Wednesday, 8th October 2008 - 12:53CET
Updated: Biometric passports launched, new prices announced
(Adds new passports tariff)
The Passports Office has started issuing biometric passports, providing holders with a more secure travel document.
The launch was made this morning by Communications Minister Austin Gatt ,who said the new passports were being introduced in line with international requirements.
He explained that the new passports contain the same information as the old ones, but the information is held in a more secure manner in a chip embedded in the document.
In the future, the chip will also carry an image of the holder's fingerprint.
Dr Gatt said the introduction of the new passports was also an important step by Malta to meet US requirements for eligibility to the visa waiver programme.
The Passports Office has also revised the tariffs for passports. A new passport for those aged over 16, valid for 10 years, now costs €70, a jump from just under €28.
The minister explained that an empty passport previously used to cost the Passport Office €3 and it now cost €30. The Office has also invested over €12 million on the new equipment to input the details on the passports. That outlay may never be fully recovered, despite the new prices, the minister said.
Passports Office officials said existing valid passports need not be replaced until they expire.
The new tariffs are:
Passport for those aged over 16, valid for 10 years: €70
Passport for children aged between 10 and 16, valid for five years: €35
Passport for children under 10 years, valid for two years: €14
Collective certificate to serve as passport: €85
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Comments
One is valid for 10 year the other is valid for 5 years = 10/5=2
Euros 70/2 = Euros 35
i think its double the price because the passport is valid for double the time. one is 5 years and the other 10 yrs. this is because ppl over 16 travel more so their passport will be valid longer....
Secondly, we are becoming a society where all our information is stored on computers, susceptible to identity theft. Think about the recent cases in the UK where a number of personal data was 'lost'.
This is nothing but Big Brother tactics against honest, hard-working citizens – we all know that illegal immigrants have a free reign as a matter of policy in the US and EU. The “Terrorists” can also come and go as they please as they are there to serve the Power Elite that created them in order to instill a climate of terror necessary for honest citizens to acquiesce to the introduction of draconian legislation that erodes their hard-won rights.
The true objective – a One World Government ruled by the mostly an all White Power Elite made up of the old and new aristocracy (the multinational Corporations and their minions, the politicians and leaders) and a subservient and mostly powerless underclass without any rights or say but to work for the privileged few.
In the future there will be no middle class, which is the greatest threat to the New World Order and that is why most of these new regulations seek to only curtail and eventually eliminate this sector of the world population. It is being implemented in stages and at different rates all around the globe.
Let all that have eyes see.
Although the UK may ask for passports it is simply not the case and a passport IS NOT REQUIRED. The Id card provides all the information they need to know (i.e. we are EU citizens).
so according to you....because of these few who have to pay more for an american visa.......we common people who don't travel to america have to fork out more money for our passport.....so that FEW people will save the hassle of applying and paying more for a visa.
What about schengen....and those who wrote that travelling from uk or scotland as having to use the passport...don't they know that UK is not in the schengen zone like us
It seems that you applied for your US visitors visa 8 yers ago as they are generally valid for 10 years. So maybe you do not know that it became a nightmare to redo the process (after september 11) plus it now costs 120 euros.
I would rather change my passport for 70 euros, besides you can now do it online.
best of luck
weren't we once told that in the future we could travel across Europe by using our identy cards.....so why these type of passports
This is only to help the American government....so EU should make the americans pay for all expenses incurred and not pass them to us common people.....
Or maybe this is another way of collecting some more taxes from the people...
Can anyone enlighten us as to how many maltese passengers travel to america every year!!!!
1) you have all the right in the world to comment but please when you do get the facts right.
2) you mention that government has a monopoly on passports. I hope you are not suggesting that it should be the private sector to produce passports. What about security???
3) Please check this website http://europa.eu/abc/travel/doc/index_en.htm Print it when you travel to the UK and show it to immigration officer. Other wise you can file a compliant with the EU Parliament Ombudsman
4) Well you pay 6000 euros tax, so your salary should be close to 25000 per year. hard to believe you cannot afford a visit to the US
5) I do not suppose we maltese are special that the americans should pay us to visit their country
6) It seems you have no idea how much income tax EU nationals pay. In Belgium 50percent is taxed.
7) If you have nothing to hide, you should not worry.
hope this clarifies your concerns
Kind of futile having biometric passports and face recognition systems at airports when the physical borders are wide open.
But aren't we in the Schengen Zone and we don't need to show our passports....
As far as i know this is only required to enter USA without a VISA.......can anyone tell me how many Maltese visit USA every year.....i don't think more than they visit eurpean cities...
So why impose this payment on all the maltese........
