General Information

In a bid to fight the threat posed by terrorism and serious crimes, Rwanda has been receiving batch API from carriers traveling to or from Rwanda since October 2020. The data is used for passenger pre-clearance and to prevent, detect, investigate and prosecute terrorist offenses and serious crimes.

The threat posed by terrorist actors is not only faced by border agencies but also carriers and airport operators. This has increased the need for risk assessment on passengers prior to departure during the check-in process by carriers. This requires the carriers to check with border control agencies every traveler prior to issuing boarding pass and departure.

It is in this regard that the Government of Rwanda through the Directorate General of Immigration and Emigration (DGIE) has enhanced her electronic systems through the addition of pre-departure clearance, thereby enabling fast responses to iAPI requests.