The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has still not established when it will implement the second part of a security system that monitors passengers coming into SA.
The Advanced Passenger Processing (APP) system was implemented in November 2009, as a World Cup legacy project.
According to department spokesperson Lunga Ngqengelele, the system enables an airline to advise SA's immigration services of a person's intended travel prior to the issuing of a boarding pass. "The biographical data in the traveller's passport forms the basis of this information," says Ngqengelele.
The second part of the APP, called the Name Passenger Record, will give more detailed information to compile a risk profile of every passenger coming into the country. "[The] Passenger Name Record is data retrieved from the reservation systems of airlines. It contains information like the dates of intended travel, name and surname, travel agent and contact numbers," says Ngqengelele.
According to Jackson McKay, DHA deputy director-general for Immigration Services, the system was used effectively during the 2010 World Cup and helped to stop soccer hooligans coming into SA.
McKay explains that the system is a live one, linked to the department's risk engine. The risk engine is linked to lost and stolen passports, the "stop list" (undesirable people not allowed into the country), the police and Interpol wanted lists, and the UN list of people barred from travelling.
The APP runs against the risk engine and if there is a "hit" between the person carrying the document and the person listed, the travel is stopped immediately.
"The APP is a proactive system which performs pre-clearance checks on travellers before boarding which decreases the risk, if any, involved with having to deny a person entry on arrival," says Ngqengelele.
Ngqengelele was, however, unable to speculate when the Passenger Name Record is expected to be up and running.
Share
