The Directorate General of Passports is scheduled to implement the self-service system for completion of travel procedures for passengers through King Abdul Aziz International Airport in Jeddah and King Fahd Airport in Dammam after the success of the experiment at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. The new system will enable passengers to complete travel procedures themselves through the electronic gate set up for this purpose using their fingerprints. This will be without the need for standing in the conventional lanes (queues) to have passports stamped after verification of identity by passport officers. Those interested in using the electronic gate must first get a smart card by visiting one of the centers for registering fingerprints where the Passports Department employee will verify the applicant's identity and enter his bio-characteristics including fingerprints and eye image into the system. After that a card carrying the applicant's picture will be issued on the spot at the center. The passenger only has to swipe his card in the electronic reader so as to open the front barrier for the gate in order to verify his identity through his bio-characteristics. Then he is issued an electronic slip carrying the entry and exit information. Lt. Col. Khalid Bin Hamad Al-Seikhan, Director of Information Technology Administration at the Passports Department, said: “Setting up the electronic gate at the two airports comes within the sphere of launching numerous pioneering technological initiatives to facilitate procedures, increase convenience for passengers, and provide new services in order to save time and eliminate the routine procedures in completing travel formalities at the Kingdom's entry points.” He said all the data for passengers using the system will be recorded in the Passports Department systems which will ensure secrecy. The passenger will get a printed slip that will enable him to enter or depart from the country without the need to stamp his passport using the conventional method.
