Starting from 1 June, 2012, residents of Yerevan, Gyumri and Vanadzor who want have such passports may do it. According to the police’s decision, the process of elimination of old passports will start on January 1, 2014.
In his statement, Bichakhyan said that old passports will remain valid until their validity term is expired.
The introduction of biometric passport came as part of the European Neighborhood program – they will help Armenian citizens to travel abroad and will facilitate visa obtaining procedure for traveling to European countries.
The new system will leave no room for forging documents and will bar undesirable persons from crossing Armenia’s border. Biometric passports are valid for five years and ID cards for 10 years.
All the citizens of Armenia at age higher than 16 will get identification cards and passports will be given to those citizens who want them. In addition to personal data and a photo, there will be fingerprints in a new passport. An ID card will contain also the electronic signature in addition to personal data and a photo.
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Quelle/Source: ARKA, 28.09.2013