Security measures will increase cost of passport

By KEVIN TAYLOR, political reporter

The cost of passports is likely to rise and they may be issued for only five years, not the present 10, under a raft of new security measures, says Prime Minister Helen Clark.

Many changes to passports were already in the pipeline before revelations in the Weekend Herald that two suspected Israeli agents tried to obtain a fake New Zealand passport.

Urie Zoshe Kelman and Eli Cara, believed by senior Government figures to be secret service agents, appeared in the Auckland District Court last week charged with trying to obtain a passport in the name of a wheelchair-bound cerebral palsy sufferer. A third man, Zev William Barkan, has fled the country.

The incident has sparked a diplomatic "please explain" from the Government to Israel and put the spotlight on changes in the pipeline to strengthen the passport system.

Helen Clark told the Herald yesterday that the only new move being considered was a better passport certification regime.

"At the moment anyone who's known you for two years is able to certify by signing, in effect, a declaration that you are who you say you are.

"That rule was broken by the doctor who signed for the Israeli because he had not known the person for two years."

She said that raised the question whether those who certify should be of higher standing, such as a JP or officer of the court.

But the Government was also considering cutting the duration of a passport in half because technological changes and the need to combat fraud meant 10-year passports were too dated. Other possible changes include:

* Increasing the time for getting citizenship - and therefore eligibility for a passport - from three to five years to allow more time for checks.

* Restricting the ability of diplomatic posts to deal with a first-time application and issue fully valid passports.

* Requiring people to apply in person, rather than allowing mailed applications.

The Department of Internal Affairs is already moving to upgrade passports with biometric data - a microchip containing a digitised photograph - to meet new United States border security demands.

Helen Clark said although the changes proposed could be an inconvenience to travellers, they were needed because of the growing complexity of international crime and terrorism.

The changes might increase the cost of passports, she said, but "I'm afraid that this is the price of vigilance".

The department issues about 300,000 to 350,000 new passports a year. In 2002-03 27 false applications or cases of people using false passports were detected, down from 38 the year before.

Meanwhile, Auckland University academic Peter Wills has written to Helen Clark, SIS director Richard Woods and Police Commissioner Rob Robinson seeking security risk certificates against Kelman and Cara, claiming the Israeli spy agency Mossad falls under the definition of a terrorist organisation.

A similar certificate has already been issued against Algerian Ahmed Zaoui, who remains in prison.

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Passport costs

Passport application fees in New Zealand

Adults: $71.

Children under 16: $36.

Citizenship application fees

Adults: $460.

Children under 16: $230.

Citizenship is required to get a passport.