Going with the flow. Helping border agencies to exploit technology convergence to gain consistent, comprehensive and automated border management

Transcription

1 Going with the flow Helping border agencies to exploit technology convergence to gain consistent, comprehensive and automated border management

2 With a growing traveling population and the virtualization of physical borders, the need to better facilitate legitimate trade and travel, prevent illegal immigration or identity fraud and tighten security measures at land, sea or air border crossings around the world is undisputed. Indeed, early in 2013, the European Union identified a need for the next generation of border checks with a proposal for a European Union entry/exit system. The proposed system would monitor travel flows and movements of third-country nationals across the external border for the Schengen area as a whole an initiative that has positive implications for data sharing across the region and frequent travelers. The complexities of Europe s multiple borders are not the only consideration, however. In the United States, the nation is wrestling with a proposed Senate bill which outlines dramatic revisions for existing immigration processes and requirements; 1 further evidence of a fundamental shift in the approach to border management. Technology convergence could be the saving grace in such changing times. By fully exploiting the benefits of digitization that is, the use of automated technology border agencies can not only accelerate and ease the movement of travelers, but also gain a consistency and completeness in border management that helps to identify security threats, reduce fraud and better support immigration programs.

3 Why entry/exit systems? Although several countries have already begun to tackle the issues of entry and exit, being able to tie together data on when someone has entered a country and when they left is currently lacking. For instance, at present in Europe entry and exit records cannot be matched when persons leave the Schengen area through any other Member State than the one from which they entered and in which their entry was recorded. Due to the absence of collaborative systems, statistics about border crossings are limited, but according to the most recent data provided by the European Union Member States there were 669 million external border crossings in 2009, 675 million in 2010, and 700 million in 2011, including European Union citizens and third-country nationals. And those numbers, especially at the largest and busiest border crossing points, have been increasing and are expected to continue to do so in the future. 2 While many European countries have entry/exit systems in place Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Spain these systems often have limited information gathering capabilities and do not enable information sharing, rendering the data less useful in the context of broader traveler behavior and movement. Indeed, a lack of interoperability, for instance between immigration systems, can have considerable repercussions. If successful entry programs often lack consistency and integration with other systems, then the dearth of data and its consequent insight gap is even larger in the context of monitoring exits. This absence of concrete facts is not lost on government officials in the United States. Since April 2011, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has taken action to address a backlog of potential overstay records that the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) previously identified. 3 As of June 2013, DHS s unmatched arrival records totaled more than 1 million. In July 2013, GAO reported that it had recommended that DHS assess and document the reliability of its data, and establish timeframes and milestones for a biometric air exit evaluation framework; DHS concurred with the recommendations. Knowing which visitors have overstayed on the one hand has vital implications for security. On the other hand, an exit system that accounts for overstayers and helps avoid expending limited border resources on travelers who have already left the country can improve the overall integrity of border systems and provide a major deterrent to illegal entrants. In short, the availability and completeness and consistency of information, coupled with automated processes that are adapted to meet the individual needs of diverse borders, can transform border management. The case for entry systems Accenture has helped plan and implement numerous entry systems and supports the three largest biometric identity systems in the world. Our work with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology Program, known as Source: EES impact assessment part 1 v4.pdf 3 3

