Finland has made history by becoming the first country to introduce digital passports, allowing travellers flying from Helsinki to the United Kingdom to present a digital ID on their smartphones. This digital passport, known as Digital Travel Credentials (DTC), is a digital version of a physical passport and is considered highly reliable. It enables passengers to pass through border control swiftly and without compromising security.
To use this service, Finnish citizens travelling to the UK must download the FIN DTC Pilot digital travel document application on their smartphones. They need to secure the application with a screen-locking method like a PIN number, fingerprint, or face ID.
To create a digital version of their passport, citizens must visit the Vantaa Main Police Station's license services, where their photo will be taken for facial recognition purposes.
Although the digital passport initiative is currently in the trial phase, passengers are still required to carry their physical passports and have them scanned at border controls. This initiative is limited to Finland and does not apply to UK airports. It is specifically accessible to Finnish citizens intending to travel from Finland to London, Edinburgh, and Manchester, exclusively on Finnair flights.
Croatia is also planning to launch a similar pilot project at Zagreb Airport later this year.
