UAE Uses Face Biometrics to Provide Access to Government Services

United Arab Emirates residents can now use facial recognition to gain remote access to various government services. To that end, the country has now activated a registration system that allows residents to link their faces to their UAE Pass digital ID.

Once registered, citizens will be able to use their faces to verify their identities in online interactions, and will no longer need to make a trip to a physical service center to take advantage of select government programs. In that regard, more than 130 government organizations and private entities already offer support for the UAE Pass IDs.

The UAE Pass national digital ID program operates under the direction of the UAE’s Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship, and runs in collaboration with a number of different technology and service stakeholders. The full list of partners includes the Abu Dhabi Digital Authority, Dubai Smart, the Emirates Government Service Excellence Programme, Dubai Electronic Security Centre, and the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority.

The news reflects the country’s growing interest in biometric technology. SAFR recently partnered with EPM to provide an unnamed federal agency with facial recognition capabilities, while the Emirates airline launched a contactless passenger screening program in Dubai, thereby completing a Smart Tunnel program that had been in the works since 2018. That program uses face and iris recognition to speed up processing times at customs checkpoints.

Source: Gulf News

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April 9, 2021 – by Eric Weiss