Some foreigners who arrived here yesterday said the new process was slow, while others said it took hardly any time at all. But overall, they said they accepted the process as an important security measure and that they would still like to continue traveling here.

Chie Sasada, a 31-year-old Osaka resident, said the process was "very slow" and that it took about 45 minutes from the time her plane landed until the time she was able to exit the airport. Still Sasada said the extra wait was not a problem and was simply something foreigners "cannot escape."

"I will come back," she said. Her friend, Hisako Kanata, added, "Because she loves Hawai'i."

"Fingerprint is too much, but we cannot help it," Kanata said.

The Department of Homeland Security already was digitally fingerprinting and photographing every visitor holding a visa coming into the United States under the US-VISIT program, created by Congress after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The federal program that began yesterday requires visitors from the 27 countries whose residents were allowed to travel within the United States without a visa to also be fingerprinted and photographed, including visitors from Japan.

About 13 million visitors from those 27 countries enter the United States every year. Last year, about 1.3 million Japanese visitors came to Hawai'i.

About 4,700 passengers arrived on international flights yesterday, with most flights from Japan, said state Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa. He said the average wait for passengers to get from their plane to the curbside yesterday was about 30 minutes and that officials never had to steer passengers into the "aloha lounge" waiting areas that officials set up in case the wait became too long.

Before the new procedures began, state transportation officials had estimated the average wait for international travelers — from gate to curbside — to be about 30 to 45 minutes.

The challenge will come when the number of international arrivals picks up beginning later this month, when between 5,000 to 6,500 are expected daily, Ishikawa said.

Ray Attard, a 53-year-old engineering officer from Australia, said the process was "quite efficient," and that he and his wife and son waited only about eight minutes at the most. "So far it's been good," he said. "You can't complain about security. After all, it's for our safety."

For Eri Yamamoto, a Japanese visitor in her 40s, the process wasn't a problem and was considered important to ensure security. Her friend, Masako Asai, translated for Yamamoto: "It's good to catch terrorists."

Tomomi Mizui, a 26-year-old visitor from Kyoto, said her wait was at least 30 minutes, with the fingerprint and photograph process taking about five minutes.

"It's too long," she said. But Mizui also said she intends to return here. "We love Hawai'i."

Patrick Burke, chief inspector with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said the program was carried out well yesterday, but he said that federal officials are working to quicken the time it takes to fingerprint and photograph visitors, which ranged from five seconds to two minutes in Honolulu. In San Francisco it took three minutes or longer, and there were delays nationwide, he said.

"They're working on it (in Hawai'i), and they said that we'll be down to hopefully about 10 seconds," Burke said. "If we get it to 10 seconds, we'll experience hardly any delays."

Officials said Hawai'i is unique in that most international passengers arrive between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m. And Burke said that to help expedite the process, officials operated all 52 inspection booths, airlines made sure passengers had forms ready for inspectors, and interpreters were available to assist.