E-passports

[MotherBear]

[b:c294fc962c]E-passport could be introduced next year [/b:c294fc962c]

26.10.05 3.00pm

An "e-passport" containing biometric data and an embedded chip should be introduced before the middle of next year, the Department of Internal Affairs says.

The United States has requested that countries that are part of its visa waiver programme include biometric data such as digital photographs and fingerprints by October next year.

The Department of Internal Affairs annual report, released this week, says live trials of a New Zealand "e-passport" are already being conducted in the United States, and such a passport should be introduced by July 1 next year.

The US requested the new standards after reviewing security in response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

- NZPA

[MotherBear]

A bit more on this subject. I've left it as a link, as it's a bit long and would take up too much room.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/st...ectid=10352591

[MotherBear]

And it's still coming in.......

[b:dbd599d688]Microchips in passports double price[/b:dbd599d688]

04.11.05
By Helen Tunnah

Passports have doubled in price with the introduction of microchips encrypted with people's photographs and personal details to boost security. The new e-passports will be issued from today, and Internal Affairs Minister Rick Barker says they will cost travellers more than twice the standard passport they are replacing. He said the fees had been set to recover the full cost of implementing the new system. The cost of a passport increases from $71 to $150 for an adult and from $36 to $80 for a child.

As well, law changes introduced this year mean a passport expires after five years instead of 10. Almost no notice was given of the new fees, with the charges announced only yesterday afternoon, three hours before the close of the business day. Internal Affairs said that was to avoid an unmanageable rise in the demand for passports. E-passports are being introduced worldwide to meet international civil aviation regulations. Mr Barker said the new document was intended to enhance security and protect the integrity of the New Zealand passport.

Over recent years there have been arrests internationally of people with fake New Zealand passports, notably in Thailand, while two suspected Israeli spies were caught here last year trying to obtain a New Zealand passport. Green MP Keith Locke said the drive for digital photograph recognition on passports was coming from the United States and Britain.

"The electronic facial maps could be the thin end of the wedge," he said. "What is to stop a future government adding biometric markers such as fingerprints and iris patterns, as is being projected in Britain, or other information?"

Internal Affairs passport manager David Philp has said no new personal material will be included on the microchip. The chips will be "sealed" so no new data can be added to them. Technology will also be incorporated to prevent the data being spied on. While the e-passports will be capable of being used with face-scanning technologies, kiosks allowing that are still being tested here.

The US will require all people wanting visa-free access to use an e-passport by October next year.

* New Zealanders, Australians and many other foreigners will be able to use a single visa to visit both Thailand and Cambodia from April. Thailand announced the move yesterday as a way to boost tourism in Southeast Asia.

- NZPA, AAP

[ag28com]

Slightly changing the topic, do NZIS accept parental passports showing children's names as opposed to the children having their own individual passports (for permanent residency applications)? Our original passports were issued in 1996, when it was still permitted to show child details ontheir parents' passports.

[MotherBear]

On the immigration site, when applying for residency, it asks you to complete certain forms for each child. It doesn?t state that a child has to have its own passport, it just asks at the bottom of the form if that child has its own. I've hunted around elsewhere on the site but can't find anywhere it says children have to have individual passports. I've seen it somewhere where it was said that, if you fly via the US, your child would need his/her own passport, but have nothing to back that up.

I'd feel more confident about this if someone like Glenda could verify how she managed with her children when they made the move. There could just be something lurking hidden on the NZIS site that I haven't picked up on yet, knowing how complicated it is. Maybe it's obligatory to get your children their own passports once yours is due for renewal.

[MotherBear]

Have a read through this:

http://www.ukpa.gov.uk/_1_applications/1_babies.asp

Make sure you read down far enough to take in the special instructions about flying via LA, as the situation changes then.

[selchie]

I can imagine getting a passport for a babe in arms. Five years later, customs won't let the kid through... "you don't look like that photo at all" :icon_wink: .

[MotherBear]

Perhaps that's why the childrens' passports have to be renewed every 5 years, to keep up with their ever-changing facial features.

[quote:900b26c984="selchie"]I can imagine getting a passport for a babe in arms. Five years later, customs won't let the kid through... "you don't look like that photo at all" :icon_wink: .[/quote:900b26c984]

They do you know. Our little one's passport is shortly due for renewal. The photograph had to be taken professionally as she was in an incubator at the time. We planned to take her off to Spain on holiday when she was allowed to come home. They took all the tubes out and removed her little woolly cap just long enough to take the photo. No problem about her keeping a serious face though. She was four when we came into NZ.

It's all daft but primarily designed to stop the mother abducting a child without the husbands knowledge I believe. As I remember the children were alwayss on the mother's passport so a father couldn't take the children anywhere out of the country anyway.

[quote:43556e8ac0="Daisyspop"]Our little one's passport is shortly due for renewal. The photograph had to be taken professionally as she was in an incubator at the time. We planned to take her off to Spain on holiday when she was allowed to come home. They took all the tubes out and removed her little woolly cap just long enough to take the photo. No problem about her keeping a serious face though. She was four when we came into NZ.[/quote:43556e8ac0]

That really is amazing and soooo sweet. :icon_biggrin:

My youngest had his own passport at 11 months old (along with little hair, chubby face) and this has just lapsed. I did, however, renew it along with an up-to-date photo before we left the UK - not because I was worried about him being recognised but because we came here on a six month visitors visa and passports are not allowed to lapse during your 'holiday'.

Don't know about kids on parents passports though.
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