For me a lot of waste of money......
Just wait for the budget ;)
"The new passports contain the same information as the old ones, but the information is held in a more secure manner in a chip embedded in the document."
This IS A FALSE STATEMENT. What was written before IS STILL WRITTEN TODAY .... and it can`t be otherwise because not all countries have the passport readers - nothing is concealed. The chip is not intended to store just what today is written, but to store images of private data such as fingerprints, and facial-biometrics
"A more secure travel document" : More secure?? How come? Before they needed to get hold of my passport to get the data...now they can read data without touching it !! It doesn`t remove anything from the previous passports had- it adds
"...to meet US requirements for eligibility to the visa waiver programme." : Contrary to the impression given, this biometric passport DOES NOT GIVE AUTOMATIC ENTRY TO THE US. The same formalities would still need to take place.
Hallina Dott!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PISCES
There is an interesting section about Malta. How nice of the US to provide it for free and also maintain it for free. "They must really, really like us. The US embassy in Malta has claimed PISCES is a standalone system, and not part of any network connected to the US government." The phrase "Greeks bearing gifts" comes to mind.
Citing warranty reasons, only US embassy technical personnel are allowed to work on the system.
So all law abiding travellers are strictly monitored and their data and photograph possibly shared, knowingly or unknowingly with third parties.
1) Everyone has the right to comment. Who are you to decide who's comment makes sense or not ? Is this freedom of speech or not ?
2) Yes money is important unfortunately. The problem is that the government is a monopoly when it comes to passports and monopolies don't go down well with people especially when you raise the price of something by 250% that is not deemed important.
3) UK and Ireland still ask for the passport so what you say is not exactly correct.
4) I'm 30 and I never travelled to US as yet. If I will ever afford it, I will only go once or twice at most, so the higher passport prices are not worth.
5) If we did this expense for the Americans, then they should fork out the bill themselves.
6) I pay over €6000 in taxes every year excluding the 18% VAT for every item I buy. No I don't think I'm pampered at all.
7) There's the privacy problem: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10060601-38.html?tag=newsLeadStoriesArea.0
I was just making a point Mr Peresso and I never insulted you personally, so I don't expect that you do otherwise.
If you try to read my comment well, I said I expect the new passports to cost €35 if they are costing the government €30. The profit should make good for the wages. Do you want the workings ? €5 profit from each passport * 200,000 = €1,000,000. With just €5 profit the govt. makes a million Euro profit. Now imagine what he does with a €40 profit on each passport!
p.s. UK still asks for the passport, so does Ireland, just been there. So please don't come with the fairytale that we don't need passports anymore!
So please, lets grow up and discuss things through facts.
@ I.M. Dingli - I agree with you perfectly and I think yours is the only comment that had some sense. Minister please note.
Of course there is .
Hobsons choice
I am sure the decision to store all our fingerprints was taken in a very democratic manner.
Thanks Austin.
Shades of 80's paranoia anyone?
Infact I was quite amused at the comment of the first J. Farrugia to this particular article. Now everything makes sense again!!
As to the tickets matter, actually I already do that.
As for the other suggestion, you might be under the impression that it isn't that expensive but consider about 3 to 4 flights a month in order to present an offer or promote your services (and not to actually do the job) and the additional costs for the issue of the VISA itself and you'll end up with quite a recurring setback, all this without considering flights. Kull qatra tghodd, specjalment bhalissa!
My other comment involved also a query as to why Malta cannot establish an agreement with Libya for VISA wavering especially since in order to issue a VISA on the passport, you have a lengthy process of between 2 to 3 weeks if you are lucky enough.
Well it must be even shallower than you were presuming!!!!! 'cos you forgot to count the wages of the personell!!!!
p.s. I'm surprised how this subject does not interest you. Well you read the article and people's comments so it must have interested you. Unfortunately this government is worse than a monopoly.
Consider the fact that Libya uses 3 pages per visit as a part of the cost of doing business in Libya. I new passport can be used for 10 entries in to Libya i.e. EUR 7 per entry. All you need to do is set aside EUR 7 from the income you earn each time you go to Libya towards to the cost of a new passport. You must agree that this is a small price to pay.
If you are a regular visitor to Libya, you might want to consider buying your air tickets to Malta in Tripoli itself. It works out at less than half the cost of a ticket bought in Malta. The same can be said for flying to Dubai. Fly to Tripoli and then buy your Dubai ticket in Tripoli - again you save half the cost - and you can do it online.
In other words this is just another TAX Mr. Austin. Did you think our IQ is so shallow ?
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1067370/Hackers-reveal-flaw-biometric-passports-cloning-Elvis-Presley.html