As technology advances and demand shifts in favor of touchless interaction, over 120 countries have created biometric passports to offer citizens a more convenient tool for travel identification. That number, however, has since grown—Angola and Cameroon just recently joined the many in rank to adopt this unique documentation.

Angola’s Upgraded Passport Plan

Angola’s Migration and Foreigners Service (SME) stated that the Angolan government will offer upgraded passports with citizens’ biometric data. This new biometric passport will replace the country’s current passports, with a target launch for the end of 2021.

By making it nearly impossible for third parties to imitate the documents, the upgraded passport will help citizens avoid fraud and document forgery. The technology will also bring Angola’s passports up to new security standards, matching those that have already been administered in other countries.

“The change will contain three levels of visual security, verifiable through electronic and security equipment and through specific conformation techniques and forensic techniques,” said Gil Famoso, the director of Angola’s Migration and Foreigners Service, to the country’s National Defense Council. “There is no prospect of raising the price of the passport with the implementation of the biometric passport, because what will be in question for the determination of the rate are the costs of production and everything that is around its production process.”

As it stands, migration authorities have begun a general consensus of both the foreign and domestic populations of Angola in an effort to update a variety of population statistics before mass roll-out.

Cameroon Launches Biometric Passports

Just South of Angola, Cameroon selected AUGENTIC—a specialist in the delivery of identity solutions—in late 2020 to partner with Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda in support of the country’s biometric passport development and distribution plans. The announcement follows a pattern of biometric transition in the country—Cameroon’s national digital identity scheme began production in 2016 ,and they recently rolled-out a contended digital youth ID card.  

“We express our gratitude to the Head of State for his approval of this strategic project,” said Martin Mbarga Nguele, the Delegate General for National Security, last September. “With this project, the problems we face today will only be distant memories because everything will be done online and fast. We thank this investment of AUGENTIC-INCM which allows us to be among countries with one of the most modern biometric passport solutions in the world.”

AUGENTIC expressed equal excitement, with its CEO, Labinot Carreti stating that “the strategy of [AUGENTIC] is to support governments in their path of digitalization of identity infrastructure” and that they are “happy to help the great country of Cameroon become a leader in Africa and among top ranked countries in the world in terms of passport security and system performance.”

While Angola is nearing the launch of its biometric passports, the Republic of Cameroon has already commenced its production of them. Cameroon initiated its biometric passport production center in its capital city, Yaoundé, just last month. The production center is capable of producing biometric passports about 48 hours after a citizen concludes registration.

ABOUT THE WRITER

Roger Lu is an aviation enthusiast and analyst researching the implications of technology on global travel. He enjoys writing about how data is utilized in the context of aviation security and customer experience.

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