Biometric passports
Finnish passports will have a biometric identifier added to them, i.e. a chip on which the holder’s personal details and identifiers can be stored.
Increased border and visa security is behind the scheme
A law was passed in the United States in 2002 which set out to make borders and visas more secure. The law imposes technical requirements for documents needed for entry into the country which are incumbent on those states which belong to the Visa Waiver programme, including Finland. A prerequisite for the programme to be extended is for states to have a programme for issuing machine-readable passports from 26 October 2005 onwards. The passports also have to be difficult to falsify and they have to incorporate a biometric identifier.
All 10-year Finnish passports are already machine-readable
The Finnish government presented its proposal for a new passport bill on 8 April. The proposal is that a facial image of the passport holder will be stored on the chip as the biometric identifier for the first phase. Personal details together with the image will be stored digitally on the chip, which contains encryption technology. The introduction of the identifier makes it more difficult both to falsify passports and to use another person’s passport.
Travel to the United States after 26 October 2005
It will be possible to travel to the United States with an old machine-readable passport without a visa until the expiry of the passport if it has been issued before 26 October 2005. If a passport issued after that date does not contain a biometric identifier, a holder will need to acquire a visa before travelling.
Therefore, visas for travel to the United States will be needed by people who possess a passport issued after 26 October 2005 but before biometric identifiers are introduced in passports. Finland is likely to introduce biometric passports in 2006.
Period of validity to be reduced
One of the other proposals in the bill is to reduce the period of validity of a passport from ten years to five in order to improve recognition of the user. It will also no longer be possible for minors to appear on their guardian’s passport. Most of the passports falsified today are temporary passports valid for one year. Consequently, temporary passports will be available only in special cases.
It will also be possible to apply for a passport from the police authorities in other than one’s home municipality in Finland. The price of a passport will also rise somewhat with the advent of biometric identifiers.
<v>More widespread use of biometric identifiers
Plans are also afoot to add further biometric identifiers to passports in the future. The European Union has already accepted a fingerprint as the biometric identifier for the second phase. The fingerprint identifier will be introduced in spring 2008 at the earliest.
With the introduction of the European Union’s joint Visa Information System (VIS) in a few years’ time, biometric identifiers will also be stored on stickers on visas and residence permits.