Phase to introduce Smart Gates at airport underway
Government is working on Phase Two of modernising immigration services to introduce smart gates at Nadi International Airport.
Additionally, Permanent Secretary for Immigration Yogesh Karan said immigration services would also become paperless soon.
Last year, Fiji introduced ePassports marking a milestone achievement for the country in its endeavour to take immigration services to a higher level.
“We are working on the second phase, whereby we try to make our processes paperless, work permits and applications and being able to trace the label free visas. We are finalising our draft concept and we have been assisted by IOM (International Organisation for Migration). Plans are also in place to introduce smart gates at Fiji’s international airport,” Mr
Karan said.
Speaking to immigration and border officers at a training last Friday, Mr Karan shared an instance where immigration officers were able to identify a highrisk passenger, who travelled to Fiji, using a fake passport.
“I will share with you a case, whereby our frontline officers from the Department of Immigration identified a high-risk passenger, who was travelling with a fake passport of a nationality, not of his own,” he said.
“It was our officers who successfully identified that the travel document was non-genuine while the few borders he crossed before reaching Fiji were not able to identify this and he was allowed to transit for a few days in each country before reaching Fiji,” he said.
“The officers were encouraged to share information and their work experiences with each other and learn new techniques on border control.”
Mr Karan applauded them for their work and spoke about the importance of their role.
The training was organised by Government and the United States
Embassy in Fiji to complement Government’s current strategies on protecting and safeguarding Fiji’s borders by detecting potential risks.
These risks arise through fraudulent and illegal travels through the use of fake visa, fake passport or forged travelling documents.
Last Friday’s training was attended by 20 officers from the Department of Immigration and two border officers from Fiji Revenue and Customs Services (FRCS).
As a result of the training, officials would be able to effectively carry out their roles when examining travel documents and to expedite the movement of legitimate travellers while intercepting high-risk travellers.
Similar training is also being organised by the Immigration Department in partnership with the Australian Government.