed with my biometrics, what is the best I can do? Could there be a problem for me at immigration?

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  • Even i got the same answer from people working for visa office. Does henna create any problem while fingerprinting?
    – Tanu
    Feb 15, 2019 at 17:58
  • For those of us old enough to remember ink pads and a piece of paper that took a physical impression of the ridges the it would not be a problem. But modern fingerprint systems use optical,systems to take a picture of your fingers as they press onto the reading surface it's possible other lines on the surface of your fingers could confuse the reading.
    – Sarriesfan
    Feb 15, 2019 at 18:17

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I made a quick search and found this answer in Quora website and I believe it could answer your question:

You get fingerprints because of ridges in your fingers. Henna is just a paint/dye and your fingerprints don't get affected by it . But henna is not universally known and immigration officers from other countries may suspect it. There have been incidents where immigration officers did not consider your fingerprints with henna. It is safe if you don't apply henna if you are flying to other country. Or best of both worlds, you apply henna on rest of your hand keeping your fingers clean.

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Yes, the changes in your normal fingerprint occurs. the devices usually reads the image in its capturing structure, if it is colored using henna, the image read by machine is a faded-one

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