Government of India and the Delhi airport authorities seem to have noticed how the visitors from abroad have to wait for long for clearance at the Delhi airport, and stand in serpentine queues for long patiently waiting for their turn. Perhaps, this is the reason why here is a wonderful news report for all foreigners flying in with e-visas.
As per it, now the waiting time of the foreigners at the various immigration counters at the Delhi airport will be brought to half! Yes, plans are taking place to present the highly useful and next-generation e-gates at the immigration counters of the well-known international Gandhi International Airport! Given the fact that the arrangement will, reportedly, do away with the requirement of the time-consuming manual intervention it will be a great help and significantly cut down the clearance time per commuter.
According to the information that we have on the subject, not less than 14 completely new dedicated e-visa counters would come up at the arrival terminal of the said airport, to fulfill the requirement of the augmented figure of the foreigners flying in, for different reasons, including sight-seeing, business, or healthcare.
As per some high-ranking immigration authorities, who shared their views on the development, not less than 2,500 people from abroad, from the different nations of the world, land at the Delhi airport daily, and out of which close-to 45% has e-visas. Presently, the airport’s arrival terminal boasts of 32 e-visa dedicated counters. Reportedly, plans are in the works to add another 14 such counters, and if everything goes as per the plan, come September 2018, these will become operational.
Meanwhile and sharing his thoughts on the subject, one immigration officer in the know, reportedly, stated that through the rush hours, the visitors have to stand in long serpentine queues, and during such difficult times, the waiting time per guest balloons up to 30 minutes. But the processing of the e-visas which necessitates some specific checks comprising biometrics requires just anywhere between two and three minutes every visitor.
Hence, presently, a traveler has to cool his heels for nearly 30 minutes, in a scenario where in nine other passengers are in front of him. The adding of the 14 new counters will swell the total figure of such counters and bring it to 46. This will prove decisive and aid decrease the waiting time of the visitors by the quarter of an hour. He added that the extra personnel that would be needed to manage the counters have already gone through the necessary training, and now they are in a position to handle their new responsibilities.
Further throwing light on the development, and sharing some useful information on how the new arrangement was being concretized, he continued that the arrangement to put up the extra counters in question was made via shifting the domestic-to-international transfer hall region in the arrival terminal. Pre-existing 32 counters were moved to the region where domestic-to-international transfer hall existed before even while 14 fresh counters were being made there.
In a related development and sharing more relevant details on the subject, the Delhi airport operator, Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), reportedly, proclaimed that against the fact that the immigration procedure is the initial experience for an arriving traveller and more importantly keeping the comfort of the travelers in mind DiaI is setting up more e-visa counters at the T3 arrivals.
Reportedly, the plan is also going on to present e-gates at the immigration. Since the arrangement will do away with the need for manual intervention, it will decisively cut down the clearance time for each guest.
The said facility will come up in the arrival area, to begin with, on a trial ground. But after everything goes well, and it eventually proves effective, more e-gates will be introduced. These will also be presented at the different departure terminals of the airport with an eye on the likely comfort of the visitors.