Passports are required to confirm your identity and specifically your citizenship for travel anywhere outside the United States -- or Canada, if you are Canadian. Your passport will be checked when you register with the airline. This is to confirm your identity against the information provided to the airline when you booked your ticket. Your passport will be scanned electronically when you arrive at customs. In most cases, this will occur when you arrive in your destination country. The exception is at Canadian airports -- the U.S. has customs officers in Canada to check the identity of travelers entering the U.S. before they board a plane.
The new biometric passport, or electronic passport, contains a chip with your identifying information. In many cases, your passport photograph is also encoded on the chip. Electronic passports are designed to enhance security and prevent fraud. Customs officers confirm your identity by scanning the chip and comparing it with other identification you provide and information in a database.
Customs officials at the following Canadian airports have scanners to read the new electronic passports:
St. John's Airport
Halifax Airport
Pierre Elliot Trudeau Airport (Montréal)
Kelowna Airport
Vancouver International Airport
Victoria Airport
Calgary Airport
Edmonton Airport
Winnipeg Airport
Regina Airport
Saskatoon Airport
MacDonald-Cartier International Airport (Ottawa)
Pearson International Airport Terminal 1 (Toronto)
Pearson International Airport Terminal 3 (Toronto)
The information is checked against a growing database for security risks.
If you travel with an electronic passport through an airport not yet equipped with scanning facilities, customs officials will be able to use the old-fashioned technique and information on the passport to confirm your identity.
CanPass, used by Canada Customs, uses fingerprint scans to ease the flow of goods between the U.S. and Canada. Long-haul truck drivers can participate. Iris images are used by CanPass Air. Members of the program attend a kiosk where a digital camera captures an image of the eye. The system recognizes the iris and expedites passage through customs. The joint Canada-U.S. frequent traveler program, Nexus, also uses iris scanners to verify a member traveler's identity.
