BI set to upgrade e-gates to reduce processing time

The Bureau of Immigration announced on Thursday that it would upgrade the electronic gates at the country's international airports.

With the upgrade, the BI said arriving passengers can expect the removal of the scanning of boarding passes when using the e-gates, which it said would lessen the processing time.

According to Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco, the agency is currently integrating the data of airlines to connect with the e-gates.

He said they received reports that some passengers were unable to use the e-gates as their flight records were not yet in the system.

“Our e-gates are also being reconfigured to be label-free,” Tansingco said in a statement.

“Instead of printing a sticker to be attached to the passport, passengers will receive an email acknowledging their arrival. This is the best practice that we are emulating from other countries,” he added. —VBL, GMA Integrated News