It happens nowhere else. Carousels whir, stacked with hundreds of bags of international arriving passengers, but there are no passengers seen retrieving the luggage.

The passengers have in fact arrived but they are still massed at immigration, waiting to be processed by Home Affairs officials.

On Thursday airlines were reporting that arrivals were missing connections and that carousels were only finally cleared two hours after international flights had landed.

Home Affairs have signs up asking passengers to be patient while they introduce the new system where they collect biometric information on arrival so that visa applicants do not have to apply in person.

It applies to a handful of countries including India, Russia and China.

There is no separate queue for this process and all arrivals with foreign passports are in the same queue, although most do not require a visa.

Airlines report it is a daily occurrence with dire results for passengers and the industry as travel plans are disrupted.

Home Affairs introduced the gathering of biometric data on arrival three months ago to improve the visitor experience as a result of the upheaval caused by their new visa requirements last year.