For those who are conscious,it must be very bad experience to join the long queue and wait at the immigration counter. You've travelled so long and here you are,impatiently waiting as the officials check the passport of the people in front of you.Wouldn't you like the chore to be over in a jiffy? Well it might come true soon enough.Passports are going digital and this can bring down the time of the immigration check to minutes.A special biometric chip of 64KB or higher capacity will be embedded in the passports.It will be inserted in either the cover or the first page of the passport where it cannot be tampered with.When swiped at the immigration counter,it will show all the detail of the traveller.The holder's photograph,finger prints and rest of the detail will show up on the immigration officer's screen.
The use of microchip makes the passport similar to a smartcard,only in a paper format.The use of chip technology promises to make things smoother for the travellers,who canjust swipe and walk through immigration check,thus making the whole procedure much faster.In India,the chip will be developed by a government-approved authority. Such passports,it is hoped,will deter fogers as well as fleeing criminals,who can be identified and caught on the spot.Many develped countries have already started using E-Passport as the chip embedded document is called,and others,including India,are going to follow.Chip passports are likely to be made available for use by common citizens by mid-to end 2009.Currently,only president of India and diplomatic personnel have E-passport.