E-gates

 
Electronic gates (e-gates) are available for passengers who are at least 12 years old, as well as for European and Italian citizens, and for holders of electronic passports issued by the following countries:

U.S.A
United Kingdom (U.K.)
Canada
Australia
New Zealand
South Korea
Japan
Israel
United Arab Emirates
Taiwan
Singapore
Sovereign Military Order of Malta (S.M.O.M.)
 
The Department of Public Security of the Ministry of the Interior has recently authorised the use of electronic gates (e-gates) for Italian nationals over the age of 14 who hold an electronic identity card (Carta d’Identità Elettronica - CIE) that is valid for foreign travel and issued after 7 February 2018, when travelling from Italy abroad.
In particular, the use of the CIE at e-gates is only permitted for travel to the following countries:

Albania
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Cyprus
Egypt (tourism travel only)
Georgia
Ireland
Kosovo
North Macedonia
Moldova
Montenegro
Romania
Serbia
Tunisia (tourism travel only)
Turkey


Please note that Italian nationals travelling from Italy abroad who hold a paper identity card or a CIE issued before 7 February 2018 must pass through the manual border control. It should be borne in mind that in order to travel to other countries not included in the above list, Italian citizens must be in possession of an electronic passport issued by the Police Headquarters. This will allow the passenger to cross the border using e-gates.
Finally, Italian nationals arriving in Italy from any country, over the age of 14 and holders of a CIE issued after 7 February 2018, are authorised to use the electronic gates (e-gates).
  

Leonardo da Vinci is the first airport in Italy to have installed the eGate, which operates through a well-oiled synergy between ADR management (which buys, installs and maintains the good working order of the equipment from a technological point of view) and the Police. The Capital's airport currently has the greatest number of these devices installed: there are 78 digital gates activated by ADR so far, 67 at Fiumicino and 11 in Ciampino.

 

What it is:

The eGates are an innovative technology, more and more widespread at the main international hubs, which allows your passport to be checked in a totally automated way. They ensure the highest levels of security controls, and decrease passenger waiting times, benefiting the overall quality of the travel experience.

 

How they work:

The traveller approaches an automatic gate and puts their open passport into the scanner, so that they can clear passport control. Then the gates use facial recognition technology to compare your face to the photograph recorded on the chip in your passport.

If the check is successful, the gate opens, if not the traveller will need to go to a control gate operated by a Boarder Officer.

From a more technical standpoint, the data and facial recognition of the passenger are checked instantly, because every machine is directly connected to the Interior Ministry database.

The equipment operates independently and within a few seconds it performs a series of checks to verify the authenticity and integrity of documents, analyses the facial and fingerprint bio-metric parameters (only for Italian passengers) and verifies that there are no reasons to impede transit.

The only conditions are that in order to use an eGate you need to have an electronic passport and be over 14. It is easily identifiable, just check that there is the appropriate chip symbol on the bottom of the front outer cover of the passport.

Thanks to a project implemented by Aeroporti di Roma, by the Public Security Department - Central Directorate of Immigration and Border Police and by the US Embassy in Italy in collaboration with ENAC and Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the electronic gates – which have thus far only been accessible to European citizens aged 14 and over – can now also be used by American citizens at the departure and the arrival. 

In addition to Americans, the e-gates are available to citizens of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, Israel, Taiwan, Singapore and United Kingdom departing, arriving and transiting at Fiumicino.
 

A few figures:

  • Leonardo da Vinci is the first Italian airport to have installed the new passport control equipment.
  • Since installing the first example, in 2014, 22 million travellers have taken advantage of the new automated gates.
  • One eGate alone is capable of processing thousands of passengers per day, with an average of about 20 seconds for each individual passenger control, resulting in reducing times compared to traditional controls by about 50%.

 

 

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