UK Passports: What's actually on the chip?

The chip on a U.K. passport actually does not contain more information than on the picture page of the passport. People who tell that previously travel or health records are entered on the chip are just telling bullshit. The chip simply eases up the immigration process since the Border Agency officer can see your picture page details on the monitor instead of personally need to look at your passport picture page.

http://www.ips.gov.uk/cps/files/ips/live/assets/do... ..

The Schengen countries act different; for my last passport application (2010) I had my fingerprints and a biometric photograph taken which will be added to the RFID chip. They plan to establish automated passport control gates which are not based on facial recognition (too much technical problems) but on the unique fingerprints of a person, however those can only be fully operational after all chip passports contain the fingerprints of the passport holder (2020).

http://www.ips.gov.uk/cps/rde/xchg/ips_live/hs.xsl... ..

Margret Thatcher has established a system that has required the passport agencies to be funded by the fees they ask for a passport application without tax payers contribution. In my country (Germany) we do not have a centralized passport agency but the passports are issued by the town-halls of the community you live in and are registered. The application fees are subsidized by tax payers and the 10-year passport is €59 (~£52).

However the RFID technology has led to a tremendous increase of the application fee for a German national ID card (which can be used for travel in all of Europe (except for non-EU previous Soviet Union countries). The old ID card which had a digital photograph and a machine-readable zone was €8 (~£7) with a validity of ten years. The new ID card which contains a RFID chip and has the size of a credit card is €28.80 (~£25.50).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_identity_card ..

Passport Chip

I don't know about UK passports, but my Aussie one last time I came back from NZ, a machine scanned my face found several positive matches and let me walk right through skipping the security line completely. Its was very cool. The chip would store all the information on your passport so if someone altered the passport physically, security would pick up the difference between the chip and passport information and know that something was up.

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UK Passports: What's actually on the chip?

It's time for me to renew my UK passport, and as I'm still recognisably the same person as in the photo of my passport issued in 2001 all I need to do is sign the form they printed out from my online application (which basically just has my name, address, date and place of birth, and last...

Quote from DVLA Application for driving licence (D1) "If both your photo and signature appear on the same page in your passport then it is a digital passport. Your passport number is at the top right-hand side of that page" It would appear you don't then need the chip as my passport meets the above criteria but has no chip and was issued in 2004.

The new Bio-metric passport is two part,paper and electronic.Paper passport is the usual "show and go",electronic type has a "I.C" incorprated,the Intergrated Circuit will be a one off to you,hopefully it will cut out the "doctered" passport used so freely worldwide.The contents of the i.c will have everything about you on it,height,eye colour,skin,parents info,where born etc,in other words the "full monty".Try and fiddle that lot !

the chips is for traveling more securley, i was just issued a new passport and its exactly the same basically if your going to lets say america they scan your passport with the chip and check ur details of any arrests medical issues ect ect and also for fraud cases its harder for people to "be you" fake identity ect the chip just allows more security and its worth gettin one because they plan on making everyone have them as most places in the world only accept them nowadays