AUTUMN 2025 DIGITAL - Flipbook - Page 32
TRANSPORT & TRAVEL
Identity is the new border:
Building trust through better
data
By Margarida Cardoso
As global mobility accelerates,
border agencies are being asked
to do more with less—more
travellers, more complexity, more
risk—often with systems that
weren’t built for today’s realities.
And yet, the mission remains the
same: protect borders, enable
movement, and build trust.
At the heart of this challenge
lies a simple but profound truth:
Your border is only as strong as
the identities you trust.
A strategic in昀氀ection point:
From data collection to data
con昀椀dence
The challenge facing border
agencies today isn’t a lack of
data. It’s a lack of con昀椀dence in
the quality of that traveller data.
Across the travel continuum,
governments rely on multiple
inputs: visa applications, API
and PNR data, ETAs, eVisas,
and biometrics. But much of this
information is manually entered—
by travellers, airlines, or consular
staff—making it inconsistent,
error-prone, and dif昀椀cult to verify.
And so, the big questions that
governments are asking are:
• Can we trust the traveller
identity data we’re receiving?
• Are we collecting the right
data, early enough to assess
risk?
• How do we reduce manual
data-entry errors and ensure
consistency across systems?
• And how can we make better
use of data across agencies?
Digital Travel Credentials
(DTCs) offer a new opportunity.
Not just to digitize identity,
but to elevate the quality and
consistency of identity data
across every touchpoint.
By securely extracting veri昀椀ed
identity data from the passport
chip and linking it to the traveller’s
biometrics, DTCs create a trusted,
portable identity that can be
used throughout the journey.
When integrated into upstream
processes like visa applications,
airline bookings, and check-in,
and downstream systems like
ABC gates and risk engines,
DTCs help ensure that every data
source is anchored in accuracy.
This shift from manual inputs
to trusted, interoperable identity
data enables governments to
move from reactive checks to
proactive, intelligence-led border
management that prioritizes
making the data we already have
more reliable, more actionable,
and more secure.
Identity as infrastructure:
A new operating model for
borders
DTCs offer a fundamentally
different approach. The true
value of DTCs lies in how they
can be integrated across travel to
enhance the quality, consistency,
and trustworthiness of identity
data.
Before travel, DTCs can
be integrated into upstream
processes such as visa
applications, airline bookings,
and check-in. When linked with
API and PNR data, they ensure
that the identity information that
governments receive is accurate,
veri昀椀ed, and consistent across
systems. This reduces manual
entry errors and enables earlier,
more con昀椀dent risk assessments,
long before a traveller reaches the
border.
At the border, DTCs support
seamless, secure processing
through automated border
control systems. When paired
with biometric veri昀椀cation at
ABC gates, DTCs enable a
‘Tap & Go’ or walk-through
experience for low-risk travellers.
This accelerates throughput
while maintaining high security
standards. It also allows border
of昀椀cers to focus their attention
where it’s needed most: on
complex cases and unknown
risks.
Across the entire journey,
DTCs act as a trusted anchor for
ensuring high-quality data from
multiple sources. By improving
the integrity of identity data, they
help governments connect the
dots—turning traveller data into
trusted intelligence. With a single,
veri昀椀ed identity at the core,
agencies can act on insights with
greater speed and con昀椀dence.
In each of these use cases, the
common denominator is trust,
transforming it into a strategic
asset that supports faster and
more secure border operations.
The strategic payoff
The strategic value of DTCs lies in
their ability to improve the quality
of identity data across all systems
that rely on it.
When integrated with
API and PNR, DTCs replace
manually entered identity 昀椀elds
with veri昀椀ed, chip-based data,
eliminating common errors and
inconsistencies. This ensures
that the data governments
receive before a traveller departs
is accurate, complete, and
consistent across platforms.
At the border, DTCs enhance
the performance of ABC Gates
by providing a secure, biometriclinked identity that enables
fast, automated processing for
low-risk travellers. This not only
improves ef昀椀ciency but ensures
that automation is powered by
high-integrity data, reducing
false positives and unnecessary
referrals.
More broadly, DTCs serve as
a trusted anchor for data that
needs to be integrated into
different processes. By linking
veri昀椀ed identity data to travel
authorizations, bookings, and
biometric records, governments
can build a more complete and
reliable picture of each traveller.
This enables earlier, more
con昀椀dent decisions and supports
intelligence-led operations across
agencies and borders.
A shared opportunity
The technology is ready. The
standards are maturing. What’s
needed now is visionary
leadership and cross-sector
collaboration to move beyond
incremental change and
reimagine identity as a strategic
asset.
Imagine a future where borders
are intelligent gateways. Where
trusted identities 昀氀ow securely
across systems, enabling faster
movement, improved decisions,
and stronger security.
Because in the end, identity is
the new border. And the nations
that get this right won’t just
secure their borders; they’ll shape
the future of global mobility.
Margarida Cardoso is Digital
Identity Lead at SITA, the
air transport industry’s tech
engine that works with over 75
governments – including every
G20 nation – to modernize airport
and border operations.
Margarida Cardoso
32
GOVERNMENT
GOVERNMENT AND
ANDPUBLIC
PUBLICSECTOR
SECTORJOURNAL
JOURNAL AUTUMN
AUTUMN 2017
2025
