Welcome to Belgium

As from today EU-citizens flying to Belgium no longer have to queue to go through border control when arriving at Brussels Airport as the airport is introducingautomated border control.

Upon arrival at the B-concourse passengers can choose to go to the traditional manual passport control or opt to go through one of the six e-gates for a digital passport check.

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Automated border control at Brussels Airport. ©Brussels Airport

How does the automated border control work?

1. You walk through the entrance gate.

2. Insert your identity card or passport into the slit.
There are two slits: European passports are to be inserted in the lower slit, Belgian identity cards in the upper slit.

3. Behind the scenes: the advanced software system verifies three parameters. Firstly, is the identity document authentic or forged? At the same time a police check of the identity of the passenger is carried out. A last check is based on face recognition whereby the photograph on the chip of the identity document is compared to a digital photo which was made at the e-gate.

4. If the evaluation of all three parameters is positive, the exit gates open and the passenger can proceed to the baggage reclaim area. A police official who supervises the e-gates can swiftly react if anything untoward occurs e.g. when the gates do not open.

5. As soon as the passenger leaves the e-gate the system checks whether any items were left behind so the passenger can be called back.

At the moment, only EU citizens are able to use the automated border control gates because non-EU citizens are subject to other entry conditions. The check of their identity documents will be carried out manually as before.

Most European countries are member of the Schengen zone.

map schengenFor more information on the Schengen area and the free movement within go to http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/borders-and-visas/index_en.htm

Brussels Airport plans to install these automated border control gates for departing passengers in the future, making the passage through the airport a smoother experience.

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