The identifier of an electronic passport is that it has a yellow camera-shaped logo on the outer cover. The first country to launch an e-passport in 1998 was Malaysia.
Passports have served as a means of identification for travelers traveling abroad for decades. However, a traditional passport allows criminals to copy and steal identities for illegal entry and exit.
Many countries have started adopting chip-based electronic passports to address this vulnerability. By using RFID microchips, watermarks and complex printing functions, the product is judged to be much more efficient and safer.
What is an electronic passport?
An electronic passport, or biometric passport, is an international travel document containing identification data such as passport number, full name, nationality, date of birth accompanied by an electronic microprocessor chip with digitized data.
Depending on the country, this tiny RFID chip can hold a huge amount of information. Some of the most common biometric information stored in an e-passport can include faces, fingerprints, irises, etc.
The data in this chip can only be read when scanning with a special device.
The identifier of an electronic passport is that it has a yellow camera-shaped logo on the outer cover. Photo: Passport Legacy.
The electronic chip built into the passport uses RFID technology. This is a communication technology used in many types of cards.
Which countries use e-passports?
Digitizing information on an electronic passport has many advantages. First, visitors make immigration procedures faster. In some countries, border gates have automatic gates, giving citizens with chip-based passports priority to carry out procedures, without having to queue to present themselves to customs officials.
In addition, electronic passports also store information with high security, reducing the risk of forgery and illegal copying.
Malaysia was the first country to launch an electronic passport in 1998, before the United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) approved a plan to globalize the integration of biometrics in passports.
Then, in 2004, Belgium issued the world’s first passport conforming to ICAO standards.
In 2006, the US introduced an electronic passport. As of 2013, there are about 100 issuing countries, with nearly 400 million passports of this type in circulation worldwide. By mid-2019, the number grew to more than 150.
Within ASEAN, there are 8 countries that officially issue e-passports, including Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Brunei, the Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia, and Laos.
@ Sing News
