Radio Frequency Identification Technology for Logistics, Tagging and EPC

Canadians preparing for Passport cards, Arizonans nonplussed about new IDs

Friday, August 1, 2008

While the U.S. State Department and Washington States are already issuing the Passport card, some Canadian provinces are getting ready to issue the new ID cards as well, according to a report from the Regina Leader-Post.

Resident of Saskatchewan will be able to apply for new Passport cards and enhanced driver licenses next April, just in time for when they’ll be required for land and sea border crossings into the U.S. on June 1.


Meanwhile, Arizona citizens aren’t rushing out to apply for the new documents, according to a report in the Arizona Republic. More than 350,000 travelers have applied for the card and 20,123 have come from Arizona. Travel agents in Arizona say they have not been fielding too many, if any, questions about the new ID. “I haven’t had a soul ask me about it,” said Eric Dahl, travel consultant with Your Travel Center in Tempe.

The Passport card is an RFID-enabled ID that can be used at land and sea border crossings between the U.S., Mexico and Canada as well as select Caribbean countries.

Read more here and here[end] 

After a nearly three-year delay, the Algerian government has finally launched its biometric passport program.

Magharebia reports that the biometric passports, which contain a contactless smart card chip that holds a digitized photo, fingerprints and signature, were supposed to be released in 2009. But the documents were delayed due to complexities with the operation of the project and the need to thoroughly research and analyze other countries’ experiences with biometric passports.

read more »

CBP denies report

A Canadian man uses a scanned image of his passport from his iPad to get past Customer and Border Protection officials, according to a report from the AP.

read more »

Isis, the mobile commerce joint venture between AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon, is preparing to launch a massive NFC payments pilot in Salt Lake City this summer, reports the Salt Lake Tribune.

read more »

In an effort to streamline passenger security, Jakarta, Indonesia’s Soekarno-Hatta Airport has opened the country’s first biometric immigration gate.

Fingerprint biometric identification provider BIO-key International, Inc. and Oakwell Engineering Limited partnered to create the new gate, designed for use by passengers with electronic passports. Passengers submit their e-passports and authenticate with a fingerprint.

read more »

As part of the U.S. Department of State’s initiative to simplify and streamline customer service interactions and processes, the Office of Passport Services has started a 90-day pilot program for online passport card applications.

read more »

The Emirates Identity Authority (EIDA) announced that the registration of Emirati newborns is now mandatory for electronic passports (e-passport) and ID cards, according to ArabianBusiness.com.

read more »