More than 60 countries around the world are replacing old passport booklets with new electronic passports (epassports).

New epassports contain electronic security features that are designed to prevent anyone but you from successfully using that passport. Use of these epassports leads to a more secure and safe travel experience. In an effort to add another layer of security, all European Union countries, and other countries, are working to add biometrics to epassports. The United States, too, is considering adding biometrics to epassports. These new passports are called biometric passports.

Biometric Passport Technology

Like epassports, the biometric passport looks like a regular passport, but has a contactless smart card chip embedded in one of the covers or pages of the passport. The contactless smart card chip is like a computer with special security software inside your passport. It is called contactless because it is a wireless device, but it can only communicate over very short distances of a few centimeters.
Biometric passports additionally contain some sort of biometric identifier. This is a safety feature based on using "something you are" to confirm your identity. Fingerprints, hand prints and iris scans are all examples of a biometric identifier. Biometrics are an excellent way of making sure someone is who they claim to be, because it ties identification to one's physical body, which is the true root of our identities. With biometrics in international epassports, the person presenting the passport can be verified at its owner.

Information Stored In Biometrics Passports

The information stored on biometric passport is the same as the information stored on an epassport, with the addition of the biometric identifier. This means that, in addition to the biometric identifier, the only personal information stored on the biometric passport chip is the same information that is printed on the passport data page (name, date of birth etc.). It also includes a digital version of the photograph. In addition, there is other digital security information stored on the chip that proves the passport and its data are authentic.

Security Features of Biometric Passports

Epassports and Biometric passports are a far more secure travel document than a traditional paper passport. The contactless smart card chip in both epassports and biometric passports makes them virtually impossible to counterfeit. When the passport is personalized for an individual, the information inside the chip is "signed" using a type of electronic seal. That "seal," called a digital signature, can be checked using a reader at passport control to prove that the passport was issued by a legitimate government authority. No one else can duplicate this seal, so no one can make a counterfeit epassport or biometric passport.
Nothing can be changed within the chip of your epassport or biometric passport, even at a foreign border by official agents. Any attempt to change the passport information in your chip would break the seal, or digital signature, that is unique to your data and was put in place by the passport issuing authority. Any tampering to that data would be immediately detected by the electronic passport reader and also the border control official.
No one can read or access the information on the security chip in an epassport or biometric passport without you knowing it, even if someone is standing next to you with a special reader, for example, as long as the passport is protected by access control security. Although there are global standards, each country determines how they will implement electronic passport access security.

How Biometric Passports Work at Border Control

Each country may have slightly different methods at their borders, but this is a general description of what you can expect. The process is very similar to the process of using epassports. The officer swipes the data page through a special reader to read the lines of printed characters on the bottom of the data page. This provides a key that's unique to passport and lets the process proceed. The data on the monitor also verifies that a legitimate authority issued your passport, and that it has not been altered.
Next, the officer holds your open passport over another reader, and you may be asked to present your biometric identifier (fingerprint, iris etc.). The officer verifies the biometric data, then compares his view of you with the photo in your passport, as well as all the data from your passport (including your photo) on the monitor. This process does not take a long time, but allows you to travel more securely, and with your personal information protected.
Three Things to Remember About Biometric Passports
- The use of biometrics is an excellent way of making sure someone is who they claim to be, because it ties identification to one's physical body.
- The contactless smart card chip in both epassports and biometric passports makes them virtually impossible to counterfeit.
- Nothing can be changed within the chip of your epassport or biometric passport, even at a foreign border by official agents.