Digital passports for Schengen travel « Euro Weekly News

Digital passports could make Schengen border control more efficient

By 2030, the EU plans to introduce digital passports on smartphones, promising faster and more secure border checks for Schengen zone travellers. Learn more about this upcoming innovation.

By 2030, the EU plans to introduce digital passports on smartphones, promising faster and more secure border checks for Schengen zone travellers. Learn more about this upcoming innovation. Credit: Pexels, Connor Danylenko

A passport on your smartphone: EU takes digital leap. Brussels calls for virtual passports to make travel a breeze.

The European Commission has unveiled a plan to let travellers store their passport and ID details digitally on their smartphones, offering quicker and more secure border crossings by 2030.

Brussels is on a mission to drag the humble passport and ID card into the 21st century with a shiny new digital version that promises to make EU travel as smooth as a pint down the local. That’s right, EU nationals can forget rifling through their bag at border control- soon they could be breezing past with nothing more than a swipe on their phone.

European Commission is pushing for introduction of digital passports

The European Commission has thrown its weight behind the idea, pushing for all EU citizens to be able to flash digital versions of their passports and ID when jetting in and out of the Schengen area. The goal? To make travel “more fluid and secure” according to Brussels, by cutting down on the dreaded airport queues.

The new digital passport system would be voluntary and would take the data currently stored on your passport’s chip and transfer it to your phone. The user would then be able to store their passport on their phone like a digital boarding pass.

Digital passports will speed up security check process

No more worrying about losing that all-important little book for EU passport holders. The European Commission reckons this move will slash the red tape and speed up security checks, making those holiday queues a thing of the past. Well, that’s the plan anyway. They still need to get everyone on board before these high-tech IDs take off. The scheme still needs the go-ahead from the European Parliament and the member states in the EU Council.

The European Commission are pinning their hopes on this idea to shrink the queues and waiting times at borders. Travellers would need to send their documents and travel plans to authorities beforehand, giving officers more time to verify the information before arrival. This means border agents would be able to concentrate on more important issues like illegal immigration and human trafficking.

Looks like the future of travel could soon be just a tap away for some. Let’s just hope they don’t run out of battery.

Written by

Marc Menendez-Roche

Marc is a writer, teacher, and language enthusiast with a passion for making complex topics simple and accessible. With a background in business and legal communication and an interest in educational neuroscience, Marc has spent over a decade teaching and writing. Now, as part of the team at Euro Weekly News, Marc enjoys diving into entertaining topics and stories that matter to the community. When he's not writing, Marc loves practising martial arts, playing football, cooking up a storm in the kitchen, or spending quality time with friends and family, but above all, Marc enjoys spending time with his son, Macson.

Comments


    • M

      10 October 2024 • 11:22

      Paper passports are a proven item, that is they cannot be hacked and do not require electronics in a power cut to be used. The over use of electronics is not the way forward, and people will find other destinations to visit.
      African nations require the use of paper flight tickets and not electronic versions attached to so called (hackable) smart phones so paper passports will allways be needed to visit non overwatch EU countries.!!!

      • Brian

        10 October 2024 • 13:38

        Absolutely correct, and as smart phones are so often stolen, where would leave you if yours was knocked while abroad?

    • Micheal Worth

      11 October 2024 • 14:45

      This is a nonsense story; this is again about reducing our human rights, all governments are desperate to take absolute control over our lives. We have to fight these nonsense unnecessary proposed laws and changes. As said previously paper passports are the best way, no need for a power supply, no need for electronic gates which we know do not always work. IT IS ALL ABOUT TAKING AWAY OUR FREEDOM AND WE ARE ALLOWING THESE FACELESS CRETINS TO DO THIS, FIGHT BACK.

    • David Sangster

      11 October 2024 • 14:49

      What a load of tosh, criminals and illegal immigrants do not care in the slightest about passports and electronic ID. This is just a myth to take control over our lives. The previous writer, Michael Worth, is totally correct. No criminal or illegal will care one iota about electronic IDs.

    Comments are closed.