S'pore to issue biometric passports

S'pore to issue biometric passports

SINGAPORE: Singapore will issue electronic passports with biometric measures such as fingerprints late next year to meet new U.S. border security rules, a government minister said on Tuesday.

Home minister Wong Kan Seng said a "smart card" embedded in passports could identify travelers through facial recognition, fingerprints and iris-scanning, and said Singapore was seeking proposals by private companies for the system.

"We hope by the end of next year, we will have something to roll out," Wong announced.

Singapore and 26 other countries with visa-waiver agreements with the United States have until Oct. 26, 2005, to start issuing biometric passports under a U.S. law designed to tighten up border security after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Wong said Singapore would also soon test a biometric project at its main Changi Airport to allow frequent travelers to pass through automated immigration kiosks.

Singapore began using biometrics on a trial basis in 1996 to automate immigration clearance for travelers crossing into neighboring Malaysia frequently by foot. This was expanded a year later at all the island's checkpoints with Malaysia. --Reuters