AI-Assisted Face Verification for Border Arrivals

Border & Immigration · Entry

What it collects that can identify you

Biometric

Identifiable data

A live photo of the traveller's face is captured by the kiosk camera at the time of border processing. This is a direct biometric signal tied to a specific individual.

Primary Inspection Kiosk — AI Register Entry

Sensitive personal information

Identifiable data

The traveller's passport photo is read from the machine-readable travel document. This is personally identifiable data directly linking the individual to their official government identity.

Primary Inspection Kiosk — AI Register Entry

Run by: Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA)
Where: No fixed location
Kept: Not stated by the Helpful Places.
Shared with: Accountable organization
Your copy: You cannot see the data it holds about you. What you can do

What it is for

Border & Immigration

Entry

This system is a self-service kiosk used at Canadian airports that compares a traveller's live photo to the photo in their passport to verify identity during primary border processing. It is operated by the Canada Border Services Agency and deployed at airports by Airport Authorities. Travellers' facial images are collected and compared automatically, meaning personal biometric data is processed as part of crossing the border.

What it collects and what happens to it

Data taken in

Biometric

Identifiable data

A live photo of the traveller's face is captured by the kiosk camera at the time of border processing. This is a direct biometric signal tied to a specific individual.

Primary Inspection Kiosk — AI Register Entry

Sensitive personal information

Identifiable data

The traveller's passport photo is read from the machine-readable travel document. This is personally identifiable data directly linking the individual to their official government identity.

Primary Inspection Kiosk — AI Register Entry

Processing

Biometric Recognition

Face verification compares the traveller's live kiosk photo to their passport photo using biometric matching algorithms to determine whether they are the same person.

Primary Inspection Kiosk — AI Register Entry

What it does

Sensing (Perceptive AI)

Human decides

The kiosk captures a live photo of the traveller and processes it to perform face verification against the passport photo. The perceptive mode converts raw camera input into a structured biometric comparison result.

Primary Inspection Kiosk — AI Register Entry

Deciding (Analytical AI)

Human decides

The system scores or classifies the similarity between the live and passport photo to produce a face-match determination. A border services officer retains decision authority over the final border-crossing outcome.

Outputs

Biometric

Identifiable data

The system produces a face-match result — a biometric comparison score or determination — linked to the specific traveller being processed. This output directly identifies whether a person's live face matches their passport.

A decision about you

Identifiable data

The kiosk produces a primary inspection outcome — a pass or refer result — determining whether the traveller proceeds or is directed to an officer for further review. This is a consequential border-processing determination about a named individual.

Run by

Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA)

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is the federal department accountable for the deployment and operation of the Primary Inspection Kiosk system at Canadian airports.

Primary Inspection Kiosk — AI Register Entry

Built by

Airport Authorities

Airport Authorities are listed as the vendor for the Primary Inspection Kiosk, responsible for supplying and deploying the kiosk hardware and software at Canadian airports.

Primary Inspection Kiosk — AI Register Entry

Kept for

Not stated by the Helpful Places.

Shared with

Available to the accountable organization

Biometric comparison results and primary inspection outcomes are available to the Canada Border Services Agency as the accountable department for border processing.

Not available to me

Individual travellers do not have direct access to the biometric data or comparison results generated during kiosk processing. Access to personal information held by CBSA may be requested through a formal Access to Information or Privacy Act request.

Stored

Not stated by the Helpful Places.

How to read the colours

Can it identify you?

Anonymized data: Data about people with the link to who is broken. Stripped of identifiers, blurred, aggregated, or noised so this system can’t reasonably tie a record back to an individual.
Pseudonymous data: Each person’s data is tied to a token (hash, ID, template) that lets this system recognise the same person across events, but the token itself doesn’t reveal a name. Reidentification is possible with extra information.
Identifiable data: The data either contains a direct identifier (name, address, account name, recognisable face or voice, plate number) or carries a token this system uses to look up legal identity during processing.

Who completes the loop?

Human decides: This mode suggests; a person decides what to do next. The AI is always advisory — a human is in the loop on every decision. Example: a triage tool ranks cases for a clinician who chooses which to see first.
Human executes: This mode decides; a person carries out the result. Example: an optimizer plans the day’s trash-collection routes, and drivers run them.
Autonomous: This mode decides and acts on its own. No person reviews each decision or carries out the resulting action.

Definitions from the DTPR standard. Amber is about your data, violet about who decides. The fuller the shape and the deeper the colour, the more identifying the data or the less a person is involved.

What you can do

Ask about this system

Questions go to the Helpful Places, not the vendor.

Your rights

Right to Be Informed of AI UseTravellers using the Primary Inspection Kiosk are informed that the kiosk uses face verification technology as part of the border processing experience. The kiosk is a self-service station and its AI-assisted nature is apparent from the interaction. For more information about CBSA's use of personal information and automated processes, contact the CBSA Privacy Office or consult the Privacy Act notice associated with this program.
Right to a Human ReviewAny traveller whose kiosk result directs them to secondary inspection will receive a review by a human border services officer who has the authority to make the final border-crossing determination. Travellers who are unable to use the kiosk or whose result is referred will be assessed by an officer.

Risks and safeguards

Civil liberties harmBiometric face verification at border crossings may disproportionately misidentify travellers from certain demographic groups (e.g. due to facial recognition accuracy disparities by skin tone or age), potentially resulting in wrongful denial of entry or additional scrutiny. The system also involves mandatory biometric collection from members of the public without a meaningful opt-out, raising concerns about consent and civil liberties.Safeguard: Border services officers retain final decision authority and can override kiosk results; travellers directed to secondary inspection receive human review. The CBSA is subject to the Privacy Act and the Customs Act, and the system operates under federal oversight.
Reputational harmA false non-match could flag a legitimate traveller as a potential identity fraud case, causing reputational harm or undue suspicion at the border.Safeguard: Officers conduct secondary review for all referred cases; the system is positioned as a verification aid rather than a sole determination tool.