DIAL sets up biometric registration kiosks

Mumbai: Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) on Friday introduced biometric registration kiosks for faster immigration processing, which will be operated under the direct supervision of the Bureau of Immigration (BOI). DIAL said that five kiosks are currently operational at the international arrival pier of the airport and it plans to add five more soon. This expansion will further expedite the immigration process for arriving passengers. The specially-designed kiosks for foreign nationals arriving in India with a visa where biometric information was not collected during the application process, have been set up for the first time at any airport in the country, DIAL said in a statement.

Before implementing this new mechanism, visa-holding passengers arriving in Delhi without biometric registration were required to utilise the designated immigration counters, resulting in an average wait time of 4-5 minutes per passenger, the private airport operator said. During peak hours, these queues could lead to even longer delays, it said, adding that after registering biometric at the kiosk, time taken by Immigration agent/ officer at the counter will be minimised by more than half, as the passengers entering India with an e-visa can now complete their biometric registration upon arrival at the kiosks and then proceed to any immigration counter for entry.