In a world of ever-changing travel restrictions, the news of an e-passport could make travelling a little smoother. Imagine if your passport could scanned in seconds by a machine, removing the need to wait in a queue at immigration desks. Imagine if your national ID could be renewed from anywhere in the world, without having to visit embassies.
This future just moved a step closer for Saudi citizens with the announcement that Saudi Arabian passports would be moving to machine-readable passports (otherwise known as an e-passport) and National IDs within the next few months.
Speaking at GITEX Technology Week 2021 at the Dubai World Trade Center, the assistant minister of interior affairs, Prince Bandar Bin Abdullah Al Mashari, said: “The service will be available to everyone according to a timetable to be agreed upon between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and all government agencies concerned with each type of visas.”
The passports will contain an embedded electronic chip on which the bearer’s biometric details will be stored. Sound a little James Bond to you? Well, the chip is said to have a memory of 64KB, which will give enough additional storage space for information about 30 different international trips.
The information will be protected by an advanced security system that will detect any attempts to tamper with it. Registration of biometrics and fingerprints will assist the issuing of digital visas and the renewal of national IDs.
Prince Bandar added: “Saudis will be able to renew their national IDs wherever they are without the need to visit the Civil Status offices, and the ID will be delivered to the beneficiary by mail.”
