Immigration+and+Passport+Control

=__Immigration and Passport Control__= By Rickie Tsang & Roman Pan featuring Chris Brewser :D lolol

=Customs, Immigration, Passport Control=

These are the guys you will first see at the airport when you arrive. You hand your passport over to them and they check you out on the computer and with a hard stare. They may ask you a few questions and if you are a bit dodgy, they won’t let you into the country. Do not joke around - it is their job to be difficult!
 * Immigration**

Having gone through Immigration you will then pass through Customs. These are the guys dressed up like naval guys (black suit, gold stripes, white hat) who make sure that you aren’t bringing drugs, animals, explosives, Bin Laden etc. into the country. There are loads of rules and regulations on this. If you have nothing to hide, you’ll be fine. DON’T try anything silly, else these guys will have you and probably bang you up!
 * Customs**

Passport Control is the bit that you go through first thing when you enter the country. The purpose of passport control is to check your passport and deal with immigration matters. These are the guys who will stare you out and do everything in their power to make you confess that you are either a terrorist or someone up to no good. When I went to Russia the guy stared at me so hard I nearly peed myself... a great welcome to the country!
 * Passport Control**

To make this bit go efficiently you will need to ensure that you have filled in all the correct immigration papers on the plane and that your passport is in working order (most countries require that you have at least 6 months left on your passport before you enter the country).

If the photo in your passport really doesn't look like you (i.e. taken when you were 10, beards, more / less weight, one less eye etc.) you may want to change it before you head off on a long trip to stop hassles at every airport you go to.
 * Top tip!**

Nowadays, people travel with their passport to visit different countries around the world. However fake passport has been a big issue, although immigration and arrival records are being taken, it still cannot prevent unwanted passengers, anf even terrorists and criminals crossing countries.

What is E-Passport?
E-passport is short for electronic passport, which uses not only photo recognition, but also finger prints, iris figuration, or even voice that are unique amongst everyone. This information are stored in a database which is then easier to organize and search for any needed data. Each passport will also have an IC card on it, which the system could then scan and recall the information within the database. This saves the time for information searchnig and processing and the system will automatically update the recrod right after the scan.

Biometric Technology
Biometric technology is the technology using finger prints, retina figures, voices, even face recognition instead of a series of passwords or codes. These information that we carry are unique, and you certainly will know when it has been stolen. (Hopefully) These information are also convinient because they do not require good memmorie because we are born with them.

However, the remaining problems may be rather annoying. First of all, sickness is never a choice, no matter how healthy a person is, they will get sick one day. If this happens, voice recognition will fail and if there is an emergency, the situation will be very difficult to handle. Second of all, the informaiton we carry may not be fixed after it is damaged or taken away from us. Accidents wil happen and we may lose our hand, damage our voice box, burn our eyes, etc. Nevertheless, these are the extreme situations but they may happen.

Governments around the world are imlpementing E-passports along with biometric recognition systems. However, the integrity, personal information may be under risk.

When E-passports were just released, fake passport makers have already been investigating the system. Cloning E-passports are now one of the biggest issues that all the governments in every country have to confront. For the old version passports, when passing the customhouse, we know we are standing there, we know we have the passport. If we lost it, we know its lost. However, for E-passports, which all information such as photos, passport number, etc..., all the information will remain the same for each copy. Therefore, when an illegal immigrant is arriving a country, he/she will simply only have to let the machine to scan the copy, and get away with it. The system will simply think that it is the original owner who is arriving since no one there to check. Furthermore, since all information is stored in the system, once it fails or crashes, the whole airport will fall into chaos. After then, all the passengers won't be able to arrive or leave the country. Millions of dollars may be lost if there is a business affair. People's lives may be at risk if there are patients are being tranferred to hospitals in another country, states or provinces. Also, hackers will be another issue to be worried about. Since there is hardly any system that hackers can't break through, the information saved in the database of the system cannot get away with the risk of being hacked and misused.

Moreover, since this is runned totally by the system, the government can easily blockout any gourp of people or a country of people from their country. This may be recognized as being convenient and may be notified as abusing human rights. For it being convinient, a country can easily ban a certain nationality from the country if they are undergoing war or inagreement in policies. However, if one really wanted to enter a country that bans their nationality, he could use a cloned passport and it is obvious fairly easy. On the other hand, E-passport can provide an easier life by saving much of the passengers' time being spent at the airport since the time for checking every passport when passing immigration control is shortened. In addition, data could be ensured to be valid since the biometric system uses uniqe information such as iris figurs, finger prints, or the voice.

Every information that is saved to the server will be kept in the database. It is easier to keep information inside because it helps us to keep the information orginised and it is also easier to run queries. Since there are several personal informaiton remaining in the database, the file needs to be protected. Firewall and Anit-Virus software should be installed and activated to prevent hackers and virus invasion. Database will also need to be kept in a backup file. It can be saved on CD-Rom, Flash drive or other hard drives.

Reliability is another issue to be considered, informaiton integrity will be one of the example. Certainly all human makes mistakes, even you and I, therefore, a false entry of an information may occur since the world population is so great. This will not only cause inconvenience, but also business loss or even the delaying of the critical rescuing time as mentioned above.

Conclusion!?
In conclusion, passports should be change into e-passports, but this action should be take under cautious planning. Although it is convinient to use e-passport, the remaining issues cannot be ignored. These issues have to be overcomed before this system can be used both conviniently and without abusing rights. If a well thought solution is found, this system can change the world's economic and everyone's lives.

- Wikipedia, 2007, 'Biometric passport', //Wikipedia//, viewed 8 September 2007,  - David Reid, 2006, 'ePassport 'at risk' from cloning', //BBC News//, viewed on 8 September 2007,  - Editor, 2006, 'Briometric immigration control now live at Manchester Airport', //PublicTechnology.net//, viewed 8 September 2007,  - Dawn Kawamot, 2006, 'E-passport tests take flight', //c|Net News.com//, viewed 8 September 2007, <[|http://news.com.com/E-passport+test+takes+flight/2100-7348_3-6027090.htm>l]
 * References**

Chris brewser extra stuff ahh.. A BBC article about the immigration and passport control at Heathrow and Gatwick airports. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6268545.stm