It’s been a long journey but BorderPass, the brainchild of Faisal Ariff, aimed at easing immigration at airports with the use of technology has passed the final acceptance test with the Malaysian Immigration Department and on September 1, the first auto-gate will commence operations.

Here’s the story of how BorderPass got started �" and it begins in a land of snow and ice.

Right: Faisal Ariff: “We just want to make immigration at airports seamless and secure.” (Image credit: BorderPass)

It was early 2014, Faisal Ariff was on an International Youth Expedition to the Antarctica led by Sir Robert Swan, the renowned polar explorer and the first person to walk to the North and South Poles.

While there, he received news that he was one of five finalists of the first ever Singularity University Global Impact Competition in Malaysia. The competition was held simultaneously in 15 other countries to search for an idea that would impact one million people in the next five years.

Faisal had come up with the idea of a digital immigration form to ease the hassle of queuing up at immigration at airports, and making the process seamless and secure through Passport 2.0 (later renamed BorderPass).

He wanted to return to Malaysia to make his presentation, as required by the competition, but instead Swan persuaded him to make a video in Antarctica and present his idea against the backdrop of snow and penguins. (The video at the end of this article explains the concept of BorderPass.)

Back in Malaysia, Faisal’s brother was at hand to answer queries from the judges. His idea emerged the winner, and with it came a sponsorship to Singularity University in Silicon Valley for its Graduate Studies Programme in June of the same year.

Faisal’s winning idea is an opt-in service that expedites Asean nationals through Asean airports.

Read the full story here.