Automatic immigration gates facilitate passengers' travel
Automatic immigration gates have proven effective since they were put into operation at five airports on a trial basis last year, thus facilitating passengers' travel.
The Vietnam Immigration Department under the Ministry of Public Security has piloted the gates, called Autogates, since the start of August 2023 at five international airports – Noi Bai, Da Nang, Cam Ranh, Tan Son Nhat and Phu Quoc.
Each gate has two layers. The first requests passengers to scan the page of personal information on their passports and the boarding pass. The second is where passengers have their portrait photos taken and fingerprints scanned.
When clearing immigration with the Autogates, passengers will no longer have their passports stamped by immigration officials.
The entire process takes only about 30 seconds as compared with around 2-4 minutes through the conventional manual process.
The Autogates are now open for all Vietnamese citizens entering the country. For leaving Vietnam, they are only available for diplomatic or official passport holders or flight crew members.
As for foreigners, the gates are open for exiting the country to only those with permanent or temporary residence cards. They are yet applicable to those entering Vietnam.
The department said it will continue implementing the model and perfecting technology, targeting other groups of foreign visitors.
Similar models have been put into place in countries such as Australia, Singapore, Japan and Thailand.
