Thai E-passports Launched

[george]

E-passports launched

BANGKOK: -- Some 1,500 people yesterday crowded the Consular Affairs Department hoping to be among the first to obtain an electronic passport (e-passport), a senior official said.

Despite 46 booths to cope with expected crowds, the department had to call for more manpower from Chan Wanich Co Ltd – a private company responsible for developing and issuing the e-passports – to cope with enthusiastic applicants, according to Deputy Director-General Jesada Chavarnbhark.

Applicant Rangsi Judi received his queue card at 10am but did not obtain a passport until late afternoon. He urged authorities to improve the service and make it faster.

A source said the queue was closed at 3pm at applicant number 600, leaving most people without passports. Afterwards, officials held an urgent meeting to improve the service for the next day.

Other glitches in the system – including a queuing machine, which broke down due to overwhelming use, prompting officials to usher the crowd via megaphones – would be evaluated after a week of operation, Jesada added.

The e-passport has technology for improved security, including the holder’s biometric data as required by International Civil Aviation Organisation standards.

--The Nation 2005-08-02

[george]

Chaos reigns at passport section

BANGKOK: -- Chaos reigned at the Consular Affairs Department and its branches yesterday as people flocked to apply for the new electronic passports.

Staff were overwhelmed and individual applicants had to wait up to four hours for service.

In Bangkok they caused traffic jams on Changwattana road.

One thousand six hundred people applied at the department's headquarters, while a total of 990 people applied in Chiang Mai and Hat Yai. At Bang Na there were 400 applicants.

The new e-passports, which contain biometric data, cost 1,005 baht.

Jesada Chavarnbhark, deputy head of the department, attributed the confusion to the closure of the Pinklao branch and the ``Monday habit'' of doing things.

However, technicians and former bidders questioned the readiness of the outsourcing company, Chanwanich, and the too-compromising attitude of the Consular Affairs Department to the showcase project from the very beginning.

``They have been on a test-run at Changwattana for two months, they should have had a better understanding of what would happen when all centres began issuing the passports,'' a source argued.

Chanwanich's machines failed to meet the benchmark for encoding personal data in the new passports. The terms of reference required each machine to produce 3,000 passports a day encoded with the holders' biometric details.

During a test on Friday, the company could produce less than 100 passports, Mr Jesada said.

Chanwanich managing director Marachai Kongboonma said the machines needed to be fine-tuned.

``Hopefully, within a week everything should settle down,'' Mr Marachai said.

One of the losers for the contract, however, argued that such a high-tech and pricey deal should have no room for failure.

The Consular Affairs Department had been ill prepared and has rushed outsourcing of the 10-year deal to the company at a high price tag of seven billion baht, the source said.

``When people return to receive their passports on Wednesday, we will see just how cumbersome the process will be when they test their new books at the demonstration auto-gate at Changwattana.

``And of course, again when they really use the new type of passport at Don Muang airport,'' the source said.

Four auto-gates, located at the Don Muang departure and arrival floors, had been tested over past months but had yet to be fully used by all the passengers with e-passports.

``The Immigration Bureau needs to think how to interface the auto-gate technology with other security facilities,'' an industry source said.

Currently, an average of 100 e-passport holders were using the auto-gate each day. All were Thai citizens who flew Thai Airways International.

``The gate cannot read other countries' machine-readable documents as Thailand has yet to be recognised by authorities from other countries,'' a source said.

--Bangkok Post 2005-08-02

[spog]

Chaos reigns at passport section

``The gate cannot read other countries' machine-readable documents as Thailand has yet to be recognised by authorities from other countries,'' a source said.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Don't you just love unnamed sources?

The fact that the gate cannot read other countries' machine readable passports might be attributed to the fact that there are no other machine-readable passports in the world.

[Kerryd]

Don't you just love unnamed sources?

The fact that the gate cannot read other countries' machine readable passports might be attributed to the fact that there are no other machine-readable passports in the world.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Untrue. I have had a machine-readable (Canadian) passport for over 2 years now. The airports in Dubai (and even the one here in Kabul, Afghanistan), have had passport readers for over a year now.

I'm at the point of having to apply for a new passport, as my current one is almost full. When I checked into it, I was told that the embassy here would have to send the application to the embassy in Pakistan, who would issue the new passport, but it wouldn't be machine-readable.

