Automatic immigration gates open at Tan Son Nhat airport

The Vietnam Immigration Department under the Ministry of Public Security put the gates, called Autogates, into use from the start of August.

Each gate has two layers. The first one requests passengers to scan the page of personal information on their passports and the boarding pass. The second one is where passengers have their portrait photos taken and fingerprints scanned.

When clearing immigration with the Autogates, passengers will no longer have their passports stamped by customs officials.

The entire process is said to take less than one minute.

Passengers wait in line to complete customs procedures at Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by VnExpress/Mai Ha

The Autogates are now open for all Vietnamese citizens entering the country. For leaving Vietnam, the gates are only opened for those with diplomatic or official passports or flight crew members.

As for foreigners, Autogates are open for exiting the country to only those with permanent or temporary resident cards.

Foreigners entering Vietnam have not been allowed to use the gates.

Tan Son Nhat is the busiest airport in Vietnam, receiving 60,000-70,000 passengers a day on average.

Autogates have also been put into use on a pilot scheme at Noi Bai, Da Nang, Cam Ranh and Phu Quoc airports. It is not clear how long the trial periods will last.