The Customs Department in Auckland have shelved plans to trial a self-service kiosk at the airport that would have let frequent fliers re-enter the country without having their passports checked by customs officials. The kiosk was to have been equipped with a scanner capable of checking machine-readable passports, a camera and facial recognition software, and checking passengers’ fingerprints against prints passengers had provided when they enrolled. This change may result in all non-citizens being fingerprinted before or on arrival in New Zealand and passport, customs and biosecurity controls being combined into a single border check. Customs’ emphasis has moved toward the mass processing of e-passports, which contain passengers’ photos on a microchip, and other initiatives to speed up travel.

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