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Finger-prints for passports
Applicants for new passports will be fingerprinted from this year on, Immigration Controller Chulananda Perera said yesterday.The programme to collect biometric (fingerprints) data would begin by April, he told the Sunday Times.“The plan for the project is being finalised. The tender process will be concluded soon and we hope to begin the project within the next three months,” he said.
The information would be saved in a designated secure computer system and introduced in the new passport from next year, Mr. Perera said. The data obtained would be according to standards stipulated by the International Civil Aviation Organisation. The ICAO specifies facial, fingerprint, and iris recognitions as standardised metrics to be used in biometric passport identification.However, the department would only record fingerprints of each applicant under the proposed project, Visa controller M. N. Ranasinghe said.