DIMIA Annual Report 2002-03
OUTPUT 1.3 - ENFORCEMENT OF IMMIGRATION LAW
1.3.1 Regulate Entry and Departure
Performance Information
| OUTPUT COMPONENT | MEASURES | RESULTS |
| 1.3.1 - Regulate Entry and Departure | Quantity: 17,759,000 passenger arrivals/departures. |
16,575,796 |
| 10,252,911 ETAS Checks & Advance Passenger Processing transactions. | 12,125,752 | |
| Quality: 95% of all inward passengers to be processed through the primary line within 30 minutes of their arrival. |
95% |
|
| Percentage of passengers referred at border for secondary processing. | Percentage arriving passengers referred = 1.83%; Percentage departing passengers referred = 1.18% |
Objective
To provide efficient and orderly immigration processing while ensuring an effective screen against those who have no entitlement to enter the country.
Description
The department uses leading edge technology to deliver a secure immigration processing system which is as non-intrusive as possible for genuine travellers.
The process also provides accurate and timely records of people's movements.
The department works in conjunction with the Australian Customs Service (ACS) to provide a streamlined immigration clearance process.
To achieve these goals, the department has established co-operative relationships with airlines as well as investing in systems which enable checks of travellers' immigration status before they board planes to Australia.
Analysis of Performance
In 2002-03 there were 16.58 million passenger and 1 million aircrew arrivals and departures compared with 16.67 million passenger and 1.1 million aircrew arrivals and departures in 2001-02.
This represented a decrease of 0.53 per cent in passenger numbers.
The following are elements of our entry processing regime that demonstrate how effectively the department has achieved the objective of regulating entry and departure during the 2002-03 program year.
Advance Passenger Processing (APP) System
A key element of our secure and streamlined border processing is the capacity to pre-check passengers before they travel to Australia using the APP system.
The APP system provides a double benefit to Australia by preventing inadequately documented passengers from being uplifted by airlines overseas and by increasing the efficiency of incoming passenger processing at Australian airports.
The collection and transmission of air passenger information via the APP system was made mandatory on 5 January 2003.
When an international airline processes a passenger using the APP system at check-in, the system checks the passenger's details against departmental databases to ensure that the passenger is properly documented and authorised to travel to Australia.
This checking process takes only a few seconds and if the passenger is properly documented (as above), the check-in clerk receives an immediate 'OK to Board' message.
If no immigration record is found for the passenger, a 'Do Not Board' response is provided and the passenger will not be permitted to travel until the matter is resolved through our 24/7 entry operations centre. Most issues can be resolved in a matter of minutes.
In this way, the APP system provides a highly effective 'real-time' immigration screen at the check-in counter overseas.
The APP system also provides an 'Expected Movement Record (EMR)' of the passenger to the Entry Control Point for validation when the passenger arrives in Australia.
This EMR is available for Australian authorities for further pre-arrival screening.
Implementation of APP by both airlines and the cruise shipping industry is being rolled out incrementally through 2003.
Some 94 per cent of air arrivals were covered by APP on 30 June 2003 compared with around 65 per cent a year earlier.
From 1 January 2004, airlines will be required to provide APP information on all passengers and crew and, for the first time, international cruise ships will also be required to provide APP information in respect of passengers and crew.
This is a significant enhancement to the immigration screening process. Currently air and sea crew and sea passengers are processed manually on arrival at Australian air and seaports.
The capture of APP data for these categories of arrivals by early 2004 will significantly enhance Australia's immigration screening system ensuring that all persons arriving in Australia from international passenger aircraft and international cruise ships are processed using the APP system.