Clearing customs to US going high-tech at YVR

RICHMOND (NEWS1130) – Clearing customs will soon take much less of your time, if you’re flying into the US.

YVR has announced a new partnership with US Customs and Border Protection.

Automated Passport Control kiosks have been installed in the International Departures area.

“Right now it’s just set up for US citizens,” says John Wagner with US Customs. “We’ll be running that for a few weeks but our intention is to open it up to Canadian citizens in the near future, and then at some point also open it up to all citizens.”

Instead of talking face-to-face with a customs officer during pre-screening, the machines let you swipe your passport and answer a few questions. The terminal then prints a ticket with a code on it.

“This is a great enhancement to our process,” adds Wagner.  “What this allows us to do is allow the traveler to do part of the process at the kiosk, some of the administrative parts of the inspection process, they can do while they are waiting in line.”

“And this way when they approach the (Customs and Border Protection) officer, the officer already know a lot of the process has been done and they can conclude the process by doing the critical part of the what the officer does, which is the passenger interview.”

“I think it takes the data processing away from the officers so they can do a better job with security,” says one American traveller.

The agreement between YVR and US Customs is the first of its kind, though the Americans are hoping to expand the program to include many other Canadian airports

Canadians have been using technology to get back into the country since 2009.  The machines and software are BC made.

“We make it here in Vancouver,” says Kevin Molloy with the airport.  “It’s all YVR made, we’ve invented the software ourselves.”