E-passports now standard issue
Namibia will join the rest of the developed nations by issuing e-passports, or electronic passports, from yesterday onwards.
This was announced by the director of immigration and border control at the home affairs ministry, Nehemia Nghishekwa, at a media briefing on Friday.
A biometric passport is a highly secure travel document or passport with a chip which enhances the security of the document, making it difficult to forge.
“Namibia's achievement in this respect places it amongst those countries in the world that are using biometric passports as per the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO),” said Nghishekwa.
However, he added that the current machine-readable passports in circulation such as the Namibian ordinary, diplomatic and official passports will run concurrently until they have outlived their lifespan of five years.
Nghishekwa addressed the media on behalf of the home affairs minister Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana.
According to him, Namibia had an untainted reputation internationally, which makes it an ideal target for international travel document fraudsters.
He added that the electronic passports come with extra security features compared to the previous passports, adding that the electronic passports contain 40 pages compared to the 32 pages of the previous passports.
The electronic passport features include the Namibian map on the inside of the cover page, images of the Namibian Parliament, the national Welwitschia plant and a watermark on all pages.
The costs and waiting period for the electronic passport will remain the same as the ordinary passport currently in circulation.
JEMIMA BEUKES
This was announced by the director of immigration and border control at the home affairs ministry, Nehemia Nghishekwa, at a media briefing on Friday.
A biometric passport is a highly secure travel document or passport with a chip which enhances the security of the document, making it difficult to forge.
“Namibia's achievement in this respect places it amongst those countries in the world that are using biometric passports as per the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO),” said Nghishekwa.
However, he added that the current machine-readable passports in circulation such as the Namibian ordinary, diplomatic and official passports will run concurrently until they have outlived their lifespan of five years.
Nghishekwa addressed the media on behalf of the home affairs minister Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana.
According to him, Namibia had an untainted reputation internationally, which makes it an ideal target for international travel document fraudsters.
He added that the electronic passports come with extra security features compared to the previous passports, adding that the electronic passports contain 40 pages compared to the 32 pages of the previous passports.
The electronic passport features include the Namibian map on the inside of the cover page, images of the Namibian Parliament, the national Welwitschia plant and a watermark on all pages.
The costs and waiting period for the electronic passport will remain the same as the ordinary passport currently in circulation.
JEMIMA BEUKES
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