The New Lebanese Passport

The new Lebanese Biometric passports are officially available as of 1st of August. Anyone can apply for the new passport and those who wish to replace their old passports can also do so. According to the Lebanese General Security, the documents needed are as follows:

• Passport Request Form to be filled out at the mayor’s office.
• Applicant’s original Individual Civil ID issued in the last 3 months at the most and his original new Lebanese ID card.
• One recent color photo showing full details of the face with a white background. The photo to be certified and signed by the competent mayor
• The old passport if available.
• The fees will remain the same, $40 or 60,000 LL for one year and $200 or 300,000 LL for 5 years.

The Story behind the New Design

Handwritten passports are a thing of the past... except in Lebanon, where they were still officially issued to citizens until mid-2016. The passports weren't machine-readable causing us all a little bit of awkwardness at border control when travelling about the developed world.

Biometric passports are basically e-passports that have security info embedded into a microchip, a technology most of the world adopted back in 2005 when it was first introduced. But, ideas can travel slow and sometimes require ten years to make a debut in countries like Lebanon, where federal and public services are notoriously slow. The Lebanese Directorate General of General Security started issuing biometric passports to Lebanese citizens in August 2016.

Designed by Beirut-based communication agency GraphicShop, the new biometric passport was without a doubt one of 2016's highlights.

GraphicShop has previously worked on various legal documents such as the Lebanese currency, the central bank’s check design and the soon-to-be-released vehicle plates, driving license and mechanic stickers. They were selected to take on the job due to their history, experience, and profile.

They submitted three different options of the new Lebanese Biometric Passport, and the one that is being deliberated today was the winning option.

The design elements of the new passport

There is six different Lebanese passports:

• Passport,
• Diplomatic,
• Special,
• Services,
• Laissez-passer
• Palestinian refugees

Having trilingual (Arabic, French and English) text, and 22 Landmarks:

	Raouche Rock, Tyre Temple, Beaufort Castle, Hasbaya Castle, Jezzine, Sidon Castle, Beiteddine Palace, Lake Qaraoun, Niha Temple, Anjar Castle, Beirut Forest, Martyr's Square, Beirut, Jeita Grotto, Baalbek Lebanon, Fakra Temple, Kfarzebian, Byblos Castle, Qannoubine Valley, Msailha Castle, Tripoli Castle Barouk Cedar.

Across the 22 spreads with the illustrative trace of the landmarks, is a sun that starts from the East (first spread) and ends at the West (last spread) where in daylight the sun appears to set as the spreads are flipped, and under UV light happens the movement of the moon in reverse.

The security elements of the new passport

The parties that put their efforts on the new Biometric Lebanese Passport were Minister of Interior, the Public Security team, Gemalto team, and Inkript team in collaboration with the GraphicShop team.

The security features are as follows:

• PKI – Public Key Infrastructure - IPI- Invisible Personal ID
• 2D Bar code
• Machine Readable Zone (MRZ)
• Security Substrate and Laminate
• Ultra Violet features Micro Printing
• Holograms
• Watermark Paper
• Security Ink
• 3 Colour Intaglio Printing - Guilloche Patterns

As of August 1, 2016, all new Lebanese passports issued are to be biometric passports and machine-readable and have a contactless smartcard RFID chip embedded inside the polycarbonate data page (3rd EU generation) or a booklet in which the chip is embedded at the bottom of the front cover under the word "PASSEPORT". Facial recognition technology is being introduced to coincide with the release of the Biometric Passport. This technology is used to improve identity verification, reduce identity-related fraud, and protect the legal identity of the citizens of the Republic of Lebanon. Similar technology is used in the Lebanese Identity card.

The biometric data that is to be included on the Lebanese passport is the bearer's name, gender, date and place of birth, and a digital image of their face, ten fingerprints and palm prints. Lebanese immigration checkpoints are not the only ones with the technology to read and authenticate the data from the RFID chip using a fingerprint scanner and facial recognition technology.

In addition to biometric data and the personal information stored on the information page, the chip also records the bearer's travel history of the last ten entries and exits at Lebanese border control points (Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport, Beirut Naval Base, Port of Beirut, Port of Byblos, and Port of Tripoli).