Dubai has launched a mobile immigration service that lets passport officers clear a traveller in roughly 12 to 15 seconds while walking the terminal, rather than processing them at a fixed counter.
The General Directorate of Identity and Foreigners Affairs unveiled Click and Travel at a press conference at Dubai International Airport. Lieutenant General Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri, the directorate’s director general, attended alongside Major General Talal Ahmed Al Shanqiti, assistant director general for airport affairs.
The handheld system combines fingerprint biometrics, facial recognition and electronic passport reading with automated pre-screening and instant access to passenger information over a secure communications network.
Unlike processing at a fixed desk, the mobile system lets officers move through the airport halls and handle passengers away from the counters. The directorate says that gives airport teams more flexibility to manage passenger movements and regulate flows during periods of high demand.
The service is aimed at peak travel periods, congestion and emergencies, and the directorate says it lets immigration teams respond quickly to changes in passenger volumes.
The rollout has been staged over almost a year. A first pilot began in October 2025, covering passengers at Terminal 3 of Dubai International. A second pilot phase in May 2026 widened it to all passenger categories across the emirate’s airport terminals.
Between that May launch and the end of August, Click and Travel processed the immigration procedures of 31,373 passengers. The directorate used the pilot to test the service’s efficiency and to prepare for wider deployment across the different terminals of Dubai’s airports.
Following the pilot and expansion phases, the directorate put the service into official operation today. It is open to UAE citizens and residents, GCC nationals and visitors, and the directorate says it supports Dubai’s efforts to expand smart solutions and advanced technologies across its airports.
Dubai has been adding biometric capacity at the airport in parallel rather than replacing one system with another. Paravision and emaratech deployed face recognition Red Carpet smart gates in January, and NEC and emaratech installed biometric smart gates for flydubai crew in December.
Sources: Gulf News
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By the ID Tech Editorial Team
