Jamaica is at the forefront of technological improvements that will be aimed at providing residents with the greatest comfort, as well as improving security at the borders.
Jamaicans will be able to obtain biometric passports that will contain all identification information. The country has been preparing for this innovation for a long time and already this year it is expected that residents will start receiving electronic passports. This was announced by the Chief Executive Officer of the Passports, Immigration and Citizenship Agency.
This enhancement is part of a new national Public Key Infrastructure project. The project aims to bring the country closer to becoming a digital society. In such a society, information and communication technologies are widely used in various areas of life, such as daily life, work, study, and recreation.
This project is also part of the Government’s National Identification System program. It aims to provide reliable and secure biometric identities for country residents, services, and goods. In addition, strong authentication, secure data encryption, and digital signatures will become available.
Advanced passport
In appearance, an electronic passport is not much different from a regular one, but it is more advanced. Its main highlight is that it will have an embedded microchip that will contain the encrypted personal data of each owner. Thus, compared with the traditional one, it has a large set of security features.
The first advantage is that it is almost impossible to forge such a document. In the case of forgery, fraud can be quickly identified.
In each country, the procedure for obtaining such a passport may be different. However, what remains unchanged is that each person must provide photographs. Many are faced with the fact that the procedure for obtaining a photo can be difficult. However, this is no longer a problem, as there are now online services such as Wal greens photos online that allow you to take a passport photo ready for printing in seconds.
In addition, each person needs to provide other information that will be stored on a microchip. This information goes through an authentication process using various procedures. Thanks to this, any unauthorized reading of personal information about the owner becomes impossible.
Ultimately, as a result, each person can receive a document that looks like a regular passport. One can tell it apart thanks to the symbol at the bottom. If you notice the gold-colored camera symbol, this is a sign that the passport is biometric.
Benefits
The biggest benefit for owners is that it makes it easier for them to travel to other countries. At the moment, over one hundred and twenty countries in the world have already adopted this identification document.
Its other benefits are as follows:
- Quicker entrance via border control;
- Reliable proof of identity;
- Minimize cases of fraud and identity forgery;
- Effective protection of confidential data.
Other changes
The introduction of such innovation will also give rise to the introduction of other changes in Jamaica. The Registrar General’s Department is also expected to use this infrastructure. The department is going to provide residents of the country with a new service portal in the near future. Now it is under development. However, as soon as it becomes available, it will provide citizens of the country with the opportunity to apply online. In addition, residents of the country will also be able to print digital birth certificates.
This is of great importance throughout the country. Once the changes come into effect, the country will have a reason to start using digital signatures. They will ensure that the person signing the document and sending it is who he claims to be.
The use of this infrastructure creates all the necessary conditions for creating a technological as well as a digital footprint. To this, PICA transgressed a few years ago.
The technology for creating biometric passports is not new. It has been in existence for over ten years. The various countries that have adopted this technology have so far issued over a billion such identification documents. Such documents are issued in Asia, the Middle East, North America, as well as in Europe.
The future of the world depends on this technological improvement. Thanks to biometric passports, as well as other technologies, the border security system will be more advanced. Jamaicans will be able to travel to various countries around the world, and this technology will prove that the country’s system complies with the new standards introduced in many other countries around the world.
Current stage
The introduction of technology in the country is happening at an accelerated pace. Now biometric registration centers are opening in different parts of the country. The departments responsible for implementing biometric passports are working with various international organizations to help develop a more structured security protocol. This will allow the development of special protocols that will comply with global standards for privacy as well as data security.
The country will have a new Data Protection Act that will establish requirements for organizations to share, as well as monitor data by third parties.
A biometric passport will replace a huge number of other documents. It will contain information about the driver’s license, the tax registration number, and the national insurance scheme number.
