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Stories & Lifestyle: machine-readable / biometric passports

Over the past years the US regulations concerning passports have changed continuously. Starting June 26, 2005 at the latest all travelers entering the US under the Visa Waiver Program must be holding a machine-readable passport (or a valid visa). In addition, everyone applying for new travel documents after October 26, 2005 have to make sure that is corresponds with the regulations concerning biometric passports.

These new regulations have been intensely debated in the past and many myths surround the new passports. That's why we want to give our readers a brief overview.

Machine-readable passports As we have repeatedly reported in our Breaking News section, all travelers going to the US without a visa need a machine-readable passport. That's why admission to the US via the Visa Waiver Program is only possible with a machine-readable passport (the red one) as well since October 26, 2004. During a transitional period until June 25, 2005, visitors may once enter the US without a machine-readable passport under the Visa Waiver Program. The officials may grant only this one exception.

Please note: we have repeatedly pointed out that admission is not guaranteed, but can be granted or denied by the US officer at the border. After you have been granted this one exceptions, the border officials will put a stamp in your passport and hand you a leaflet. If you are granted an exception, please keep in mind that this is only valid for one admission into the US, re-entry will be denied. The US Department of Homeland Security issued a note on May 12, 2005 stating that this transitional period will definitely end June 25, 2005 and no exceptions will be made after this point. This means that from this point onward all travelers will have to hold a machine-readable passport or a valid US visa. So the above-mentioned regulation is only valid for a few more days.

Airlines transporting travelers to the US without machine-readable passports after June 26, 2005 have to transport them back and may have to pay severe fines.

Biometric passports Over the past weeks and months there have been increasing debates about introducing biometric passports as a requirement for admission to the US. There has been wild speculation about the introduction date, the recorded data and prices for the new passport. Here is a brief overview of the most recent information about the new travel document:

On of the measures of the new anti-terror regulations of January 1, 2002 in Germany is better personal identification. It also includes measures against the counterfeiting of documents by adding biometric data. So for the first time passports may include biometric data, even in encrypted form, in addition to photo and signature.

Biometric data can be subdivided into dynamic (signature, walk) and static data (fingerprints, face, iris scan). Therefore, biometric means the identification of a person by his or her personal characteristics.

A biometric system works like this: it records a characteristic (e.g. iris scan or fingerprint) and converts it into a data set. This data set is saved either in a database or on a chip. Biometric data is recorded to confirm a person's identity.

Biometric standards As a result of the US Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act from 2002 the US have decided that every passport issued after October 26, 2005 must contain biometric data to qualify for admission into the US. The standards for this have been determined by the International Civil Aviation Organization and confirmed on a European level.

Two characteristics have been decided upon: face and fingerprints. The EU had to decide upon two characteristics in order to guarantee flexibility with the controls. However, it is hardly possible to realize these new standards until October 26, 2005. Especially the fingerprinting leads to significant delays.

Due to this the Department of Homeland Security has made only the integration of a digital photo compulsory by October 26, 2005. However, the DHS asked all countries participating in the Visa Waiver Program to introduce passports with integrated contactless chip or e-passports until October 26, 2006.

In practice The homeland security department in Germany announced the following:

As a first step, starting November 2005 all data already in the passport, including photo, will be stored in a chip in digitalized form. Passports issued with the beginning of 2007 will also include two fingerprints. Other than that, nothing will change. The technical standards will be uniform worldwide.

For your travel plans this means:

Passports issued before October 26, 2005 without a digital photo (first biometric characteristic), meaning the standard machine-readable passports, will still be valid for the Visa Waiver Program in the US.

Passports issued after October 26, 2005, however, do have to include this biometric data (digitalized photo) to be used for the Visa Waiver Program. It remains to be seen whether or not Germany will be able to issue these in time. On that note, it might make sense to apply for a new passport before October 26 in case your old one expires soon, because that one will at least be valid for a little longer.

It also remains to be seen what will happen in 2006, when two characteristics are required. Especially since German authorities seem quite certain that they won't be able to integrate both characteristics within that time frame. We will keep you posted.

Certain is, however, that already issued passports will keep their 10-year validity also after October 26, 2005. The same applies to the passports that will be issued after October 26 and before the beginning of 2007, which will only include a digital photo. This means there will be a transitional period with both old and new passports.

The costs The technical complexity of security and data privacy leads to an increase in issuing fees for a passport. A biometric passport valid for ten years will cost €59 in Germany (compare: ca. €75 in the US, €103 in the UK).

A biometric passport valid five years issued to kids and young adults between 14 and 25 will cost €37.50

Fears and doubts Many people call our hotline and express fears in connection with the biometric passports. Especially about what kind of data will be stored on the passport and whether third parties will have access to that.

To conclude, some facts about that:

You may check yourself what data is stored on your biometric passport. The passport offices will have terminals allowing you to access the data on your chip. There is an electric access protection that makes sure that third parties cannot access your data, for example if you lose your passport. Access is only possible from explicitly authorized reading systems. The unauthorized reading of biometric data is not possible due to encryption.

According to the German authorities, the biometric data on your chip will not be stored in a central computer system.