Vietnamese citizens will be granted e-passports instead of the current ordinary ones by 2012 and all Vietnamese citizens will use e-passports by 2015.

How will the issuance of e-passports be implemented? A VOVNews reporter interviewed Colonel Nguyen Van Phuong, Deputy Head of the Immigration Department under the Ministry of Public Security.

Reporter: The Government has recently ratified the project on issuing e-passports in Vietnam.  Could you please tell about its purpose?

Mr Phuong: First of all, the decision to replace ordinary passports has nothing to do with their malfunctioning. Vietnam’s current passports are very good and even better than those in some other countries.

No fake passports have been found in Vietnam so far. In fact, many passports in the world with better quality than Vietnam’s are still counterfeited with the use of high-technology. Consequently, many countries have proposed the introduction of e-passports.

Reporter: Could you elaborate on the advantages and disadvantages of e-passports compared with the current ordinary ones?

Mr Phuong:  E-passports are attached to an electronic chip that contains special information about passport holders. For that reason, it is very difficult to counterfeit an e-passport and it is not hard to detect a fake one. Moreover, passport control at border gates will become easier as we can use auto-gates.

However, high-technology and good control facilities needed to produce and grant e-passports are very costly.

At present, the Government is asking the Ministry of Finance to work with related agencies to define a reasonable price and facilitate the production and issuance of e-passports without affecting users.

Reporter: Along with issuing e-passports as of November 15, 2010, immigration forms for all passengers were abolished. How do passengers benefit from this?

Mr Phuong: Passengers will benefit a lot because going through border gates will be quicker and easier.

Abolishing immigration forms will cause some problems to management agencies but we persist in our decision for passengers convenience and will use other measures to ensure our management efficiency.

Reporter: Is it possible to grant e-passports next year?

Mr Phuong: Under the government’s decision, the e-passport project will be implemented over four years, between 2011 and 2014 and be divided into two phases.

The first two years will be the first phase and the next two years will be the second phase. It is impossible to grant e-passports next year because preparing facilities for producing foils will take in the first phase. Therefore, granting e-passports is planned to begin in late 2012.

Reporter: Thank you.