High-tech makeover for passports

Internal Affairs Minister Nathan Guy with the old (left) and new passport. Photo / Mark Mitchell

New Zealanders will be getting a distinctively Kiwi passport that will meet modern-day challenges facing overseas travel.

The passport will be one of the most technologically advanced with 50 separate features, and is expected to be available from next June.

An Internal Affairs department spokesman says the security measures combine "high-tech and traditional features" to cater for high and low-tech border situations at foreign airports.

They include an introduced active authentication, which alerts border control if the electronic data is a copy, see-through secondary photo window, and increased use of intaglio print and embossing.

Even the artwork is a security feature - the different artwork on every single visa page is aimed at making it harder to counterfeit.

"Countries with high-tech equipment would use both physical and electronic features, but if you visit a country that doesn't have high-tech equipment, they can use the physical features to confirm someone's identity," the spokesman said.

Internal Affairs Minister Nathan Guy said the passport would have a new design that would make it instantly recognisable as being from New Zealand.

It features a silver fern down one side of its black cover and artwork telling the story of New Zealand through themes of navigation and travel, with English and te reo Maori being the two languages used. This is the first cover design change since 1992 and will replace the current blue cover featuring the coat of arms - which, although retained in the new version, is in a much reduced print.

"The new security features will help to future-proof our passport against fraudsters and maintain visa-free entry countries to more than 50 countries. As a country, we need to take advantage of the latest advances in technology to maintain international confidence in our passport."

Mr Guy said the security features would make it difficult for anyone to counterfeit them. Canadian Bank Note has been contracted to supply the passport books over five years, at a cost of just under $100 million.

Top security

High-security new ePassports:

* Introduced active authentication.
* Secondary photo window.
* Different artwork on each page.
* Increased intaglio print and embossing.
* 46 other features not revealed for security reasons.
* Is one of world's most technologically advanced.