Biometric Passports

[ujpest doza]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Jill
When you arrive at the immigration hall in Florida even if only one of the party has a biometric chipped passport you can all join the 'line' for biometric passport holders. When we were last there in March these queues were much shorter than the ordinary 'lines'.
[/quote]

Thats canny.Was that at Sanford or mco?

Me and the youngest have Biometrics but DW and eldest daughter don't.

If the Biometric queues are shorter that in theory means we'll get through quicker.

Not that it makes a great deal of difference mind, as last time we arrived at Sanford we were sat the seat behind the doors so were the 2nd people off the plane and were therefore first in the queue and straight through immigration. As we had to wait for a car seat and a buggy at baggage reclaim we were then last out of the airport anyway

[steph_goodrum]

Nuala
It says on the passport if includes biometrics on the UK passport but dont know if Irish passports are the same, the other issue is that if it isnt biometric you may need to apply for a VIsa (unless being Irish it doesnt come under the same category as the UK, I'm not sure on that but someone will know.

[Susan J]

You would know if yours was biometric [and it isn't automatically issued- I asked this, and they told me to put a note in when I sent off my application saying I was going to USA, so could I hav bio whilst renewing -I did this and it worked!]
On the front of your passport, at the bottom, there is a symbol that looks like a camera, and on the back inside page there is what looks like an oblong of copper wire with a chip. -your phot is on the front of this page, and it is all laminated.

[steph_goodrum]

"You would know if yours was biometric [and it isn't automatically issued- I asked this, and they told me to put a note in when I sent off my application saying I was going to USA, so could I hav bio whilst renewing -I did this and it worked!]

We did that with my daughters at the beginning of the year to be on the safe side, we hoped that as she had about12 or so US immigration stamps plus and expired visa in there they would see that she travels frequently to the States but didnt want to take a chance.

[anorak]

ncmurray - your passport is not biometric. The Irish government expect the US to abandon the requirement.

[ncmurray]

That sounds a bit like me........ close your eyes, and hope it never happens!!

I was wondering, what biometric information do you have to give when you send away for your passport? It might be biometric-ready, but with no biometric information on the chip yet. And what do they class as biometric? Fingerprint? Iris recognition? DNA?

Nuala

[ujpest doza]

Theres no fingerprint.
The photo is wired up to a chip and has allegedlly got iris recognition[?]

[steph_goodrum]

It;s not iris recognition as such but the biometric info is take from measuring specific points on your digital photo (which is why they are so hot on exactly how the photo must be before it is classed as acceptable).

[Albert the Frog]

Apparently the chip contains info from your photograph-hence the new stricter guidelines-i read somewhere that one of the things it records is the distance between the centre of your eyes and the distance from the centre of your forehead to the tip of your nose. Apparently these can't be faked and are relatively unique and also explains why you can't be on the photo frowning, smiling or at an angle.

[steph_goodrum]

"How do facial biometrics work?
Facial recognition maps various features on the face, for example, the distances between eyes, nose, mouth and ears. The measurements are digitally coded and this can then be used for comparison and verification purposes. Biometric technology is perfectly safe as facial biometrics can be taken from a good quality passport photo

This is from the Passport website.