Automatic Passport Control System
Service in modern airports is increasingly shifting towards self-service. This not only helps reduce staffing costs but also significantly saves passengers' time. We are no longer surprised by self-check-in kiosks and even baggage drop-off machines, and relatively recently, in some airports, special gates for biometric passport holders have also appeared. Now they don't need to stand in queues for passport control. It's enough to approach the turnstile and place the passport with the chip on the reader. If your documents are in order, the gates will open, and you can pass through.
This problem was particularly acute in London airports, where due to the large passenger flow, immigration officers couldn't cope, and huge queues accumulated at passport control, requiring more than an hour of waiting.
With the new turnstiles, the entire procedure takes a few seconds. The scanner reads information not only from the passport but also scans your face, comparing it with the two-dimensional photograph contained in the passport.
Turnstiles for biometric passports are installed in some European airports, but only citizens of the European Economic Area* and Switzerland can use them.
* Please note! The European Economic Area (EEA) includes all EU countries, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.
If you are unsure whether your passport is biometric or not, look at its cover; it should have the microchip logo:
