The most common travel document that we know of is the regular passport, this is what most of us have or use when we travel abroad, also it is the type of document that all countries issue for its nationals to travel. The majority of the passports issued today are all biometric, but not all of them. There are countries that still issue non-biometric passports nowadays and this could cause problems to travel to certain countries of the world.

But let’s go deep into the term “biometric”, what does it really mean? These passports are also known as ePassports, and what it has as a difference is the microchip contained within its pages, and it holds all the personal information including our picture. They also have a specific symbol printed on the front of the passport that identifies chip embedded. This change to passports was introduced because of the increasing threat of identity theft and terrorism. So all the countries have been encouraged to implement this new feature in passports to improve the security of their borders.

And, as far as ETIAS is concerned, holding a biometric passport could make the difference on the possibility to apply for ETIAS and get a travel authorization or not. Following are the countries affected by the type of passports issued for their nationals:

• Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia and Montenegro:

If you do not hold a biometric passport, you will need a visa to enter Schengen Space.

• Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine:

You could only apply for ETIAS is you hold a passport in line with standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) otherwise, you will need to apply for a visa.

• Serbia:

If you hold a biometric passport you can apply for ETIAS, any other passport including the ones issued by the Serbian Coordination Directorate (‘Koordinaciona uprava’) will need to apply for a visa.

• Hong Kong S.A.R.:

You can only apply for ETIAS if you hold a “Hong Kong Special Administrative Region´ passport) any other travel document will have to apply for a visa.

• Macao S.A.R.

You can only apply for ETIAS if you hold a ‘Região Administrativa Especial de Macau’ passport.

• Taiwan:

You can apply for ETIAS if your passport includes an identity card number, otherwise will need to apply for a visa.

All the above countries are affected by the fact of the types of passports that they issue for their nationals, and biometric or not make a whole lot difference, specially for travel authorizations. However the ESTA for United States will not accept any other type of passport other than biometric, as oppose to ETIAS that could accept the lack of chip in cases above seen as Georgia Moldova Ukraine and others.