New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs is planning to issue e-passports to its citizens from 2022-23.
The ministry in a reply informed Rajya Sabha that “the government is planning to issue e-passports to its citizens, starting 2022-23. This will be a combined paper & electronic passport with an embedded Radio Frequency Identification chip, & antenna embedded as an inlay in the back cover.”
Here is all you need to know about e-passports:
An E-passport looks like a regular passport but comes fitted with a small electronic chip. The small chip will hold all the information that is printed on your passport including your name, address, date of birth etc. It will help a traveller to get the verification done quickly at the immigration counter.
Currently, immigration officers have to physically go through all the details present on the passport, which takes a lot of time. With the implementation of a chip in the passport, the verification time is expected to reduce by 50%.
The e-passport is likely to have a biometric identification card which will help strengthen the transparency and security of travel documents.
It is also expected that with e-passports, no fraudulent activities will take place, as the authentication of the passport will fail on tampering.
