SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in partnership with Aerostar announced today the implementation of the Simplified Arrival process at the Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport (IATA: SJU, ICAO: TJSJ).
Simplified Arrival is an enhanced international arrival process that uses facial biometrics to automate the manual document checks that are already required for admission into the United States. This process provides travelers with a touchless process that further secures and streamlines international arrivals while fulfilling a longstanding congressional mandate to biometrically record the entry and exit of non-U.S. citizens.
“CBP is excited to partner with Aerostar to deliver a secure, efficient, and seamless process for identity verification for travelers arriving into the United States,” said Gregory Alvarez, Director of San Juan Field Operations. “CBP’s public-private partnerships to expand facial biometrics are essential to enhancing security and streamlining travel while protecting the privacy of all travelers.”
Simplified Arrival only uses the biometric facial comparison process at a time and place where travelers are already required by law to verify their identity by presenting a travel document. When travelers arrive at SJU on an international flight, they will pause for a photo at the primary inspection point.
CBP’s biometric facial comparison process will compare the new photo of the traveler to a small gallery of high-quality images that the traveler has already provided to the government, such as passport and visa photos. In addition, foreign travelers who have traveled to the U.S. previously may no longer need to provide fingerprints as their identity will be confirmed through the touchless facial comparison process.
Simplified Arrival pairs one of the industry’s highest ranked facial comparison algorithms (as assessed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology) with trained CBP officers who are skilled at verifying the authenticity of travel documents. If a traveler cannot be matched to a photo on record using the Simplified Arrival process, the traveler will proceed through the traditional inspection process consistent with existing requirements for entry into the United States.
U.S. citizens or those foreign travelers who are not required to provide biometrics who wish to opt out of the new biometric process may notify a CBP officer as they approach the primary inspection point. These travelers will be required to present a valid travel document for inspection by a CBP officer and they will be processed consistent with existing requirements for admission into the United States.
On Jan. 28, CBP and Aerostar initiated a biometric exit pilot for travelers departing San Juan to Panama via Copa Airlines.
CBP is committed to its privacy obligations and has taken steps to safeguard the privacy of all travelers. CBP has employed strong technical security safeguards and has limited the amount of personally identifiable information used in the facial biometric process. New photos of U.S. citizens will be deleted within 12 hours. Photos of most foreign nationals will be stored in a secure Department of Homeland Security system.
CBP and its air travel partners are expanding the use of facial biometrics through public-private partnerships to not only fulfill the Congressional security mandate, but also to further secure and enhance touchless travel wherever identity verification is required for international travel. At the SJU, the Simplified Arrival process complements facial biometric boarding to further secure and enhance the customer experience.
“For Aerostar, traveler safety and experience are a high priority,” said Jorge Hernández, CEO of Aerostar Puerto Rico. “For this reason, we have worked together with CBP to make the installation of this new system a reality. This technology, together with the experience and capacity of the CBP team, increases the security of our airport and places us at the forefront. In addition, it becomes a tool that will provide a better experience for the traveler, one of the pillars of our mission, because it facilitates and expedites the process of entering Puerto Rico, through CBP.”
To date, more than 66 million travelers have participated in the biometric facial comparison process at air, land and sea ports of entry. Since September 2018, CBP has leveraged facial biometrics to prevent nearly 500 imposters from illegally entering the United States by using genuine travel documents that were issued to other people.
“By using one of the best performing facial comparison algorithms available today, CBP is able to more efficiently identify and stop bad actors while streamlining travel for everyone else” said DFO Alvarez. “CBP’s facial comparison algorithm shows virtually no measurable differential performance in results based on demographic factors. We continue to partner with the National Institute of Standards and Technology to further enhance the facial comparison process.”
More information about CBP’s efforts to secure and streamline travel through facial biometrics can be found here.