Implement facial recognition system at cruise ship disembarkation in San Diego – El Financiero

The United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP), in partnership with Princess Cruises, has expanded the use of facial biometrics in the disembarkation process at the Port of San Diego, California, becoming the latest seaport to modernize efforts to revolutionize cruise travel.

“As cruise travel resumes through our nation’s ports, it’s increasingly important to deploy this technology and safely resume cruising, a vital sector of the U.S. travel economy,” said Jennifer De La Or, director of cruise lines. CBP field operations in San Diego.

De La O reiterated that with the biometric face-matching process, travelers will benefit from safe, contactless and expedited entry procedures into the United States, while the CBP protects the privacy of all users.

According to CBP information, when disembarking the cruise ship in a U.S. port, passengers must stop to take a photo that will be checked against the traveler’s passport or visa in DHS’s secure systems to biometrically verify their identity.

Once verified, passengers can pass inspections and leave the terminal. This signup process will ensure and enhance the customer experience while protecting the privacy of all travellers. The government agency said the improved arrival process using facial biometrics verifies the traveler’s identity in two seconds and is more than 98% accurate.

US travelers and select foreigners who are not required to provide biometrics and wish to opt-out of the new biometric process can simply request a manual document review by a CBP officer, consistent with existing requirements for US admission .

To date, facial biometric matching technology is available in 16 US seaports and has been successfully used to process arriving cruise ship passengers in Florida, New Jersey, New York, Texas, California, Washington, Louisiana , Alabama, Puerto Rico and Maryland.

Currently, more than 240 million travelers have participated in the facial biometric matching process at air, land and sea ports of entry.

Since November 2022, CBP has reportedly leveraged facial biometrics to prevent more than 1,600 imposters using genuine travel documents from illegally entering the United States at air and land ports of entry.