Veridos and the Latin American systems integrator GSI Sertracen have announced the signing of a major contract with Costa Rica.

Earlier this month, the Argentine Minister of the Interior, Eduardo Wado de Pedro, announced that the process of physically stamping passports will stop and that the process of registering entry and exit from the country will be digitised.

HID Global has been awarded a contract by Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) for its Passport Issuance and Processing System. The contract will see HID Global provide a new operating system for the Department’s Passport Service.

The United States has issued its first passport with an ‘X’ gender marker, acknowledging the rights of people who do not identify as male or female, the State Department wrote in a recent press release.

A recent news item on BBC News has reported on the arrest of ten people, in London and Kent, on suspicion of supplying fraudulent passports to more than 100 high-level organised criminals.

Some Zimbabweans, including political party officials, are raising concerns following the award of a contract for the production of the country’s biometric passports to Belgian firm Semlex.