The Maldives has become the first South Asian country to issue ICAO-compliant ePassports.

The documents have a completely new design to previous passports, and feature the holder’s facial and fingerprint information as biometric identifiers.

According to the Department of Immigration and Emigration, the new ePassports will be printed by the Austrian State Printing House, Osterreichische Staatsdruckerei, with IRIS Corporation supplying the inlays for the microchip that will be embedded in the back cover.

Aiman Ibrahim, head of the Maldivian Travel Document Section, told SDW: “We expect to roll out around 20,000 ePassports every year within the next three-five years.”

He added: “The department has always followed a centralised issuing policy, and this will continue even after the introduction of ePassports.”