Originally Posted by
AllieKat
I know US law REQUIRES a biometric passport to get in under the Visa Waiver Program. Canada didn't have to comply, because their visa-free entry is under a different treaty or something.
Even if this was the case, Israel isn't in the VWP, so it doesn't matter much.
Also, while Schengen countries require fingerprints in biometric passports (which I'll not are stored under Extended Access Control and thus NOT accessible to other countries, thus, other countries will still store their own copies of your fingerprints), most other countries do NOT require fingerprints, so that shouldn't have stopped Israel... they could have not done that step.
All Schengen passport holders give their fingerprint? You sure?
Finally, what the heck is "biometric photography" of someone? I have three biometric passports (citizen of three countries) - they're all made from a normal, old fashioned, printed passport photo. Nothing special at all.
Just means that the camera is able to capture the appropriate details and "transmit" them to the computer. The non-biometric passports in Israel have a photograph physically inserted under lamination - very nostalgically I might add
Originally Posted by
Himeno
The "biometric" chip in Australian e-passports does not contain any "biometrics". The Australian passport office/Australia Post does not record any biometric information when processing passports. The chip only contains the data present on the data page and in the MRZ.
I thought it was the same in the USA - that nothing is stored on the chip, and it simply acts as a "key" to the State Department or Homeland Security Department's database.
Originally Posted by
AllieKat
My POINT, which has been completely missed as this is torn apart, is one would never be best served by opting for a non-biometric passport as it'll only cause them problems and may get some refusals or visa requirements in countries such as the US. There's literally no reason you'd want the non-biometric version. They're not charging less for it (I Googled it).
Their fear is that the government can then abuse your information, or the system can get hacked and your info, which is quite personal, can be stolen.