It’s now even easier for our friends across the Pacific to visit our shores, with the Australian Government expanding its trusted traveler program “SmartGate” to U.S. Citizens with ePassports.
Smartgate, which utilises facial recognition technology and information in electronic passports, will allow American citizens (over 16-years-old) to self-process when landing at Australian international airports much faster than before. It’s also slated to be a more secure way of identifying passengers – a task that was previously performed by Border Force officers.
“Biometric capability will reduce manual processes allowing a fast, seamless self-processing experience for up to 90 per cent of travellers and enable border control officers to concentrate on passengers-of-interest.”
Peter Dutton, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Australian Government
US ePassport holders will be able to choose between processing themselves into Australia or be processed by an Australian Border Force officer.
This is great news for the Yanks, with the Sunshine Coast recently revealing stats that show that American inbound travel to the region has increased dramatically (nearly 21 per cent) in 2015 – the result of a stronger US dollar and the likes of Bindi Irwin drumming up more interest in US-Down under travel.
The continuing American Airlines and Qantas partnership will also help US travellers visit the country.