ePassport more secure and valid

Canadians won’t have to go through the hassles of renewing their passports every five years again.
With the launch of a new 10-year passport on Tuesday , Canada also joined over 100 other countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, to issue an electronic travel document embedded with a chip that stores personal information, the person’s photo and a digital security feature to prevent fraud.
Resembling a regular passport, the information on the e-chip cannot be read unless the passport is held within 10 centimetres of an ePassport readable zone, and allows the machine to verify the “country-specific signature” — a system created by the International Civil Aviation Organization to determine a passport’s authenticity.

“The new, 10-year ePassport provides more convenience for Canadians, and facilitates safe, secure travel which, in turn, helps create jobs, growth and long-term prosperity for Canadians,” Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said in an announcement Tuesday.
Inside the 36-page ePassport, each page features iconic Canadian images such as Robert Harris’s painting of the Fathers of Confederation; a depiction of the last spike completing the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885; and a picture of Pier 21 in Halifax, one of the most significant ports of entry for newly-arrived immigrants between 1928 and 1971.

The e-Passport, at $160 a piece for adults over 16, is a better deal than the 5-year Passport, which costs $120 as of July 1.
Through a pilot project that started in January 2009, Passport Canada has already issued more than 60,000 diplomatic and special passports that contain an electronic chip, and no problems have been reported.
Ottawa says border authorities not equipped with ePassport readers will continue to examine travellers’ passports, looking at other security features such as holographic images.