Directorate introduces tech aided visas

With effect from today (May 11), the Directorate General of Immigration and Emigration will use new machine-readable Visa stickers.

The Directorate revealed this in a weekend press release, noting that the "security enhanced” stickers will be issued both at its front office in Kigali and at all the country’s diplomatic missions.

"This introduction of the new technology is in line with improving service delivery, in addition to enhancing security at our borders since the new system will have a security feature,” Innocent Niyonsenga, the Directorate’s Public Relations and Communication Officer said yesterday.

The communiqué notes that this "state of the art” visa includes a scanned colored photo, all personal particulars and passport data to help "legitimate” travelers and foreigners residing in Rwanda get high quality services as it will accelerate visa application and clearance processes at the country entry points.

According to the Directorate, the new visa will enhance border security – by eliminating visa fraud since the sticker will contain the holder’s photo.

"In everything done manually you could not entirely rule out possibilities of fraud even if such cases were relatively rare,” Niyonsenga said.

"Previously, we only had a sticker on which a person’s particulars were written, manually, and even without the person’s picture.”

•Visa fees unaffected
"But what people must as well understand is that the introduction of this technology does not mean an increase in visa fees – nothing has changed on the issue of fees. We are only working to expedite service delivery,” Niyonsenga stressed.

The old visa stickers will continue to be in use until December 31.

The Directorate has also introduced an online tracking system enabling its clients to track the status of their applications before getting to the Immigration offices.

Immigrations is one government department now considered outstanding both in fighting corruption and in its commitment to the promotion of the use of ICT in service delivery.  

President Paul Kagame, during Labour Day celebrations May 1, at Amahoro National Stadium pointed out that the department has attained a commendable level in the use of advanced information technology and providing praise worthy services.

The machine-readable visa is a computer-generated visa that enhances security and accelerates visa processing at country points of entry: border-crossings and airports.

According to experts, these visas have enhanced security features and are created and read by customized software.

These visas include a computer-generated photo of the passport holder which helps eliminate visa fraud.

In the USA, one country where it is used, the software includes a comprehensive automated check of the applicant’s name against a database of "aliens” who are potentially ineligible to enter the country.

They are designed to streamline the processing at points of entry, and Immigration officers can scan information directly from the machine-readable visa to speed up the clearance process for persons arriving in a country.

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