Physical passports may soon be a thing of the past, with De La Rue announcing that it’s working on new a paperless technology that will be embedded in your mobile phone.
You know the mental checklist you go through just before you leave for the airport to catch a flight?
If you’re like most people, it goes a little something like this: Bags? Check. Wallet/purse? Check. Passport? Check.
Well, if UK-based company De La Rue has its way, that three-item mental checklist is about to shrink to just two.
De La Rue, the world’s largest banknote printer and passport manufacturer, is currently developing new digital passports that will be embedded in your mobile phone that can be used to clear immigration.
The technology is set to make travelling a completely paperless affair, with online check-in and electronic boarding passes already a thing.
However, we wouldn’t be chucking out our passports anytime soon if we were you.
The technology still faces a number of considerable challenges, and many governments around the world are concerned of the increased security threats inherent in this completely digital form of identification.
“Paperless passports are one of many initiatives that we are currently looking at, but at the moment it is a concept that is at the very early stages of development.”
De La Rue spokesperson, speaking to MailOnline
For the time being, the modern passport is the most secure form of travel identification. Holograms, electronic chips, watermarks and invisible ink are just some of the features of found on passports these days, and it will be hard to translate these extra security features into a digital format.
However, on the plus side, losing your passport overseas can simply be a matter of downloading a copy onto your phone. No more waiting in line at the consulate, and no more waiting for days or weeks for a replacement.
De La Rue isn’t the first company looking into making physical passports obsolete.
Here in Australia, the government has been looking into developing “cloud passports” for Aussie citizens which would store all pertinent information – including biometric data – on the cloud, allowing travellers to travel passport-free.
Trials of the system for travellers between Australia and New Zealand are currently being discussed.
*Do you know which passports are the most powerful in the world? How about the rarest?