Traveling to Europe? It’s getting more “interesting”
Even if you’re not Pavel Durov, you may get a surprise if you’re planning a trip to Europe. Beginning November 10, there will be mandatory biometrics applied to visitors:
Europe’s new Entry/Exit System is intended to replace passport stamping by electronically registering the arrival and departure of international visitors to and from most EU member states.
Upon arrival in Europe, passport control officers will scan your face, record a digital scan of your fingerprints—these scans will be mandatory—and not stamp your passport.
When visitors leave Europe, they’ll scan face and fingers once again to register their departure.
Visitors will be able to speed their first arrival at a European border by pre-registering using a mobile app (not yet available) or the automated kiosks (which the EU calls “self-service systems”) installed at major border entry ports such as airports.
Once you’re registered with EES, the next time you cross an external European border, you’ll only have to scan your face and fingers for reentry. …
One system (ETIAS) will validate approval to travel; the other (EES) is for registering a person’s arrival once travel begins and, later, departure once the visit is over. …
Every person crossing an external European border who is not also an EU national—which by definition includes every tourist staying for a maximum of 90 days in any 180-day period—will be required to register with the new EES. In other words, pretty much everyone who goes to Europe on vacation.
Travelers who carry biometric passports (all U.S. passports issued since 2007 are biometric) can also speed through the automated “self-service system” kiosks (a prototype is pictured above) once those travelers’ details have been registered in the database for the first time.
… The United States began requiring non-Americans between the ages of 14 and 79 to submit fingerprint scans and facial images nearly 20 years ago.
That’s a lot to digest. One tidbit that surprised me was the claim that since 2007 all US passports are biometric. I have a passport issued in 2015 and I was unaware of any biometrics involved in the document itself. But I do recall that, when I went to Italy in 2017, my face was scanned at the Rome airport coming and going. I also think my photo is sometimes taken at US airports, but I’m a bit hazy on that detail. But what’s in my actual passport that qualifies as biometrics? It doesn’t have my fingerprints, and I don’t ever recall giving fingerprints.
The larger picture, and what I’ve thought about many times before, is that these days there’s nowhere to run and nowhere to hide – that is, if the state wants to find you. Funny thing is that the people they most want to find seem to be those on the right, and this involves Western Europe, too. The emphasis on getting the right in the US has already been proven – as though we needed more proof – by the incredible dragnet that hauled in J6 attendees whose “offenses” were limited to walking through open doors and entering the Capitol, and then peacefully exiting. I seem to recall that the mechanism for identifying most of them was facial recognition techniques through surveillance photos and videos.
I just queried chatGPAT (“In what ways are US passports biometric?”). It gave the following reply; only the first two points reflect current use (assuming the AI is correct in the first place):
****
U.S. passports are biometric in several key ways:
1. **Digital Photograph**: The passport includes a digital photograph of the passport holder’s face, which is used for facial recognition.
2. **Biometric Data on the Chip**: In addition to the photograph, U.S. passports contain an embedded RFID chip that stores biometric data, including the facial image in a machine-readable format.
3. **Fingerprints**: Although U.S. passports do not currently store fingerprint data, the U.S. has considered adding this feature for increased security in the future.
4. **Iris Scans**: As of now, iris scans are not used in U.S. passports, but they are part of broader biometric strategies for other forms of identification and security.
These biometric features help enhance the security of the passport and facilitate identity verification processes.
The ubiquitous surveillance State (Hello, watchers!) will be amply staffed with vigorous Stasi likelings. It’s all done
for our goodin the name of virtue — verstehen mich jetzt?It’s when they start applying their budding “social credit” system points that this sort of technology will mean something to many.
If you have any sort of trusted traveler privilege like Global Entry they already have all that. But that’s freely chosen.
Europe is not imposing more process on Americans out of nowhere; it’s because for years now we have not reciprocated the ease of entry they allow us.
My last trip to Europe was in 2023, and pretty hassle-free getting in and out. I don’t anticipate going again before 2025.
Watt — I’m pretty sure AIchat is just giving you DOS boilerplate. Ive recently read this on theur site, renewing my PP tgat was issued in 2014.
It too was “biometric” and machine readable in this way.
My newer passport has more security features guarding against easy photo reproduction, as well as increased stiffness.
Neo might re-examine her passport. The chip may be the thumbnail sized bulge in the center of the backside of it.
US State Department explains the biometric features here.
This counts for Muslim invaders as well,
Right?
NC, the same for me. It has been fairly easy to enter say the UK or France, and to leave (guess they really wanted to get rid of me).
We have Global Entry. Now we just get our faced scanned, don’t need our Passports scanned any more. It is harder to come to the US. even for US citizens that don’t have GE.
Its all fun
being an illegal alien.
I can’t speak for passports, but I was weirded out recently upon travelling from the Denver CO airport to return to my nameless home … I did not have to present my boarding pass at the TSA security check; they were taking photos and obviously comparing those … I was told the reference photos come from the new driver’s licenses, so that’s become a form of internal passport.
In May I flew to London, where a machine scanned my US passport and took my picture. From there I flew to Dublin, where I had to pass through Irish immigration. But while there I passed through the border with Northern Ireland, which was marked with just a sign, like going from Minnesota to Wisconsin. Now, the Irish Republic is a member of the EU, and Northern Ireland is part of the UK, which is not. Returning to London from Dublin I didn’t have to go through passport control at. all. Go figure.
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Boogie chillin’
As long as you’re a “refugee” from a third world country, you’re welcome to go to the EU, live on the citizen’s dime, get housing, food, cell phone etc for free and “culturally enrich” the local citizens to your heart’s desire.
If you’re from a civilized country, have disposable income and want to spend some of that income while visiting the EU…you have to be vetted, scanned, catalogued and recorded…you might, after all, be a threat to the new world order.
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