CABINET NOTES: Two senior officials from the Immigration and Tourism Departments accompanied the principal of a technology company called ZEN to Cabinet, interested in providing a fix for reducing the waiting time for passengers arriving Antigua, especially on weekends.
Passengers arriving Antigua and Barbuda are required to complete an E/D Card (Embarkation/Disembarkation Card) which is handed to an Immigration Officer along with the passenger’s passport; the Immigration Officer swipes the barcode within the passenger’s passport and then double checks to determine if the data provided by the written card match the passport data.
The passenger is usually asked how long and where he/she intends to stay.
The improved system which the technology firm proposes would have all the information inputted by the passenger as many as 48 hours before arriving Antigua, freeing the Immigration Officers at the V.C. Bird International from treating long lines of waiting passengers.
The arriving men and women and family members would swipe their passports, submit to a camera, and proceed to Customs.
The Cabinet considered the cost and the border security concerns before thanking the firm for its presentation. No decisions were taken.
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The issue might be procedural and not the system. The first question, do we need the information that we ask for on the card? By scanning the barcode on the passport, you already have the passport number accurately, so why do you need it from the card and what are you going to do with the card afterwards? Before the officers did not have computers and were accustom to the landing cards, but do they need it with the computers still?
For citizens arriving, why do you need information about the place of residence, etc, does it matter where they are staying? Also, when we have full Caricom integration, do you need to know where people will be staying? Do you really know if they will be staying where was stated on the form?
The airlines can provide Advance Passenger Information and the authorities can know in advance all passengers that will be arriving.
We could start by eliminating landing cards for arriving nationals and that would free-up some officers quicker to assist international passengers.
In a recent travel I did to several countries, Antigua was the only one that required a landing card.
Antigua is always behind where technology is concerned. It’s about time that we as a country become more forward thinking and be the innovators and the pioneers of the region. Other have surpassed us in digitizing their immigration process and we are only now playing catch up. Too much time is spent playing party and politics, it time for the motto each endeavoring all achieving to make sense.