The government will miss its summer 2006 target date to implement long-promised machine-readable passports, Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell has admitted.
Minister Mitchell, who has long lamented the time taken to implement the new system, explained that the Cabinet has not yet “really” considered the matter.
“The report is in from the Tenders Commission and they have made their recommendations, but it remains to be considered by the Cabinet,” he told The Bahama Journal.
“Only once Cabinet has done this can we put a new timeline on this.”
He also indicated that the ministry may have to change its original plans for the new passports.
“The budgetary resources are probably beyond what was originally allocated,” the minister said. “Because of the time and the things we have added, the system has become more expensive.”
The machine-readable passports would be a key step in meeting the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) global objectives, which are designed to minimize delays in border crossing formalities, and safeguard international civil aviation operations against acts of unlawful interference.
The U.S Department of State has said the passports are expected to help deter fraud and quickly confirm a passport holder’s identity, as they would be that much more difficult to forge.
A machine-readable passport has certain biographical data entered on the data page.
These standards address issues like the size of the passport and photograph, arrangement of data fields, and the two lines of printed machine-readable data that appear at the bottom of the page and can be read by scanning the two lines of printed data through special readers.
“This new feature makes the whole thing more secure considering that there is biometrics involved, fingerprints and facial recognition,” Minister Mitchell explained.
“It is less open to tampering because everything is digital.”
The new passport system would also assist in the fight against terrorism, immigrant smuggling and trafficking in persons, officials have said.
But the minister said The Bahamas’ system would be “slightly” different from that implemented in other countries.
“We’re not only hoping to implement machine-readable passports, but a more secure visa system, [and] also machine readable visa and work permits,” the minister said.
“I am hoping that this would mean a stamp in the passport for a work permit holder because one of the difficulties we’re having is that if someone is a work permit holder [he or she doesn’t] need a visa to come to The Bahamas, but the airlines don’t recognize the document because it is not stamped in the passport. So we are trying to [address] all of these border management control systems.”
By: Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal
