This paper examines the prospective advancements in passport technology over the coming twenty years, addressing pivotal issues.

Initially, it assesses the proliferation of portraits in current documents, questioning the practicality and limits of such security features. It delves into the challenges faced by border officers in verifying multiple personalized data points and the implications on document personalization time.

The discussion then shifts to integrating and combining human-only and machine-only verifiable features, especially in the context of increasingly automated border controls.

We will then consider the forthcoming dual issuance of a physical and a digital passport, either self-derived or issued by an Authority. How will the life cycle management take place, given that the validity of digital documents will be much shorter than a physical passport (in most cases at least)? How could the role of the chip evolve to support “phygital” issuance?

The final section scrutinizes the influence of Artificial Intelligence on passport design and security. It suggests leveraging data from reported fraud cases to enhance the sophistication of security features, aiming to increase fraud detection and prevention. The paper also covers the integration of AI in the initial design phase, ensuring compliance with established design rules and constraints.