Passport Officers poor on passport photo ID

[Hvr]

Passport officers can be just as good (or bad) as the next person at identifying fake passports, research published on Tuesday reveals.


It was carried out in collaboration with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the researchers suggest passports may need to be overhauled to include more than one photo, taken from a different angle, to prevent fakes.

Read more: Call to change passports after research finds officers poor on photo ID
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Well this surely cannot be a surprise to anybody who has to endure the looking and wondering by the passport officer. What is interesting is that there is no mention of expanding SmartGate which can process people very quickly and more importantly, accurately and refers any suspicious person for further review.

 

[Buzzard]

I have been thinking for some time now how long before finger prints become common in passports.

 

[whatmeworry]

I actually had some passport officers convinced I wasn't the person in my passport photo until a colleague convinced them otherwise.

The authors suggest the single-picture requirement may need to be altered to include a few pictures, taken at different angles, in different lighting and formats.

Great I have to take more bloody photos. How many times I have seen woman get dressed up to just to take a drivers license.

 

[Isochronous]

I have been thinking for some time now how long before finger prints become common in passports.

It works for the humble ID card in Singapore and Hong Kong, so you're probably right. Fingerprints are also taken upon landing in Japan and the USA, among other places, so the technology exists to support it.

 

[markis10]

Well this surely cannot be a surprise to anybody who has to endure the looking and wondering by the passport officer. What is interesting is that there is no mention of expanding SmartGate which can process people very quickly and more importantly, accurately and refers any suspicious person for further review.

Smartgate is being expanded in the form of departure trials in Brisbane, too early to call I suspect (despite the NZ experience)

 

[JohnK]

I have been thinking for some time now how long before finger prints become common in passports.

From memory mum and dad's Greek ID card from the 50's and 60's had finger prints.