5 million people register for smart gates system

Abu Dhabi: More than five million people have registered for smart gates system, while 2.5 million people used the facility since the launch early last year, a Ministry of Interior official said on Tuesday.

Major Mohammad Al Zaabi, director of the e-gates project in the Ministry of Interior, said the system facilitates travel procedures at airports.

“Smart gates system is an important project to cut time and effort of the passengers. We coordinate with airports to train qualified staff to help the passengers and show them the proper way to use the system,” Major Al Zaabi said.

He said the system uses the face-recognition technology to clear a passenger. “Passengers can register in any UAE airport and can use the smart gates in all airports,” Major Al Zaabi added.

The smart gate is the second generation passenger clearence system and is a lot faster and more efficient as it is seven seconds faster than e-gates.

The e-gate scans biometrics of travellers before allowing them to pass through passport control.

Unlike the e-gate which requires an e-gate card, the smart gate does not require a dedicated card. It can identify a traveller by either their passport, Emirates ID, e-gate card or QR barcode generated via the GDRFA smartphone app.

Passports need to have the data encoded in an optical character recognition format at the base of the identity page in order to be used at the smart gate.

Using the smart gates is easy. The passport’s photo page is placed on the scanner. The traveller then steps into the gate and completes the eye scan. The gate will then open and the passenger can step through.

First-time users have to register with an immigration officer after completing the eye scan.

Al Zaabi said that passengers whose residency or passports have expired, are staying illegally in the country, have pending fines, have court cases and children under the age of five cannot use smart gates.

If you are a UAE resident, then remember to carry your Emirates ID the next time you travel through UAE airports as you will be able to speed through passport control in a matter of seconds.

Who can use them?

This new express passport control service can be enjoyed by all Emirates ID cardholders aged 18 and above. Families travelling with children below the age of 18 should head to the manned counter next to the Smart Gates, to complete the immigration process.

For more information, check out this video guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7W_gj0HHhs