Singapore has begun to phase-out traditional passports with biometric terminals that no longer require travelers to provide tangible documentation to come and go, unveiling a new passport-free system.
The new trial will begin in the first half of 2024, according to communications minister Josephine Teo, who helped reveal the plans earlier this week.
This will reduce the need for passengers to repeatedly present their travel documents at these touchpoints, allowing for more seamless and convenient processing.
Our immigration systems must be able to manage this high and growing volume of travelers efficiently and provide a positive clearance experience, while ensuring our security.
Teo said
SEE: Singapore’s Tech-Utopia Dream Is Turning Into A Surveillance State Nightmare
CNA also explained how these new terminals will work, citing further comments from Teo, reporting that “the data will not be shared with other countries yet for security reasons.”
Meanwhile in Dubai, United Arab of Emirates, some passengers at Dubai Airports will ‘enjoy a seamless and touchless travel experience with the introduction of a biometrics and facial recognition system later this year,’ The Khaleej Times reported. This process should begin sometime in November or December.
The paper went on to report: ‘While speaking during the first day of the Global Conference for Shaping Future Policies of Ports, officials said travelers’ faces and finger-prints will be their identity instead of passports which would make travel smoother, seamless and faster at airports.’
Major General Obaid Muhair bin Suroor, Deputy Director General of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA), said during the first day of the Global Conference for Shaping Future Policies of Ports on Tuesday:
We are ready and will implement it in November. We are working on a smart passage so that everything is done electronically. We are going to replace electronic gates with smart gates for easy and seamless travel.
Adel Ahmed Al Redha, chief operating officer at Emirates airline, added:
If countries share data rather than relying on passengers, exit or entry of passengers will be easier and faster. There is a need to use facial recognition so the passenger himself becomes the identity at every touch point.
If I am exiting Dubai, some airports ask me to fill in the information again. Technology is available but we are not collaborating. There should be a system to communicate with each other.
The number of check-in counters will not increase as airport infrastructure is limited. The only way to address this issue is to walk through seamless operations. Seamless operations come with reliable technology. But we are not there yet.
In the future, we should be relying on 90 percent automaton and 10 percent on human interaction.
SEE: Airport In Dubai Uses Retina Scans As A Passport
Other nations are integrating biometric terminals as well.
Andrew Hoo, director of immigration for the Government of Aruba, unveiled a new digital ID called the Digital Travel Credentials (DTC), allowing passengers to create a secure digital version of their passport on their smartphones, and can also be used for taxi and hotel services.
We want to use this technology so that visitors will never forget they are on vacation when they arrive on the island. As an island where tourism is fundamental to our economy, we want to make the immigration process as easy as possible for passengers.
With a Digital Travel Credential, we now have a way to make entering the country as easy as scanning your face while meeting our security needs.
Hoo said in a statement
Serbia and Pakistan are also joining the party. Biometric Update noted,
‘Nikola Tesla Airport in Belgrade, fittingly named after the famous inventor, is installing e-gates at its arrivals and departures gates, according to a post on the EX YU Aviation News blog. The two-step e-gates, which scan a traveler’s passport and match it with a photo using facial recognition, will be available by late December for passengers traveling within the EU.’
‘Similar biometric gates are coming to three airports in Pakistan. The Khaleej Times reports that systems being installed at Islamabad, Allama Iqbal, and Jinnah International Airports will authenticate passengers using facial, fingerprint and iris scans,’ Biometric Update added.
SEE: Dallas Airport Installs 7Ft Kiosk That Scans If Travelers Are Wearing A Mask
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
“Officials said travelers’ faces and finger-prints will be their identity instead of passports which would make travel smoother, seamless and faster at airports.” Uh, *cough cough*, hello?
[16] And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: [17] And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. [18] Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six. Revelation 13:16-18
The foundation for the coming mark of the beast is becoming so more and more overt only someone who is willfully ignorant of this fact will refuse to see it. Eventually, of course, receiving implants in the head and hand will eventually be the deal, but for now the next brick in the wall is being laid for the final solution.
[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).
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