The days of the old fashion machine readable passports are on its way to being extinct in replace of the e-passport according to the Barbados Immigration Department because of recommendation by the International Civil Aviation Authority as the new standard to be adopted for travel document issuance.

Anyone applying for a Barbados passport for the first time, or seeking to renew one will be issued with the new e-passport. The new e-passports, which are Biometrically enabled with a chip and antenna in the cover which increases the security feature. 

“It would be more difficult to replace an e-passport because there is a chip in the actual cover. Anyone seeking to replicate the passport would have to remove the chip and ensure that it has the same information as on the biodata page,” said Chief Immigration officer Wayne Marshall.  

“There is no urgency to get the e-passport versus the machine readable one because it will be used in a similar way. The machine readable passport will be accepted even though the e-passport is in circulation,” The officer said.