Europa : Belgian electronic ID card officially launched
Expatica : Belgium gets smart about identity
These articles is already 2.5 years old, but the new ID cards still have 2.5 more years before completely replacing old ones.
Note that everyone in Belgium is required by law to carry their ID card on them at all times. ID cards are convenient to register at a video club, open a bank account or use secure government websites (each ID card has a unique number). But I find that imposing to carry it at all times is unnecessary and can be annoying (especially if we get checked and fined). The new electronic version is smaller, and therefore easier to fit in a wallet. That's a nice improvement.
Btw, new Belgian passports (since last year) are reportedly the only ones (?) to have electronic chips (maybe Swiss passports as well ?). They are also much better protected than most other country's passports (e.g. Japanese ones), and include a watermark of the owner's picture (like on banknotes/bills !) in addition to a printed photo (not pasted) with two further shining security marks (like on Euro banknotes) on the photo. All pages are numbered and have another watermark + intentional irregularities in design on each page to avoid that pages be cut out or replaced. Japanese passports have none of these security features (I checked my wife's brand new passport).
Expatica : Belgium gets smart about identity
These articles is already 2.5 years old, but the new ID cards still have 2.5 more years before completely replacing old ones.
Expatica said:
Note that everyone in Belgium is required by law to carry their ID card on them at all times. ID cards are convenient to register at a video club, open a bank account or use secure government websites (each ID card has a unique number). But I find that imposing to carry it at all times is unnecessary and can be annoying (especially if we get checked and fined). The new electronic version is smaller, and therefore easier to fit in a wallet. That's a nice improvement.
Btw, new Belgian passports (since last year) are reportedly the only ones (?) to have electronic chips (maybe Swiss passports as well ?). They are also much better protected than most other country's passports (e.g. Japanese ones), and include a watermark of the owner's picture (like on banknotes/bills !) in addition to a printed photo (not pasted) with two further shining security marks (like on Euro banknotes) on the photo. All pages are numbered and have another watermark + intentional irregularities in design on each page to avoid that pages be cut out or replaced. Japanese passports have none of these security features (I checked my wife's brand new passport).
kashii:
