passports usually have a person's picture, signature, date of birth, nationality and country of birth. many countries are now issuing passports with biometric properties. this helps confirm that the person carrying a passport is the real owner. these countries have passports that use biometrics: malaysia, australia, greece, israel, new zealand, japan, portugal, sweden, the united kingdom, the united states, germany, ireland, poland, italy, slovenia, singapore, thailand, india and the republic of korea .many more countries are switching over to biometric passports because it can easily confirm the authenticity of the holder's identity. passports are used so a stamp can be placed in it to prove that the identity of the holder has been confirmed with the immigration officials in the country of travel.