The government of Timor-Leste has unveiled its new state-of-the-art
digital passport system with the support of an IOM programme
enhancing migration management and funding by the Australian
government's Department of Immigration and Australian Citizenship
(DIAC).

The event marks the culmination of a nearly 18 month process in
which IOM provided the necessary advisory and technical support to
migration management agencies to produce secure, tamper-resistant
and machine-readable passports in line with international
standards.

"The new passport issuance system is the result of the
partnership between the government of Timor-Leste and IOM to ensure
that the country benefits from a well-managed migration process,"
said IOM Chief of Mission in East Timor, Luiz Vieira.

Under the former system, which required manual data entry,
passports were easily vulnerable to tampering. Passport data were
also difficult for government officials to access in addition to
being insecure within the less-protected databases.

This system has been improved with the development of an
advanced backend database to manage migration information as well
as software security to protect the vital and sensitive personal
information maintained within the database.

Additional developments are planned for migration-related
government systems in 2008 through the IOM programme. These include
making the process of passport and visa application and visa
issuance fully electronic with online public access to these
systems within the next year. IOM will also assist the government
with the installation of electronic passport scanners at all ports
of entry.

For more information please contact:

Angela Sherwood

Tel: +670 723 1576

E-mail: "mailto:asherwood@iom.int" target="_blank" title=
"">asherwood@iom.int