Aust int travel incoming to Aust

[AustraliaPoochie]

New system.
No more hard cardboard.
New soft paper...
At shoulder high booth, it already takes a photo of you, when you insert passport into reader.
It then asks where you have been.
Then prints your photo and passport details onto soft paper.
Then at smartgate1 enter passport, then smartgate2, then collect hold luggage, then the soft paper info piece of paper and IPC is taken off you.
Then out into public open zone.
Outgoing out of Aust still the same way as before.
Incoming procedures changed in past few months.
Bit longer procedure than before.

 

[SYD]

New system.
No more hard cardboard.
New soft paper...
At shoulder high booth, it already takes a photo of you, when you insert passport into reader.
It then asks where you have been.
Then prints your photo and passport details onto soft paper.
Then at smartgate1 enter passport, then smartgate2, then collect hold luggage, then the soft paper info piece of paper and IPC is taken off you.
Then out into public open zone.
Outgoing out of Aust still the same way as before.
Incoming procedures changed in past few months.
Bit longer procedure than before.

Which airport?

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

MEL int.
Today.
Maybe SYD int will go the same way.
Quite long queue, maybe it's because its Christmas Eve or school holidays.

 

[SYD]

MEL int.
Today.
Maybe SYD int will go the same way.
Quite long queue, maybe it's because its Christmas Eve or school holidays.

SYD still had the regular arrivals kiosks a few weeks ago. Although I think I saw some new machines installed (but not functioning).

 

[dajop]

Yes when we came through MEL late October they were doing a lot of work in arrivals immigration. Now that work is completed and the new equipment is installed.

Instead of being on the left hand side as you come through, the new gates are straight ahead.

When I went through still 3 phases:
1) as per before but as poochie suggests, takes your photo and l prints out a flimsy bit of paper with your photo printed on it
2) At the gate just takes your photo - no need to insert card anymore. Should be quicker but I stood too far back from camera and it didn’t respond until I moved further forward (noticed others with same problem).
3) As per usual the arrival card and the flimsy slip of paper are taken off you before exiting at the point where customs/quarantine either let you exit or direct you for screening

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

There was a 2nd gate tho.
Thought I passes 2 gates.
First took pix.
Maybe I was too excited to take proper notice.
Incoming now allows glasses or spectacles.
NZ side I still had to take glasses off.
On arr to MEL I forgot to take them off at flimsy paper receipt stage, so the photo on it had my glasses.
And all the rules taking photo at passport making stage had to be without glasses.
Will be Oct next year before i come back through int again.
---
Sorry, I feel like the family pooch who has been given a new toy for Christmas.
Didn't realize the new system is well noticed already.
But wait till others give their feedback on it.

 

[clifford]

Just make it like the UK system. One gate, one passport/facial check and straight out.

Who really needs bits of paper? Australia, I guess.

 

[trendwhore]

Yep had that about a month ago as well, I don't think it actually sped up the process at all

 

[dajop]

Just make it like the UK system. One gate, one passport/facial check and straight out.

Who really needs bits of paper? Australia, I guess.

Presumably the paper is all about the stricter customs and quarantine controls? Can’t think of any other reason for it . But then why not just use the arrival card?

 

[RooFlyer]

Sounds like what they did in USA abt 7 years ago, at least.

 

[Austman]

It's been that way in BNE for ages.

The customs requirement is still the same.

It's just the little card that the passport machines used to issue that's different.

 

[dxwell]

Please confirm that said paper meets or exceeds strict criteria

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

It's a bit firmer than loo paper.
But it's thermal tho, as in printer used.
Just like shopping dockets sort.
Soft, flimsy, ...
Don't know how long they store it.
Not a lot of info printed on it, just one line.
MEL and then codes.
Does not show where arrival was from.
This is the printout I mean, the officer still has to look at orange card to decide if green or red lane.
I think they give a bit of leeway to arrivals from NZ.
Should see the amount of goods in weight and dimensions Indians and China Chinese and the Vietnamese bring in and out of Aust!

 

[clifford]

Presumably the paper is all about the stricter customs and quarantine controls?

I would't say that customs and quarantine controls were that much less effective in the UK. A lot of people earmarked for Rwanda might agree,

But really, the UK border force is pretty switched on, and doesn't need flimsy bits of paper in this modern age.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

By the looks of the new procedure, it didn't seem like any better.
In fact, the new system takes a bit longer per pax, as the photo has to be taken by the machine at the first stage.
Prior the cardoardy printout machine didnt print photo, now it does.
So another point of (bureaucracry).
Former was to enter passport and it asks some questions, you take printout, that was it.
Now it takes longer per pax as photo taken per pax, add 1.5mins extra per pax, x by a 380 plane number of pax, that's a long time.
The queue was long too, and the numbers of "first step in int arr smartgate machines" seem to be less in numbers too.

 

[CaptJCool]

IS There any fast tracks for repeat travellers?

often when things are introduced, everyone has to do it the first time round, but repeat arrivals might make it quicker?

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Maybe the new name for APEC card, but don't know for sure.
Maybe going through the staffed entry might avert the need for the flimsy printout.
That might mean manual processing all the way, might be slow the manual way too.
Just do am experiment when you next enter Aust.
There was an officer saying out loud, "family with children this way, family with children this way", so maybe there is another way to quicken processing, but maybe next time, I will be more watchful.

 

[blue7]

Pure speculation on my part, its likely the incoming passenger card will be replaced with the new kiosk and receipt along with the reworked digital passenger declaration.

The new system might not even require passports to be scanned, as is the case with the new Global Entry kiosks in the US where they compare photos with expected passengers.

 

[OZDUCK]

The big question is will it work reliably. An hour ago we arrived in Singapore. We arrived on Vietnam Airlines and will depart on SQ. As they are separate tickets we entered Singapore for 10 minutes to book in and then leave Singapore.

On the way in I was able to use the E Gates and my wife was turned away and had to queue for Manual Processing. On our departure, that 10 minutes later, she went straight through and I was sent for Manual Processing. An Immigration officer spent 5 minutes trying to get the exit gate to work before giving up. While waiting for my wife on the way in I saw a failure rate of at least 15%.

 

[OZDUCK]

And for a first and of course individual impression. This morning at Perth Airport the new machines worked perfectly and were easier to use than the ones in Singapore and far less glitchy.