HCMC airport could speed up immigration clearance

The big crowd of people waiting for entrance clearance is a tiring scene at the airport’s international terminal. There are several ways the airport can try to speed up the immigration process.

Here, I’d like to propose two ways that do not require any investment in modern equipment.

First, the airport should set up separate lines for Vietnamese and foreign passport holders. Vietnamese passport holders coming back to their country should have no paperwork problem, and letting them through will help clear the crowd quite effectively.

Second, it can skip the step of stamping the passport.

Immigration officials at the airport now have to open a passenger’s passport, turn to the page with the latest seal by the airport, if any, and stamp next to it.

The process, from hand to hand, can take up to a minute or more.

But now that all passengers’ travel data has been recorded on computers, the physical stamps have little meaning.

In many countries, immigration officials no longer stamp passports. If they do, they quickly stamp the first page with enough space rather than searching for the latest prior stamp.