Digital Travel Credentials: How DTC Wallets Will Change eVisas and Border Crossing
Digital identity is finally coming to the border. After years of pilots, the first Digital Travel Credentials (DTCs) are moving from lab experiments to live-airport trials in Europe, Asia and the Gulf. In plain English, a DTC is a cryptographically signed, mobile-stored replica of the data that sits in your passport’s chip—plus any travel authorisation that might be linked to it, from an Australian ETA to an Indian eVisa. Instead of handing over a booklet and a printed visa PDF, travellers will tap a phone or watch on a reader and walk through biometric corridors.
For airlines, OTAs and other travel sellers, this shift is bigger than swapping paper for pixels. DTC wallets promise to collapse ID, ticket and visa checks into a single transaction and unlock an entirely new layer of ancillary services. Here is what you need to know—and how to prepare—before the rollout goes mainstream.
What exactly is a Digital Travel Credential?
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) defines three flavours of DTCs but the principle is the same: a government-issued digital token that mirrors, extends and eventually replaces the electronic Machine-Readable Travel Document (eMRTD) stored in today’s passports.
| DTC Type | Where the data lives | Typical use case |
|---|---|---|
| Type 1 | Encrypted file on the traveller’s device – requires passport access during verification | Fast-track border control without handing over the booklet |
| Type 2 | Split between device and government cloud – passport can stay in the hotel safe | Seamless re-entry, cruise stops, land borders |
| Type 3 | Fully remote, no physical passport issued | Long-term goal of true digital-only travel |
The credential is stored in a mobile wallet – think Apple Wallet or the upcoming EU Digital Identity (EUDI) wallet – and unlocked with on-device biometrics (Face ID, fingerprint). Border officers or self-service gates verify the credential’s signature against ICAO master keys, then match the liveness-checked selfie to the face hash inside the credential. All of this happens in a few seconds, locally or with minimal data exchange.
Key standards to watch
- ICAO Doc 9303 – governs ePassports and now extends to DTCs.
- ISO / IEC 18013-5 – the same spec behind mobile driving licences (mDLs) is being reused for travel.
- IATA One ID – an airline-led framework that ties DTCs to reservations and airport processes.
According to the European Commission’s DTC pilot update, Schiphol and Copenhagen airports processed over 2 000 passengers with Type 1 credentials during Q2 2025, achieving sub-10-second border clearance with zero security incidents.
Today’s eVisa flow vs the coming DTC flow
| Step | Traditional eVisa | DTC-enabled eVisa |
|---|---|---|
| Application | Web form, document upload, PDF issued | Same web or in-app flow, but the signed visa is written directly into the wallet |
| Airline check-in | Manual scan of passport + PDF | Wallet sends a verifiable credential to the airline’s DCS API, auto-clearing check-in rules |
| Airport security | Passport + boarding pass separate | One tap or face match can pull ID, ticket and visa in a single interaction |
| Border control | Officer scans passport, reviews visa screen | Gate validates DTC signature offline, displays green light; officer only handles exceptions |
| Post-arrival | Must keep PDF handy for hotels, police | Local authorities can request the credential with a QR or NFC tap |
Four ways DTC wallets will reshape eVisas
1. Instant issuance and storage
A PDF visa is just a dumb file. A DTC-formatted eVisa is a signed, structured credential that can be pushed to the wallet as soon as the immigration system returns “approved”. Travellers no longer dig through inboxes or print copies. For governments, revocations or amendments propagate in real time.
2. Offline, privacy-preserving verification
Border gates will no longer rely on API calls to foreign servers that may time out. The credential’s signature can be validated offline against ICAO master keys, while selective disclosure lets the traveller reveal only the data needed—say, visa expiry—nothing more.
3. One-tap airline compliance
Denied boardings cost airlines an estimated US $2 000+ per passenger in fines and rebooking fees (IATA, 2024). By binding the eVisa credential to the booking reference, a carrier can run pre-departure compliance checks automatically, reducing manual document inspections and freeing agents to upsell seats and bags.
4. New ancillary products
If a traveller’s wallet shows no valid visa for the route, a TTL-based offer can surface inside the airline or OTA app: “Add your eVisa in three minutes for $29”. Conversion rates climb because the wallet provides an embedded payment and verified identity, eliminating 70 percent of the keystrokes seen in legacy forms (SimpleVisa UX benchmark, July 2025).
Real-world pilots to keep on your radar
- EU DTC Pilots – Netherlands, Finland and Croatia are trialling Type 1 and Type 2 credentials with real passengers on selected intra-Schengen and Schengen-external routes.
- Dubai’s GDRFA Smart Wallet – integrates resident visas and GCC eVisas as verifiable credentials compatible with ICAO specs.
- Singapore Changi – OneID Lane – combines biometric corridor, DTC prototype and digital embarkation cards for sub-one-minute arrivals.
What this means for travel businesses
- API readiness – DTCs use W3C Verifiable Credential (VC) and ISO mDL data models. Your document-verification or visa-eligibility API should be able to ingest a VC payload and return a trust score in milliseconds.
- Check-in orchestration – Legacy DCS systems need a mapping layer that translates a verified DTC into the correct IATA Timatic or SimpleVisa compliance flag before a boarding pass is issued.
- UX refresh – Mobile apps and kiosks must expose a “Add travel credential” button that talks to the wallet via NFC or ISO 18013-7 QR. Early tests show a 15-point uplift in eVisa attach rate when the wallet hand-off replaces manual form fill.
- Revenue experiments – DTC provisioning, expedited DTC/eVisa bundles, and premium “auto-fill immigration card” services are all new monetisation levers.
Implementation roadmap (2025–2028)
- 2025 – Run lab tests using SimpleVisa’s sandbox VC endpoint. Validate that wallet-issued credentials can be parsed, stored and surfaced in your booking flow.
- 2026 – Pilot DTC-aware check-in at one hub airport. Measure document-error reductions and attach-rate lift for in-flow eVisa sales.
- 2027 – Expand to multi-airport, multi-carrier deployments. Introduce smart push offers when a credential is about to expire.
- 2028 – Retire PDF processing, move to 100 percent credential-based compliance with fallback only for edge cases.
Challenges and open questions
- Standards convergence – ICAO, ISO and EU wallets are 90 percent aligned but edge claims (place of birth, visa category) still differ.
- Digital divide – