New U.S. E-Passport - EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES QUITO ...

New U.S. E-PassportOn December 30, 2005 the U.S. Department of State began issuing the first-ever U.S. Electronic Passports.The passports are issued on a pilot basis in the form of diplomatic (black cover) and official (marooncover) E-Passports. Upon successful completion of the pilot, the Department of State plans to deployelectronic tourist (blue cover) passports. The U.S. anticipates having all 17 domestic passport agenciesissuing E-Passports by the end of 2006.E-passport logoThe new passport:The basic front cover design is unchanged, except for the E-passport logo,symbolizing an electronic chip, to easily distinguish the new document from aconventional one.The E-Passports contain either 28 pages or 52 pages, compared to 24 or 48 for olderpassports.The interior design has been entirely changed from the previous version. Imageryinside the cover incorporates stylized depictions of America, including quotationsfrom historic Americans. This publication highlights those changesThe new passport combines face recognition and contactless chip technology. Thechip, which will be embedded in the back cover of the passport, holds the sameinformation that is printed in the data page of the passport: name, date of birth,gender, place of birth, dates of passport issuance and expiration, place of issuance,passport number, and photo image of the bearer. In addition, it will hold the uniquechip identification number and a digital signature to protect the stored data fromalteration.Bureau of Consular Affairs,U.S. Department of State2/2006