Skip long immigration queues starting February

Long queues at immigration counters of Indian airports will end after February. The Bureau of Immigration is almost ready with the process to do away with the immigration check of Indian passengers.

Long queues at immigration counters of Indian airports will end after February. The Bureau of Immigration is almost ready with the process to do away with the immigration check of Indian passengers.

“The trial run will happen at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport by February end. We will implement the new system soon after,” said an official of Foreigner Regional Registration Office (FRRO), requesting anonymity. “A new technology will help us automatically get the travel history of passengers, and suspicious ones can be stopped any time.”

Currently, passengers landing at any international airport of the country have to fill a disembarkation form which has over 20 questions. The form is then submitted at the immigration counter at the arrival hall of the airport and a passenger loses 15 minutes to one hour in the process.

The bureau is now installing a software which will flash details of passengers before immigration officials and they do not need to stop at the counters.

The facility will be available only to Indian passengers and they will just have to show their passport to leave the airport. The disembarkation form which is given to the passenger inside the aircraft contains questions such as date of birth, address, travel history, contact number and flight details.

“An internal survey revealed that passengers spend 15 minutes to one hour standing in the queue at the immigration counter. In the feedback form too, passengers complain of long queues at the immigration counters and details collected in the disembarkation form is of no use,” the FRRO official said.