New Arrivals Border Control at Stand 6
Construction of the facility for processing passengers from countries outside the Schengen Area at Keflavík Airport is progressing well. The project involves an extension, known as Stand 6, at the southern end of the terminal building. The previous plan assumed that the Schengen member states would put a centralised processing system for departing and arriving passengers from countries outside the agreement into operation this spring, but earlier in the winter this was postponed until the end of September. As a result, work on Stand 6 was slowed down. The centralised system mandated by the European regulation is not ready, and it remains to be seen whether it will be ready in September. At Keflavík Airport, however, there is nothing preventing the introduction of this new processing method once the system itself is ready.
A more secure system
In the forthcoming processing system, passengers' travel to and from the country must be recorded in a new way. Refusals of entry for citizens of countries outside the Schengen Area must be tracked, and conditions for processing through the entry and exit system must be determined based on law enforcement considerations. The new centralised system will keep records of arrivals, departures, and length of stay of residents from outside the Schengen Area. All registrations are to include fingerprints and a photograph, and passports will no longer need to be stamped. The aim is to improve border control.
A relocatable building
Within the Schengen Area there are 26 countries that have abolished internal passport controls and follow common rules on passports and the processing of arriving and departing passengers from other countries. In the aforementioned addition to the southern part of the terminal building, this border control will be carried out for the next few years, or until the expansion of the current main building is completed. At that point, the processing of air passengers from outside the Schengen Area will be moved there. Following this, the extension will have to be dismantled and reused elsewhere.
