As part of modernizing its procedures and reducing long lines at airports, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) affirmed its plan to replace half of its manual counters with electronic gates or e-Gates.
The new “e-gates” will enable the BI to comply with the 45-second immigration processing time for travelers, adopted from the Guidelines on Advance Passenger Information published jointly by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said recently.
While the 45-second standard is intended for check-in counters for the manual keying of passenger data, BI has committed and imposed upon itself to process passengers within the said period.
Tansingco said that the BI’s IT programs are in place to further reduce the processing time without compromising national security.
“E-gates are now the standard in most countries. We want things faster and more efficient, to better improve the experience of our travelers,” he noted.
P1.9B to complete
The procurement of e-Gates, with a total estimated cost of P1.9 billion, has been included in the BI’s approved information systems strategic plan for 2024-2026.
The e-Gates, similar to those used in advanced countries, can lessen processing time to as low as eight seconds per passenger. Compounded, this would significantly reduce the processing time of travelers.
Currently, only 21 e-Gates are distributed at the arrival area in major international airports nationwide, the majority of which are deployed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
The BI is gearing up to procure additional e-Gates starting 2024, and expect that by 2026, a total of 43 e-gates are installed nationwide.
Holiday rush
Meanwhile, Tansingco said that their operations are prepared for the expected influx of passengers during the holiday season.
“'Ber' months are here again, and because of this we expect a higher number of arriving and departing passengers,” he said.
Tansingco shared that apart from deploying hundreds of immigration officers, with the latest batch of graduates numbering to 108, the BI has in place the Rapid Response Procedure, executed in all international ports of entry and exits during peak hours or critical periods to address the sudden influx of travelers by augmenting the number of officers assigned at a specific terminal through mobilization of other IOs assigned at other offices.
Green lanes for OFWs
Mobile counters have also been deployed to process passengers despite the limited immigration space in our airports, as compared to the allocated immigration space in other countries.
The BI also announced that within the year, it intends to open green lanes at the departure area, which shall cater to airline crew, frequent travelers, and OFWS.
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