EX-FUND manager Faisal Ariff has a passion for travel and adventure. But like many who need to sate their wanderlust, he hates waiting in line at airports to clear immigration and customs.

“We don’t just travel to go from point A to point B. We travel with purpose: to study, to work, to find ourselves, to find out what’s out there.

“But when we travel, it’s the same story all over the world. It’s overcrowded, it’s uncomfortable, and we’re treated like cattle at airports,” he says.

Observing how human traffic would overwhelm border checkpoints around the world got him thinking.

Faisal’s pitch? To use technology to replace the physical immigration forms and customs declaration cards that travellers have to fill up on arrival at their destination, making the airport experience more efficient and less of a hassle.

Faisal’s idea was originally called Passport 2.0. It won the Global Impact Competition Malaysia in March organised by Kuala Lumpur-based Project Rennaissance and Silicon Valley’s Singularity University. His prize was a three-month stint at Silicon Valley at the Singularity University. There, Faisal refined his idea and enlisted three co-founders to join him on what has now morphed into BorderPass.

"When I went over, I was very limited in my view on [what constituted] immigration forms and travel history. My colleagues pointed out to me other things, such as the thermo scanner and palm vein reader," says Faisal.

He declines to reveal how much has been invested in BorderPass and who its investors are, preferring instead to focus on its working prototype and how he’s trying to convince countries to adopt his solution.

How does BorderPass work?

Users sign up on the BorderPass portal, which is expected to be ready by year-end. Depending on the user’s destination, they will be presented with an immigration form pre-filled with basic information from the user’s passport.

All users need to do is to fill in their travel information and accommodation details.

“That information will be securely sent over as an electronic application to the destination government in advance [of their arrival],” adds Faisal.

This replaces the traditional paper immigration form that travellers typically have to fill up upon arrival at an airport.

BorderPass is an opt-in system so there’s always the option of the traditional clearance routes if travellers so choose. But if a country adopts BorderPass, users get to enjoy expedited airport clearance.

"We want people to focus on why they’re travelling. We want to melt away all inconveniences and hassles and, in some cases humiliation, and let them just get on with their journey. That’s our goal,” Faisal explains.

A working prototype of a BorderPass auto-gate has been built. It can verify an individual’s identity and health status using biometrics, through a fingerprint and a thermo scanner, 3D facial and iris recognition, and palm vein reader, among other things.

“Nobody has been crazy enough to put all these sensors into one gate [before] and the 3D facial recognition system is so good, it can distinguish between identical twins,” he claims.

Courting governments

Faisal’s idea is now an ambitious project that could very well change the travel experience for the better. But the BorderPass solution has yet to be used by any airport as no government has yet signed up for it. Faisal plans to pitch BorderPass at the Asean Summit 2015 as a way to ease travel in the region by reducing congestion and overcapacity at airports.

He claims that an estimated US$320 billion is currently needed to deal with growing overcapacity at airports globally. The International Civil Aviation Authority (Icao) estimates that global airline departures and passengers could double over the next 20 years, and forecasts 6.4 billion passengers by 2030, from three billion in 2012.

However, Faisal knows BorderPass must start with baby steps.

“We’re planning to install software into existing airport gates first, but if we want to be serious about giving local governments peace of mind with an automated system, then you really have to up your game with biometrics,” he adds.

The pitch to Asean

For a start, BorderPass will focus on Southeast Asia and South America. It has conducted a survey of 360 people in the two target markets that BorderPass wants to initially serve.

"We’re looking at South America as well because they have a similar visa-free scheme [as Asean] over there,” Faisal adds.

There are other programmes similar to BorderPass in the US, such as Global Entry, Clear and TSA Pre-Check. Given that a similar business model already exists in the US, Faisal is confident there is a market for BorderPass in Southeast Asia, where a similar system has not yet been tried.

According to the BorderPass survey, 81% of travellers are willing to provide their information in advance so that their clearance through airports can be expedited, and 71% are willing to pay at least US$10 per entry for this facility.

Faisal acknowledges the challenge of getting 10 governments on board a common platform but argues that if the European Community of 28 countries can adopt a unified system, then he is optimistic that BorderPass will take off – after all, Asean integration is inspired by the EU model.

"It's critically important that all 10 Asean countries feel they have ownership of this project, so we have to be receptive to their feedback and address them carefully. Nobody will agree to something contrary to their interests. We will work hard to demonstrate the benefits of safe, secure and convenient airport immigration and sell the broader vision well,” he says.

BorderPass is plans to have a pilot project by the end of 2015 between Malaysia and one or two other Asean countries, and grow the scheme from there. The team would have to consider developing a user interface for eight different languages; English, Bahasa Melayu, Laotian, Khmer, Thai, Vietnamese, Tagalog and Burmese.

"The Asean Secretariat will be the most logical platform to approach, and hopefully that leads us to the respective ministries of these countries,” says Faisal.

Then, BorderPass’ challenges will really begin, as it tackles privacy, data security and local immigration laws.

This article first appeared in #edGY, The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on October 13 - 19, 2014.

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