WorldReach’s relationship with the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) began in 2001 with the requirement for a consular database system to improve the quality of consular service as well as meet the anticipated increase in demand for consular protection services. With 16,000 staff, FCO is one of the largest and busiest Ministries of Foreign Affairs in the world, handling over 60 million annual British travellers and more than 15 million citizens who reside abroad.
I do not hesitate in providing a strong positive recommendation to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs who is considering modernization and the value delivered by the WorldReach consular and crisis management software“- Paul Sizeland, Director of Consular Service, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Since 2009, the FCO has depended on WorldReach for BRIDGE, a proven, flexible and cost-effective solution for the UK’s overseas Emergency Travel Documents issuance, based on the PassportReach core.
…It is a natural step for the FCO to use a system that can provide a complete set of consular services including ETDs and all other consular assistance to our citizens abroad. This is making a big cost savings impact on staff training and deployment“- Patrick Owens, Former Head of Passports and Documentary Services Group, Consular Directorate, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
In 2014, the British Overseas Territories and Her Majesty’s Passport Office (HMPO) embarked on a programme to introduce electronic passports to the Territories. Building on experience with providing Temporary Passports (TPs) and Emergency Travel Documents (ETDs) with the FCO BRIDGE consular passport system installed in the United Kingdom’s diplomatic missions since 2009, WorldReach was well qualified and a very good technical fit for the project. With overall costs, relatively low passport issuance volumes and data security in mind as key considerations, the Territories chose WorldReach’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) PassportReach solution. This marks the first implementation of a secure, Cloud-based issuance system for any country or territory.
In 2018, WorldReach Software signed a multi-year, multi-million GBP contract with the UK Home Office for the provision of a smartphone based digital enrolment capability supporting the EU Exit Settlement Scheme. This new digital service allows identity verification to be done remotely using smartphone apps including ePassport chip reading and authentication, biometric facial matching and liveness detection. IdentityReach is an the core of this innovative identity and document verification solution.
