Dubai to Introduce Visa Applications Via Facial Recognition

This picture taken from the sea of Dubai on March 3, 2021 shows the skyline of the Gulf emirate with Burj Khalifa in the centre. (Photo by GIUSEPPE CACACE / AFP) Photo by GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP via Getty Images

Dubai is preparing to allow its residents to apply for government documents like visas directly from their smartphones through the use of facial recognition technology.

The General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) is working fast to ensure it launches the service as soon as possible, Fatima Salem Al Mazroui, director of the project management office at GDRFA, said to Khaleej Times. However, it will take a while for the GDRFA to implement the facial recognition project as every service has a “different procedure,” she said while admitting that a timeframe of when such services would be launched is difficult to estimate.

“We aim to have all of GDRFA services and transactions processed through facial biometrics. All GDRFA services such as applying for residency, visa, or any other services will be accessible and verified with facial biometrics. Dubai residents will not be required to use a passport or any other document to verify themselves,” Al Mazroui said.

GDRFA is currently tasked with offering entry permits, visas, residency services, etc. Dubai is no stranger to widespread camera surveillance. One of the airports in the city already has a facial biometric system installed.

Dubai utilizes the Oyoon security system to analyze data and track people through a network of 300,000 cameras throughout the city. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has also incorporated predictive policing practices that use predictive analysis and mathematics to identify potential criminal activity.

In March 2020, Abu Dhabi, the capital of UAE, implemented a live biometric facial recognition system in their patrol cars.

Other gulf states in the region like Bahrain and Qatar are also increasingly incorporating facial recognition tech into their governance, raising concerns about digital authoritarianism.

Facial Recognition Dangers

Technologies like facial surveillance can potentially increase government monitoring, tracking, and control over people. The technology has raised dire concerns over freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. But unlike the United States where these freedoms are ensured under the constitution, most other countries do not have similar statutes.

“If you have a surveillance state that’s capable of tracking your face wherever you are, it’s capable of tracking your location wherever you are, which means it’s capable of tracking every association you have, from the political protest organization to deeply intimate associations,” Margot Kaminski, associate professor at CU Law, said to Law Week Colorado.

Nowhere is the threat of facial surveillance more explicit than in communist China. Documents obtained by the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times show that rural areas in the Shandong Province have installed hundreds of thousands of surveillance cameras since 2013 as part of a massive monitoring system, with the main targets being rights defenders and adherents of Falun Gong.

In the United States, the IRS attempted to make taxpayers upload selfies for an identity verification program that used a third-party to verify accounts.

The proposal was met with huge backlash and the IRS was forced to dump the project. Several privacy advocates have pushed for other government agencies to end similar facial recognition programs.