The Commonwealth of Dominica launched has its new electronic passport. According to officials at the press launching, that the new document is highly secure and would protect holders from identity theft, and would be an essential component of its border management systems.
Minister for National Security and Home Affairs Rayburn Blackmoore, explained that Dominica’s passport holds “a powerful rank globally”. He added that the new e-passport book is designed by Canadian Bank Note (CBN), a Canada-based corporation.
“The more powerful a passport the greater the demand for it,” he said. He said that Dominica’s passport is powerful and thus making it harder for “crooks and vagabonds to duplicate.”
Dominica’s biometric passport will store the holder’s personal information on a microchip embedded in the document. This includes biometric face, fingerprint, and iris data, all of which can verify the holder’s identity while traveling.
The Dominican government has previously noted that the document is compatible with the country’s new e-Gates, which means that holders will be able to use them to pass through border checkpoints more quickly. The e-Gates were part of a $13 million project to update the Dominican border in anticipation of the biometric passports.
Also at the launch, Tourism Minister Denise Charles state that “electronic passports should make the immigration checkpoint process must faster and would allow immigration officers to quickly authenticate travels, first providing protection against identity theft and fraud.” Tourism Minister Charles stated. She also said that the new venture would improve linkages with the CARICOM Joint Regional Communications Centre (CJRRCC) as well as International Police (Interpol).
President of Dominica Charles Savarin and his wife Clara received their first new passports along with Tourism Minister Denise Charles. Citizens of Dominica are also required to replace their passports: Applications can be submitted until 30 July 2023. The Dominican government has begun issuing biometric passports from 26 July 2021.
An e-passport, or commonly known as a biometric passport, is a regular passport booklet containing an electronic chip on the cover. The chip includes the passport bearer’s information used to authenticate the passport holder’s identity and provides an extra layer of security against passport fraud.