4 US-VISIT, helps to establish and verify the identity of travelers to the United States. Today, US-VISIT is helping to secure borders by: Performing searches across more than 140 million unique identities in seconds. Returning ID matches in less than 10 seconds. Identifying, on average, 5,000 illegal visitors and 2,500 immigration violators every day. Facilitation is at the heart of such entry programs making it easier for travelers to enter a country, providing border officers with the right information in a timely way to make effective decisions. In addition, analyzing biometric data can free up valuable and skilled resources to focus on more strategic intelligence-led border control tasks, while simultaneously increasing the capacity of a busy airport s immigration halls. Yet while it is important that facilitation is not impeded, it is only one part of the story adopting a creative approach that enables border agencies to confer across geographies and modalities and automating those borders with the highest number of travelers is the means to achieve the greatest efficiencies. Such an approach demands the balanced view of an integrated entry and exit system highlighting exit systems as the missing ingredient in understanding the big picture of border management. The case for exit systems Although reliable data on the number of irregular immigrants currently staying in the European Union does not exist, it is clear that only a small proportion of overstayers are identified. Similarly in the United States, every year, approximately 85 million distinct travelers enter the United States via airports, 210 million travelers cross at approximately 163 United States land border ports, and 10 million travelers enter via 30 seaports. An effective exit program could close the loop on the United States visitor lifecycle, providing immigration and border security officials with a complete picture one that will ultimately aid in distinguishing visitors from potential security threats and illegal workers. Assessments undertaken by Accenture in 2009 in the United States indicate the potential viability of air and land exit systems. In a voluntary air exit system pilot, more than 30,000 aliens out of 500,000 travelers were biometrically processed and just one person of that number refused to cooperate. The effect on average boarding time was negligible; at most two minutes and eight seconds was added to the traveler journey time. What is more, from 93.4 percent of selected international flights, there was no conclusive impact to flight departure time. Unlike at airports and sea ports, minimal formal processes and infrastructure currently exist to manage departing travelers at land ports. Each year, there are more than 300 million crossings into the United States at roughly 170 land border ports with Canada and Mexico. While monitoring who enters and exits is of paramount importance to the United States national security and the integrity of its immigration system, controlling the 7,500 miles of land border is no easy or inexpensive task. The result of the Accenture assessment was a recommendation for a costconscious, segmented approach that balances port volumes and configurations, transportation modalities, compliance and security. In addition, any comprehensive land exit solution needs to be consistent with other travel-related encounters (such as visa issuances), use an informed-compliance solution model where in-scope travelers are educated and expected to self-report as they exit, and continue to use fingerprint scans as the primary biometric. 4

5 Six steps to succeed For an entry/exit program to succeed, it needs to minimize effects on travelers and other stakeholders as well as provide a high level of integrity in data collection and processing so that decision making and law enforcement efforts are as efficient as possible. Specific goals when implementing an entry/exit system include: Help travelers move efficiently through borders with a system that is fast and inclusive Be intuitive, with a minimal learning curve and proper outreach Focus on security that aids the officer and a system that is accurate, spoof resistant, and offers a point of no return Use cost effective deployment models that lower total cost of ownership, improve throughput and reduce footprint Adopt an approach that is privacy conscious, secures information, and complies with relevant laws and policies Be adaptable to changes in policy, adversarial strategies, and technological trends 5

6 Efficient exit systems help to: Identify overstays with greater certainty to increase national security by enabling more efficient enforcement activities that do not expend resources on travelers who have already left the country Improve the integrity of existing border crossing systems and provide a major disincentive for travelers who illegally cross borders (if they know they will be checked on exit) Avoid biographic mismatch or the use of fraudulent documents by travelers Deliver an accurate record of all future visitations and help support the expansion of key border management programs Strengthen economic competiveness, improve national security, and modernize immigration 6

7 The way forward The case for entry and exit systems and the many and varied benefits around achieving consistency, completeness and automation in border management is a strong one. Digitization is helping to accelerate the flow and reliability of information that is at the heart of the border verification processes. In particular, biometrics can be used as an enabler to track entry/exit in an efficient and rapid manner essential for coping with high traveler volumes and making life easier for frequent travelers who do not wish to repeat the verification of their details. According to the proposed European entry/exit system, alphanumeric data will be used initially with biometrics phased-in after three years, while the periods being recommended for data retention are six months for ordinary travelers or five years in the case of overstayers. These new smart border enhanced systems can provide a single, centralized source of data that helps to realize benefits such as increased traveler satisfaction through expediting the process for frequent travelers. Accenture believes that both entry and exit systems are fundamental to better manage and protect external borders and strengthen the economy, resulting in border management that is fit for the 21st century. 7

8 About Accenture Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with approximately 266,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$27.9 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, Its home page is Contacts To find out more about entry/exit systems and their impact on border management, please contact: Mark Crego Managing Director, Accenture Border and Identity Services mark.s.crego@accenture.com Moniesha Jackson Accenture Border and Identity Services moniesha.jackson@accenturefederal.com Copyright 2013 Accenture All rights reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture.