Government of Dominica launched E-passport

The government of the Commonwealth of Dominica launched E-passport. Citizens who have not applied for the passport yet can now wait for the new version to arrive. The new features in this E-passport would include Laser engraved data page, spark OVI and Biometric system facial recognition.

The government said that those who had already applied for their Dominican passport could choose to wait for a biometric one, and those applying for passport renewal would now be issued the new version of the passport. The procedure for changing old passports to the new biometric passport would be circulated.

National Security Minister Rayburn Blackmoore, while addressing the ceremony, said that Dominicans have until July 2023 to acquire the new passport.

National Security Minister Rayburn Blackmoore said that he has been assuring the Dominicans that the rolling out of the new e-passport would not create any confusion for the citizens. There would be a two-year period for the phasing out of the current machine-readable passport, and the process has been chosen to ensure that everyone could reasonably apply for the new passport.

National Security Minister Blackmoore said the authorities were aware that some passport holders had recently renewed their travel documents and that was a consideration, as well as ensuring that there had been a smooth transition, that’s the reason they have been giving a phased out period to apply for the new passport.

Tourism Minister Denise Charles, who deputed for Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit at the launch, said Dominica had joined other countries worldwide that have taken the strong step in implementing the new travel document.

E-passports will add a new layer of security to traditional non-electronic passports by embedding an electronic chip in the passport booklet that stores biographical information such as facial features as well as a digital security feature. Therefore, our electronic passports should make the immigration checkpoint process must faster and would allow immigration officers to quickly authenticate of travels, first providing protection against identity theft and fraud.