At Dubai airport, travellers’ eyes become their passports

A Japanese journalist checks out the new face and iris-recognition procedures at Dubai airport, United Arab Emirates. Dubai’s airport has introduced an iris-scanner that verifies one’s identity and eliminates the need for any human interaction when leaving the country. — AP

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: Dubai’s airport, the world’s busiest for international travel, can already feel surreal, with its cavernous duty-free stores, artificial palm trees, gleaming terminals, water cascades and near-Arctic levels of air conditioning.

Now, the key east-west transit hub is rolling out another addition from the realm of science fiction – an iris-scanner that verifies one’s identity and eliminates the need for any human interaction when entering or leaving the country.