What happens if RFID system in my "biometric" travel passport malfunctions when I cross the border?
- By
- Aparna Patel
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- 28 Jul, 2023
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I’ve had a malfunctioning barcode passport (those pre-biometric hologrammed ones) for 10 years. Basically ever since I first got the passport I was unable to successfully scan it anywhere I went. During that timespan I travelled many countries, including and not limited to the US, India and Australia, and it never worked. What happens in case the automatic scan doesn’t work is that the customs officer tries scanning it again and when that fails too they enter the passport number manually in the system. That’s it. I would say you have nothing to worry about. Unless there are valid reasons for not letting you in the country you should be fine.
In case you just want to know if the RFID works you can try reading it using a dedicated reader (or a compatible mobile phone). You might get gibberish/unreadable data (or not, depending on the passport and its functioning) but at least you’ll know if the chip responds.
You accidentally get confused with someone on the no-fly list? 🙂 Worst case they can scan the barcode or even enter the number manually – your face etc is still on the system, much like those who don’t yet have RFID passports. There may be a few interesting questions, but you should still be allowed in.
The US is the only tricky one I can think of as they now insist on RFID chipped passports for entry into the country, but even they have backup plans.
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Most likely, the agent will scan the barcode to accomplish the same thing. If that doesn’t work, the agent can type in the passport number. I would guess with a faulty RFID, they would be more likely to suspect a fake passport and ask more questions, check baggage, etc.
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Most smart cards have ‘passive RFID’ chips on them which don’t require an on-board power source and thus do not have an actively transmitting antenna. They are usually powered by electromagnetic induction, i.e., placed closed to a reader that powers up the chip. Failure rates, thus, are low for passive RFID chips and more often than not a read failure occurs when the reader isn’t able to pick up signals properly due to attenuation (signal weakening due to distance / material obstructions) rather than the chip on card itself failing. Other reasons could include extreme temperature variations that cause chip to contract/expand but operating range on most smart cards can work fine for -20 deg C to 50 deg C range.
TL;DR: There’s no easy way to determine whether your card has failed (unless it’s physically bent/damaged), but card failure is not THAT big a problem.
Most national ID smart cards also have additional security features such as holograms/watermarks to prevent counterfeits so border officials will still have a way of determining (to an extent) whether it’s genuine. Even if one does fail, I’m sure immigration/border control authorities should have procedures in place, similar to those already in place for damaged paper passports.
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