The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and the National Immigration Agency (NIA) yesterday jointly announced that a total of seven sets of the newly-introduced system will be first tested at the Shuitou Port (水頭港) in Kinmen, one of the entry-points for passengers making use of the Mini Three links.
Once the trial runs are successful in the outlying island, the scheme will later be expanded to two airports in northern Taiwan, Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei Songshan Airport, and Kaohsiung International Airport in the south.
A total 35 of the new automated border control system sets will ultimately be introduced to the customs areas of these locations by the end of May, said the officials.
The officials disclosed that they have spent more than NT$700 million in setting up the latest system.
To make use of the new procedures that are expected to largely speed up and modernize border controls, people have to apply for the service first by leaving his or her biometric data at the NIA.
Travelers can either choose to leave a picture of their face or choose to leave a fingerprint record for future identification purposes.
However, the NIA noted that travelers must be taller than 140 centimeters to apply for this service since the system can only identify faces of individuals taller than the set's height.
Thomas Chen, director-general of MOFA's Bureau of Consular Affairs, also noted that holders of newly-issued biometric “e-passports” can make use of the service in the future without needing to submit an application since their biometric data has already stored in the passports.
The automated border control system is expected to read all the 3.2 million newly-issued e-passports that MOFA has issued to citizens so far, he noted.
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Quelle/Source: The China Post, 27.01.2011
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