Washington ? The Justice Department announced anti-terrorism changes Wednesday to require roughly 100,000 new visitors each year to provide fingerprints, photographs and details about their plans in the United States.

The government said it would keep secret most of its new criteria for identifying risky immigrants.

Immigration and Naturalization Service Commissioner James Ziglar looks on at the Justice Department in Washington as Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft discusses the Justice Department's proposed anti-terrorism visa regulations. The proposal would subject tens of thousands of visitors to heavier scrutiny.

The new rules, expected to take effect this fall, also will affect fewer than 100,000 foreigners already in the United States. Those foreigners will be instructed to report to the Immigration and Naturalization Service for registration, fingerprints and photographs and to visit immigration offices every 12 months until they leave.

Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft declined to disclose the criteria the government will use to identify which of the 35 million foreign visitors who enter each year might be deemed threatening, except to say nearly all visitors from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Syria except some diplomats will face scrutiny.

Visitors from other countries, especially Muslim and Middle Eastern nations, could be identified as potential threats depending on other factors, such as age or gender and whether they remain in the United States longer than 30 days. Some visitors, but not all, will be told they were deemed potential threats before traveling to the United States, senior Justice officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The new rules, called the “National Entry-Exit Registration System,” will compare visitors’ fingerprints with those of suspected terrorists. Ashcroft and others at the Justice Department said the collection of terrorist fingerprints was “sizable” largely because of efforts by U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

“We will be able to stop terrorists from entering the country,” Ashcroft said. “Fingerprints don’t lie.”

The new rules will be open for public comment until the fall before the Justice Department formally enacts them.