Times of Malta reports last month that the Maltese Passports Office has started issuing biometric passports, thus providing holders with a more secure travel document.

“timesofmalta.com” indicates that the launch was made last October by the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Communications, Austin Gatt, who said that the new passports were being produced in line with international requirements. 

Mr. Gatt explained that the new passports contain the same information as the old ones, but the information is held in a more secure manner in a chip embedded in the document. In the future, the chip will also carry an image of the holder’s fingerprint. 

The Minister added that the introduction of the new passports was also an important step made by Malta to meet US requirements for eligibility to the visa waiver programme. 

The Maltese Passports Office has also revised the tariffs for passports. A new passport for those aged over 16, valid for 10 years, now costs €70, a jump from just under €28. The minister explained that an empty passport previously used to cost the Passport Office €3 and it now costs €30. The Office has also invested over €12 million on the new equipment to input the details on the passports. 

Passports Office officials said that existing valid passports need not be replaced until they expire. 

Additional information may be found in the original article by “timesofmalta.com”.

Tags: biometrics passport, Biometrics security