MOBILE ID: Finnish travellers can use the DTC app to add a digital version of their passport to their phone
Citizens of Finland travelling on Finnair flights to and from London, Manchester and Edinburgh in the UK can now verify their identity at border control in Helsinki Airport using a digital passport stored on their Apple or Android smartphone.
To generate a digital version of their passport, citizens wishing to take part in the Digital Travel Credentials (DTC) pilot first download a FIN DTC app that has been developed by Finnish Border Guard. They then visit a police service point to complete registration.
They can then send data from their digital credential to the Finnish Border Guard up to 36 hours before their flight and be identified at the airport border check by having their photograph taken and compared with the one in their DTC.
During the trial they will also be required to carry their physical passport and confirm their identity by scanning it on a reader when entering or leaving Finland as well as at UK border controls, the Finnish Border Guard says.
Croatia is also partnering with Finland in the DTC pilot and plans to begin testing the digital travel credentials at Zagreb Airport “in autumn this year”.
The Finnish government first revealed plans to test digital passports in August 2022.
Finland tests digital passports for contactless cross-border travel to and from the UK was written by Tom Phillips and published by NFCW.