The only way to get another machine-readable passport would be to travel back to Canada and apply there.

[astral]

Don't you just love unnamed sources?

The fact that the gate cannot read other countries' machine readable passports might be attributed to the fact that there are no other machine-readable passports in the world.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Untrue. I have had a machine-readable (Canadian) passport for over 2 years now. The airports in Dubai (and even the one here in Kabul, Afghanistan), have had passport readers for over a year now.

I'm at the point of having to apply for a new passport, as my current one is almost full. When I checked into it, I was told that the embassy here would have to send the application to the embassy in Pakistan, who would issue the new passport, but it wouldn't be machine-readable.

The only way to get another machine-readable passport would be to travel back to Canada and apply there.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Add Malaysia to that list. They have had machine readable passports for 2-3 years.

Not sure if their gate will read other nations passports

[spog]

Don't you just love unnamed sources?

The fact that the gate cannot read other countries' machine readable passports might be attributed to the fact that there are no other machine-readable passports in the world.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Untrue. I have had a machine-readable (Canadian) passport for over 2 years now. The airports in Dubai (and even the one here in Kabul, Afghanistan), have had passport readers for over a year now.

I'm at the point of having to apply for a new passport, as my current one is almost full. When I checked into it, I was told that the embassy here would have to send the application to the embassy in Pakistan, who would issue the new passport, but it wouldn't be machine-readable.

The only way to get another machine-readable passport would be to travel back to Canada and apply there.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Add Malaysia to that list. They have had machine readable passports for 2-3 years.

Not sure if their gate will read other nations passports

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I knew that I was going to have to clarify my remarks. I thought I could be lazy and get away with it.....

'machine-readable' means simply a passport that can be scanned into a computer - ie it has the 2 lines of text on the bottom of the datapage that it OCR-swiped.

Thailand has had this for over 10 years.

What has just been launched is the new chip-based passport. 'Biometrically-enabled' is a more accurate title. The standard was defined in reponse to US demands for the 27 countries in the visa-waiver programme. Bad reporting means that the phrase 'machine readable' is being used instead of the correct term.

And there are only a handful of countries in the world that are issuing these and Thailand is the first for a full-scale roll-out. A couple of places in Europe are playing around with pilot programmes.

The Malaysian IDcard/passport doesn't count as it doesn't meet any worldwide

standards. (ICAO).

[Jai Dee]

THE CONSULAR AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT IS EXTENDING PASSPORT ISSUING DAYS, TO COVER SATURDAYS, DURING AUGUST

The Department of Consular Affairs on Chaengwatthana (แจ้งวัฒนะ) Road is increasing its working week in August, to also cover Saturdays, in order to accommodate people's needs to be issued with E-passports.

Mr. Kiarttikhun Chartprasert (เกียรติคุณ ชาติประเสริฐ), the deputy director-general of the Department of Information, of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that following the Department of Consular Affairs' initiation of E-passport issuance, almost 3,800 people had come to utilize its service, and consequently caused long queuing. Thus, the Foreign Affairs Ministry is having Chanwanit (จันวานิช) Company, the contractor for E-passport issuance, increase its service counters from 46 to 61, as well as increase its working week during the whole month of August, to also cover Saturdays. This will only take effect at the Department of Consular Affairs on Chaengwatthana Road.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry has also opened a new passport service centre at the Lao Peng Huan (เล้าเป้งฮ่วน) Building on Viphawadi-Rangsit (วิภาวดีรังสิต) Road.

Inquiries on E-passport and other information regarding the Department of Consular Affairs can be obtained from phone number 0-2981 7220-1

Source: thaisnews.com

[george]

E-passport woes persist, but no action

Ministry yet to check if contractor at fault

BANGKOK: -- The Foreign Affairs Ministry has yet to consider whether to fine a contractor for the four-hour wait which applicants for electronic passports must endure.

Bandhit Sotipalalit, deputy permanent secretary for foreign affairs, said the wait was not a criteria for disqualifying the contractor and the below-target output (less than 3,000 passports after eight working hours) resulted from a lower-than-expected number of applicants.

However, the ministry committee has yet to look into details of the terms of reference (ToR) for the seven-billion-baht deal with Chanwanich, the contractor, or assess Chanwanich's performance since full operations began on Monday, he said.

