The Dutch opposition Socialist Party (SP) is going to ask questions in parliament about the problems that have risen surrounding the new biometric passport. That’s according to one of the SP’s members of parliament’s upper house, or Senate, who was interviewed by Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW).

These new passports will include a chip which will contain – among other elements - an image of the holder’s fingerprint. The technical requirements for the new travel documents mean they can no longer be issued at consulates. Instead, people will have to go to an embassy. This means that the additional costs involved in obtaining a new passport will increase significantly for many Dutch nationals living abroad. Many expats will have to travel much longer distances than before to renew the document.

The new requirements have already caused a good deal of resentment abroad. Gerry Blom, a Dutch expat living in Canada, told RNW that many immigrants are considering giving up their Dutch nationality because of the problems they will face with the new passports, including the distances they will have to travel to get one in countries such as Canada.

Arjan Vliegenthart, a member of the Dutch Senate for the Socialist Party, says the new passport law was meant to make things easier and therefore it would be unacceptable if it were to actually end up complicating matters for so many people.

The new passport includes a small 72-kilobyte chip on one of its pages. The chip contains a face-scan and two fingerprints (left and right index finger) of the passport owner. A third biometric characteristic, the iris-scan, will not be used. The new features were introduced in diplomatic passports on 28 June. For ‘normal’ passports, the chip will be implemented as of 21 September 2009. Passports belonging to children under the age of 12 will not contain the chip.

photo of chip in British Passport by Kai Hendry on Flickr - under CC licence