Electronic passports have arrived

China has launched its first ever electronic passports that would contain information in microchips.

Huang Ping, director-general of the department of consular affairs of China’s foreign ministry, said at the launch ceremony in Shanghai that the adoption of electronic passports complies with international trends and plays an important role in international travel.

The new passport has an electronic data storage chip containing personal data including name, family name, personal numeric code, the document’s term of validity, the issuing agency and citizenship.

Economic Times reports the new passport looks the same as a non-electronic one but was designed to foil forgers with its new digital encryption and printing technologies. And it will make getting through immigration that much quicker.