Slovenia is to introduce biometric passports in line with an EU directive and in response to US demands that…
Slovenia is to introduce biometric passports in line with an EU directive and in response to US demands that countries included in the visa waiver programme embed biometric identifiers in passports in order to preserve their visa-free status.
Slovenia will start issuing passports with face recognition images on 25 October 2005. However, the embedding of biometric data in passports does not mean that all passports will be replaced at once, several generations of passports would remain valid. Upgrades of passports with new protection elements every five years had become common practice in the EU due to rapid technological development.
The US has demanded that countries included in the visa waiver programme must issue passports with biometric data after 26 October 2005 in order for their citizens to be able to travel to the US without a visa.
However, US demands are only one reason for the change, the main reason for using biometric methods was to combat identity fraud and global terrorism.
Biometric data must be embeded into passports in line with the EU directive that foresees a facial recognition image to be included in 18 months and a biometric fingerprint in 36 months from January 2005. Biometric identifiers will be used as proof of identity.
Slovenia is the only new EU member state whose citizens can enter the US without a visa for a period of up to 90 days.
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