It took a while, almost two years if you were keeping count, but finally today the machine-readable passport system was launched. The new system got the Ministerial blessing at an official ceremony at the Passport Office in Belize City this afternoon. On Monday, you'll be able to apply for one of the new passports. What's the difference? Keith Swift found that to the naked eye, there's not much, but look beneath the surface and between the lines and the mystery unfolds.
Keith SwiftReporting,
This is a first look at what the new Belizean passport looks like. It may seem a lot like your current passport but Immigration Director
Gareth Murillo says look closer, this is one of the first new machine readable passports.
Gareth Murillo, Immigration Dept. Director
"It raises the standard of the Belize passport from the current handwritten document to one that is of an internationally accepted format."
Keith Swift,
As of Monday what will be the procedure?
Gareth Murillo,
"The documentary requirements and the fee structure remains the same as the current passport. The procedures indeed have changed, applicants submitting applications will now be required to have their fingerprints scanned and they no longer require the submission of photographs. The system has cameras attached to it and we will take those photographs."
So as of Monday, at Immigration Offices across the country it will you be you, this desk, this camera, and this computer in a cubicle. Murillo says your passport should take a week.
Gareth Murillo,
"Initially we are saying it will take a week to process a passport. Once the proficiency of the staff increases, it may decrease."
The staff under Murillo and a newly hired system operations manager will be using a wide area network designed by 3M Innovations. 3M's project manager says that because it requires your fingerprint, any attempt to mass-produce passports will be stopped at the keyboard. He says the software will enforce one passport per person.
"The system that we have inaugurated today in Belize is one of the most advanced that has been implemented. It has a very important component, biometric component, which will prevent an applicant from being issued a passport under different identities."
"There will be nothing stored on the passport. The passport has only printed information, which most currently do, and the information will be stored in a database. The sole purpose of storing that information is preventing an applicant from getting a passport under different identities."
And with this new system, Joseph Pirres from the International Organization for Migration says Belize now leads the region.
Joseph Pirres,
"Belize is far more advanced than most countries in the region today with this new system of passport, other countries have to come to the level of Belize today."
Keith Swift,
Why do you say that?
Joseph Pirres,
"Because of the technology applied, the digitalization of the process, the professionalism of the system, and being sure that this passport is practically impossible to falsify."
With its integrity now secured, Murillo says Belizeans should now be proud to possess a passport that utilizes the best technology available worldwide. But more than that he encourages those with valid old passports to make the switch.
Gareth Murillo,
"We are recommending that indeed you do come in and change your passport, but it's all a matter of the country that you intend to travel to. If it is a country that insists that you have to have a machine-readable passport to enter then indeed you should come in and renew your passport. If not then you can continue using the current passport until it expires. We anticipate that given that it meets the current international format, that it will be a document that is respected and honored by all other immigration services."
The United States donated US$1 million to the project and the remainder came from Government mainly in the form of office equipment and passport booklets. While you are able to apply for a new passport even if your current one isn't yet expired, government officials say there is no guarantee the U.S. consulate will transfer your visa hassle-free. An interesting note is that the Immigration Department stopped issuing passports in mid-November.