About 1000 people showed up yesterday at the Consular Affairs Department on Changwattana road to receive their first electronic passport, which keeps records of their face, eyes and fingerprints in embedded chips. About 1,700 people would get their passports by post.

Most e-passport holders had their passports checked to see if the face on the computer screen matched their own but did not get their books read by the demonstration autogate, which prompted concerns that they might face problems in using the real gates at Don Muang airport.

On Tuesday 2,700 people applied, while yesterday regional branches including two centres in Bangkok reported high levels of interest with 1,400 people registering. Changwattana's tally still stood at 1,600 applicants. It takes two days to get the passports.

Earlier, deputy head of the department Jesda Chavarnbhark said Friday's test of the three laser engraving machines failed to meet the target as they could not produce a final output of 180 passport books an hour. The firm might be fined or asked to bring in one more machine.

Chanwanich managing director Marachai Kongboonma said a ''benchmark test'' was required only before the agreement was signed but not after that, and he did not view long queues as a breach of the ToR. However, he had complied with the ministry's request to import a US$12 million machine for standby in the next two months.

Mr Bandhit said the ministry was trying to reduce the four-hour wait to the usual one-hour wait.

The contractor would also offer the service on Saturday and if a huge number of people turned up the company might have to work on Sunday too.

Industry sources said the contractor seemed inexperienced.

''They should have been fined, if not disqualified, for failing to meet the target set in the ToR. Officials and the contractor are still solving technical problems which should have been figured out during the two-month test-run,'' one source said.

Mr Marachai said he could have been fined 300,000 baht a day if he was unable to get the full operation under way by Aug 1, or 100 baht a day if he could not deliver a passport book to applicants within two days. ''Now I have met all the requirements, and should not be fined or disqualified,'' he said.

--Bangkok Post 2005-08-04

[charles]

I've just had the pleasure of applying for a new e-passport for my (baby) son.

Went on Tuesday and returned today to pick up the passport.

I would say that it is complete chaos. Sure there are a lot of people for them to deal with but their failure to put in place even the most basic systems to manage things is unbelievable. At the area for picking up new passports today it was a complete free-for-all. Behind the counters you could see people running around like headless chickens with baskets of passports and papers all over the place, nothing done in order, all completely disorganized. I was obliged to stand over the counter and stare at the women who'd left my slip on the top or her computer monitor for 45 minutes until it pissed her off so much she decided it was best to get the passport just to get rid of me. The whole thing is a perfect case study in complete incompetence...

Having said that, I suppose there is always going to be a problem putting 21st century techonology in the hands of people who have one foot, if not two, still firmly planted in the 14th century.

Edited August 4, 2005 by charles

[Captain Haddock]

So will I have to go through with this headless chicken-like scenario when I go for a Thai passport for my newborn daughter? The nearest passport office to me was in Songkhla, has it changed? Any ideas?

[spog]

All the old offices are open with the exception of Pingklow which is open next week after redecoration.

Personally, I'd give it a couple of weeks to settle down before you apply, if possible.

[Captain Haddock]

Thanks for that. I'll be waiting a couple of months and after getting the Thai passport, I'll be trying for a UK passport too... Wish me luck!

[charles]

UK passport for a child is a breeze. Get the photos done at the local Kodak shop. Full in the form (which is pretty brief really) and hand in with British birth certificate at the Embassy. Pick up a week later, rarely any queue in Consular Section, so one minute in and out each time. If you don't yet have Birth Certificate then you can apply for BC/passport at the same time, you don't need any extra documents for the passport on top of what you need for the BC. Again if you've prepared the doc's as they ask for (as described on the Embassy website)you'll be out in two minutes.

Only complication of any kind is needing someone as "counter signature" for the passport, but if you don't know anyone who is both British and respectable (and not a relative!) then any properly employed Thai person will be fine.

For the Thai passport you don't actually have to fill in any forms or get any photos done yourself - it is all done for you at the passport office. Sounds good in theory but the practice will need a bit of time... Actually the worst aspect for me was picking up the passport - it is understandable that the new hi-tech application system might have a few teething problems and it wasn't that bad really - but the way they were so disorganized for people picking up passports (a lot of people picking up at the main office) was quite amazing!