Autogate was deployed by the Vietnam Immigration Department under the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) for a week at the largest and busiest airport in the country.

The Tan Son Nhat Airport border gate police are operating 10 passport scanners which support passengers’ check-in process, including five machines for exit and five for entries.

In the first phase, the entry procedures via Autogate will be applied only to Vietnamese citizens who have registered to use Autogate (those with w chip-based ID passport don’t have to register). Foreigners cannot use Autogate to check in.

As for exit passengers, Autogate is used for Vietnamese citizens who have legal passports and can satisfy one of the following conditions: diplomatic or business passport; Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Business Travel Card (ABTC); or members of the flight crew.

Foreign passengers who want to exit through Autogate must have a permanent resident card or a temporary residence card. Exit passengers must successfully register to use Autogate.

The direct manual registration process of passport data takes about 2-4 minutes, including passport, fingerprints scanning, and facial biological monitoring. Passengers, after registering and activating passport information along with personal information will move to the Autogate area to go through customs.

It takes only 30 seconds to go through the five steps at Autogate.

There are two doors that passengers have go through. At the first door, they need to put the ID page into the reader and wait for the notice.

After that, passengers put the boarding pass face down into the reader and wait for the notice, and the first door opens.

At the second door, passengers need to stand on the right position to have their photos taken and wait for the notice.

Passengers put their right forefinger to have their fingerprint scanned and wait for the notice. 

In the last step, passengers complete the procedures. The second door opens and passengers step out, with no need to have their passports stamped. 

If any step cannot be implemented, a red light will turn on. In this case, passengers need to stand still and a policemen at the border gates will give direct support so that passengers can continue the procedures.

To register to use Autogate, passengers can directly register at the Vietnam Immigration Department under MPS, and immigration control units under MPS, and the Ministry of National Defense at border gates.

Tran Chung