6 ms·
It's to validate that the fingerprints of the person arriving are the same as the fingerprints of the person who got the passport.
by some_random 2mo ago
It's to validate that the fingerprints of the person arriving are the same as the fingerprints of the person who got the passport.
- RandomLensman 2mo agoThe fingerprints in the passport can't do that?
- rafram 2mo agoMost countries' passports don't include fingerprint data. The US passport application process is entirely digital/by mail, for example, with no fingerprinting at all.
- RandomLensman 2mo agoEU passports do.
- mothballed 2mo agoThe average US border official is a (angry) moron (with a badge and a gun). They've literally fingerprinted me on entry with a US passport because they were too stupid to figure out US citizens don't have to do that. I have been interrogated by CBP to ask if I "work in the country" despite being a citizen. Anything that changes the process from the simplest one-size-fits all will be fucked up, they cannot differentiate the process between foreigner and citizen let alone EU vs some other place. Edit: Every time I share my border stories I get accused of lying or having done something wrong. I have much much crazier ones. No one believes it until it happens to them. Count yourself lucky if you've never been strip searched or imprisoned by these psychopaths, any belief they are reasonable are formed because you were lucky and have a naïve sort of optimism that if you do everything right it won't happen to you.
- rafram 2mo ago> because they were too stupid to figure out US citizens don't have to do that This seems extremely unlikely to me. Did you stand in the noncitizens line by mistake?
- rawgabbit 2mo agoIt's called racial profiling.
- koverstreet 2mo agoU.S. border agents really are just worse. Much worse. (I can't say what racial profiling adds to that, I can only speak to my own experiences). I've been routinely grilled and extensively searched many times just crossing between the U.S. and Canada - the most hilarious instance being when I was crossing from Yukon Territory back to Alaska some 10 years ago. In Latin America, things are considerably more professional, and the government officials don't act like they hate you and just want you to go away. Europe's fine too.
- kelnos 2mo ago> In Latin America, things are considerably more professional, and the government officials don't act like they hate you and just want you to go away. Depends. Someone I know had a terrible experience crossing into Belize on a land border. Was held there for two hours while they "verified" something. Seemed like a power-tripping agent.
- mothballed 2mo agoI would characterize Belize as part of the Anglosphere instead of Latin America. Last colonized by Britain as their last European influence on governance and only English as the official language. The anglosphere has the nastiest border controls in my experience.
- lazide 2mo ago
- rafram 2mo agoNot those issued in Denmark or Ireland, apparently [1], though I see other sources saying Denmark does fingerprint now. Most countries don't fingerprint children. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passports_of_the_European_Union#Common_design_features https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passports_of_the_European_Unio...
- RandomLensman 2mo agoSeems like Ireland only currently (looking at the Danish Minstry of Foreign Affairs on passports). And, yes, age threshold for kids.
- prmoustache 2mo agonew ones yes but mine is still valid for the next 2.5 years and doesn't. When passports are valid for 10 years there is always a bit of inertia.
- ninalanyon 2mo agoHow do they manage that? Do you have to visit a government office to get a passport? I only have a UK passport and it definitely does not include my finger prints as it was obtained by post.
- miki123211 2mo agoYes. In fact, you have to do it twice; once to apply and once to receive it. In Poland at least, the queues are often a few weeks long, and you have to book online in advance. If it's summer season and you need to travel soon, you usually have to go to some office in Buttfuckville at the other end of the country to get a reasonable date. Passport office hunting is an established practice for people who need one ASAP. If you're a kid, both of your parents need to be present with you at the appointment at the same time, so they have to coordinate time off work. The fun begins if they're divorced and one lives in a different country. At least, unlike in the UK/US, the process itself is pretty painless. I got mine just after I turned 18 (see above), and all I really needed to do was to go there, bring my ID, fill a single form and give them the fingerprints.
- rafram 2mo agoThe process in the US is you open an online form, type in your details, and upload a JPEG of your face! Then you receive a passport in the mail a few weeks later! I would say that is a lot less painful than the Polish process.
- buckle8017 2mo agoThere's no fingerprints in the passport. Edit apparently some but not all EU passports do, which is weird.
- RandomLensman 2mo agoWhich EU passports don't (other than below some age, lack of fingers etc.)? For a while some older ones might not have, but not sure if the expiry would still be long enough? Edit: seems like Ireland is the odd one out (Danemark could, but seems to fingerprint).
- deleted 2mo ago[deleted]
- ExoticPearTree 2mo agoSome countries in the EU only issue biometric passports only. And they have your fingerprints in them. Others I imagine issue both types of passports and that's why some people are fingerprinted more often.
- miki123211 2mo agoWhich you don't need to do, because the fingerprints are in the passport (cryptographically secure so only an authorized reader can access them, and only when able to OCR the inside of the passport). They're signed by your issuing government, so they're much harder to forge than the physical document.