§ Lord Marlesfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
Which countries currently issue machine-readable passports; and which European Union countries currently record electronically the arrival of non-European Union passport holders from non-European Union points of origin. [HL1209]
§ Lord RookerAccording to information supplied to the Immigration Service by the security printing industry, the following 100 countries are believed to issue machine-readable passports: Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Cape Verde, China, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Estonia, El Salvador, France, Finland, Fiji, Gambia, Germany, Greece, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, Hong Kong SAR, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, South Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Lesotho, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mali, Mauritius, Malawi, Moldova, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Nigeria, Namibia, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Panama, Palestinian Authority, Poland, Portugal, Peru, Qatar, Romania, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Tanzania, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uganda, United Kingdom, Ukraine, United States, Vietnam, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Information concerning which European Union countries record electronically the arrival of non-European Union passport holders from non-European Union points of origin is not currently available. While the United Kingdom does not record arrivals electronically, the United Kingdom Immigration Services does use readers to check the details of those passengers holding machine-readable passports against its warnings index database and it is believed that number of other European Union countries do likewise.