LAX - automated passport control

Waiting to get your passport checked and stamped can take a long time at many US airports. To cut queues, Los Angeles International Airport has installed 40 new Automated Passport Control (APC) kiosks.

The machines are part of LAX’ bid to speed up the entry process for international arriving passengers at the airport’s Tom Bradley International Terminal.

A kiosk may be your time-saving alternative to the queues for US and Canadian citizens arriving from abroad, as well as travellers from the 38 Visa Waiver Countries who are also registered with the US Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) programme.

The instructions on the machines will tell you what to do: self-scan your passport, take a photograph, answer some questions and, if you are not a US citizen, submit fingerprints. You will then receive a receipt confirming the information and proceed to a CBP officer to complete your entry into the United States. The process is said to be completed within 90 seconds. Just hope there will be no queue at the machines…