According to the new research report titled “Passport Reader Market - Global Analysis and Forecast to 2027,” published by The Insight Partners, the market is expected to reach US$ 374.56 million by 2027, registering a CAGR of 7.7% during 2020–2027.

The rising adoption of technologically advanced border securing technologies by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including passport readers is boosting the market. The country consists of significantly higher number of airports which regularly cater to noteworthy number of international passengers (both arrival and departure). This factor has led the airport authorities and security authorities to implement and deploy advanced passport reading technologies in order to safeguard the country from illegal immigrants. Further, the rising deployment of passport readers among hotels, banks, and travel agencies is boosting the growth of passport reader market. Passport checks are an essential security measure for several businesses and institutions. In some instances, they are the most appropriate document to collect necessary customer information. Also, in some cases, they are mandatory by law, and the collected data must be shared with local authorities. As manual checking of passports is a tedious task in some businesses, they prefer using dedicated passport readers. In such cases, mobile passport scanning integrated with Mobile OCR is an ideal alternative.

The global passport reader market has been segmented into five major regions: North America, Europe, APAC, MEA, and SAM. North America holds the dominant share in the passport reader market, and APAC is expected to be the fastest-growing region in the global market. owing to significant illegal immigration between the US-Mexico Border, the government has taken stringent measures to eradicate illegal movements of people and cargo. There are 47 land ports of entry in the US-Mexico border, and all of them require primary inspection of passports against Homeland Security data. Further, in 2019, the CBP announced plans to accelerate the use of biometric technology to upgrade its systems as well as to deploy more self-service tools using mobile technology for verification purposes at all ports of entry by 2025. This would result in negatively impacting the market for passport readers in the country. North America is further anticipated to experience significant growth in its technology market in the coming years, and investors are presently capitalizing on these advancements to gain rewards in the future.

North America accounted for largest share in passport reader market in 2019   

North America includes the US, Canada, and Mexico. To improve border security, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) requires international passenger information to be verified through the Advanced Passenger Information (API) system. The collected information of these international passengers is sent to the CBP for review before the flight arrival. Any violations in this process require returning at transfer points or destination by immigration authorities, which cost airlines a considerable amount of fines as well as associated costs. Thus, airlines are highly focused on proper passport and visa verification before the boarding of international passengers. In 2019, the US government announced its plans to deploy facial recognition technology across 20 key airports by 2021. This technology will be used on all the international as well as domestic passengers, which may impact the demand for passport readers across the country. 

In February 2020, the US TSA deployed a new credential authentication technology (CTA) at Boston Logan International Airport. The technology enables verification of traveler ID and confirms their flight information in near-real-time manner, thus boosting security concerning the use of fake documents. A CAT scanner is capable of verifying ~2,500 different types of ID, including passports, as it is integrated with a passport reader. The TSA aims to install ~500 CAT units across 40 airports by the end of February 2020.

The Canadian government is also strengthening its border security measures owing to the rising number of immigrants in the country. The government aims to increase the country’s yearly immigration levels to 350,000 by 2021. Further, the new immigration level plan targets over 1 million immigrants from 2019–2021. In 2018, Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport implemented self-service kiosks to offer enhanced and hassle-free border clearance. The deployment of these kiosks initiated in March 2017, and the machines have already been deployed at key airports such as Ottawa, Vancouver, Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto (Terminal 3), Québec City, and Halifax.