How Does Entry-Exit System Enhance Border Control Security?

The era of smart borders may indeed be upon us! The European Commission Office plans to implement an automated biometric border crossing system, EES. This new electronic registration system is expected to streamline visitors’ border-crossing process and strengthen state security under the tide of accelerating global population mobility.

What is EES?

EES, or Entry-Exit System, is a part of the EU’s Smart Boarder Package and is designed for replacing manual passport stamping with automatic crossing by biometric identity verification. The ultimate goal of this biometric border system is that visitors can complete the automatic border crossing progress without the involvement of immigration officers.

How does EES work?

Information collection

The Entry-Exit System will record detailed information about visitors to make sure the automatic biometric crossing can operate smoothly. In addition to basic personal information such as full name, sex, date of birth, place of birth, citizenship, etc., EES will collect visitors’ biometric information including facial images and fingerprints.

Automatic biometrics border-crossing

Biometrics makes border checks much easier. The whole verification can be limited to 1 minute.

Step 1: Visitors scan the first page of their biometric passport using the EES device

Step 2: Face the camera when the automatic gate opens

Step 3: Wait for the device to capture the image and verify

Step 4: Walk through it as soon as the gate opens

The EU’s EES is not the first try of governments of countries to apply biometric technology to enhance border control security.

Which countries have already introduced biometric border systems to border control?

🔸Australia and New Zealand

SmartGate is Australia’s automatic biometric border system and it is named eGate in New Zealand. It is operated by Australian Border Force and New Zealand Customs Services. In virtue of facial recognition technology and the biometric data stored in biometric passport chips, the SmartGate system allows visitors from other countries quickly pass border control.

🔸The U.S.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, facial biometrics have been applied at 36 airports in the USA and proceeded more than 200 million travelers. It is well recognized that the biometric entry-exit system simplifies and speeds up the arrival process.

In addition to the countries mentioned above, many other countries have introduced biometric entry-exit systems, such as China, Brazil, Ukraine, etc.

Why have biometric border systems been more widely used for border control?

🔸More mature biometric technology

Not limited to border control, biometric technology has been used in many application scenarios covering bank account activation, identity registration, payment, etc. As biometric technology develops, it’s more reliable to apply biometric border systems to border control.

🔸Less time-consuming

Compared to stamping passports manually, using biometric border systems is more time-saving. As global communications become closer, numerous travelers cross borders every day. Manual passport-stamping costs time for every traveler, which makes travelers need to wait for a long time in a narrow space. As mentioned above, identity verification using biometrics costs less than 1 minute for every visitor, and thus border crossing speeds up.

🔸Higher accuracy

Biometric Enter Exit System helps overcome the challenge brought by criminals who enter a country using a false identity. Biometric features are nearly impossible to fraud, therefore every traveler has a unique identity. Criminals will fail to enter the border even if they get a stolen or lost passport. Biometric technology improves the effectiveness of detecting persons with fraud or wanted identity.

🔸Systematic data recording

Taking the EU’s EES as an example, the border system can automatically and systematically record the date and place of entry, date and place of exit, previous refusals of entry to a country, etc. The systematic records make immigration officers clearly and fully know the situations of visitors and then conduct more efficient management.

Kiosks play an important role in biometric border control and it’s the first gate to avoid trespassers.

In the airports of countries adopting biometric border systems, a dedicated automatic passport control kiosk area is set up. On the kiosks, visitors scan the information page of passports, verify face images and fingerprints, and apply.

These self-service kiosks reduce the process of manual intervention by using the automation method. The workload of customs officers has been greatly reduced and the crossing process of visitors speeds up.

Nowadays, self-service kiosks have been applied at airports in most countries, for there is enough space to place self-service kiosks. However, border control takes place not limited to airports, but also railway stations, wharves, etc. These scenarios require biometric devices to proceed with biometrics identification at present.

Telpo is dedicated to biometric terminals and solutions.

Telpo S5 is a rugged handheld biometric terminal that is suitable to be used for mobile border control. It has a powerful performance with the Android 9 OS running and has a leading protection level.

Features:

Leading protection level: IP65 waterproof and dustproof, 1.5m drop resistance

🔸Multi-factor identification: IC card, NFC card, ID card, passport reading, barcode scanning, iris recognition
🔸Multiple fingerprint options: FAP20, FAP30, FAP45
Telpo S8 is a biometric tablet equipped with an 8-inch screen and supports multiple verification methods.

Fingerprint Scanner Tablet Telpo S8

Features:

🔸Multifactor biometrics authentications: fingerprint, iris, voiceprint and face

🔸Multiple identity document reading methods: E-ID card contact reading, E-ID card NFC scanning, E-passport NFC scanning, barcode scanning, etc.

🔸Multiple fingerprint scanner options: FAP20, FAP30, FAP45, FAP60

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Tag: EES, Entry-Exit System, biometric border system, automated biometric border crossing