Jamaica’s Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA) is introducing a facial recognition component to its passport production.
It’s an expansion from a facial recognition program first implemented via immigration kiosks at major airports in Kingston and Montego Bay, and it’s intended to reduce passport fraud. Commenting on the project at an ISO seminar, PICA CEO Jennifer McDonald explained that the use of facial recognition “really serves to protect the identity of the citizen, because the worst thing you want is to come to renew your passport and be told that it has been renewed already, because someone stole your identity.”
Incorporating biometric verification into passports is an increasingly popular measure around the world, with many countries embedding biometric data into electronic passports themselves; indeed, this is now an European Union requirement for non-Europeans seeking Schengen visas, partly in response to concerns about Europe’s ongoing immigration crisis and potential terrorist threats. While Jamaica’s PICA seems only to be seeking biometric verification for passport issuance, it also seems to be a clear step in the direction of biometric ePassports down the line.
PICA says the current project should be fully implemented by the end of March.
Source: Jamaica Information Service
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February 19, 2016 – by Alex Perala
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