Mexicans whose place of residence is located in the jurisdiction of the Consulate General of Mexico in Chicago can already process, from December 13, the new electronic passport, which has strict security measures to prevent identity theft and expedites entry into airports and border ports.
The Mexican electronic passport is one of the safest in the world since it contains 57 security measures, 22 of which are additional to those that the current passport already has. This makes it a difficult document to falsify.
Jaime Vázquez Bracho Torres, general director of Consular Services of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, was on a working visit in Chicago to present the electronic passport, which will be issued shortly at the Consulate General of Mexico in Chicago and through their consulates on wheels.
“We have been making a gradual transition to the electronic passport since October in different consulates, currently 42 consular offices already issue the electronic passport at their headquarters. Chicago, which is one of the most iconic and important consulates in the consular network due to the number of people it serves and due to its history, will be issuing the electronic passport as of December 13 ”.
Although the document will continue to be printed in physical notebooks, it will be made up of a polycarbonate sheet, a state-of-the-art hologram and a chip that electronically stores the user’s personal and biometric data, elements that can only be detected by authorities at airports.
“One of these main advantages or additional security measures is the inclusion of a chip that contains the encrypted biographical and biometric information of the user, this means that there is a chip that is hidden in the notebook where the name, the date of birth, the person’s place of birth, but also the biometric data that we collect when people process their passport which are the 10 fingerprints, the information of the iris that is in the eyes, the shape of the face and all this it is securely encrypted, “explained Vázquez Bracho in an interview with La Raza.
As for the polycarbonate sheet, it has different layers of a very durable material, resistant even to heat, it has elements that are identifiable only by touch and ultraviolet light and also has some hidden holograms.
This new electronic passport has the same cost as the current machine-readable passport and the requirements to obtain it are the same, explained Vázquez Bracho, who also said that at the 51 Mexican consulates in the United States, the passport is normally delivered in less than an hour. .
Training of personnel and updating of computer systems
The electronic passport for minors will also include the photos of the parents or whoever exercises parental authority of the minor, elements that make it a very secure document to avoid trafficking and trafficking of minors.
The implementation of the electronic passport, at the instruction of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, is the result of a two-year work process under strict transparency standards and with the support of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and the Secretariat of the Public Function of Mexico. This in order to continue modernizing consular services for the benefit of nationals on this side of the border.
Vázquez Bracho pointed out that technology not only implies a new input, a new notebook, but computer systems were updated, the printers through which passports are printed were changed and all the staff, more than 1,600 people, were trained in United States. to be able to issue this electronic passport with the same speed as with the current passport.
And it was added that the consular headquarters in Chicago will continue to serve Mexicans following health guidelines to prevent contagion of covid-19 through the use of masks and maintaining social distancing.
Vázquez Bracho said that due to the pandemic it was difficult to obtain the necessary supplies for the new electronic passport due to the shortage of chips.
The Consulate General of Mexico in Chicago serves an average of 700 people a day, 500 at the headquarters and 200 at the consulates on wheels.
Most people process a passport, which is the most requested document, according to Vázquez Bracho.
Currently between 8,000 to 12,000 passports are issued per month (depending on the month), according to that consular headquarters.
“By 2022 we are going to add one more consulate on wheels, which will allow us to increase the consulate’s capacity by almost 30%. This is great news for the community and also that we continue working to improve not only the passport but also modernize all our processes to serve people with greater availability and also with higher quality, ”said Vázquez Bracho.
Mexicans are reminded that if they have a valid passport it is not necessary to renew it now until the document expires.
—
Editorial coverage of La Raza is made possible in part thanks to the support of the Chicago Community Trust.
– .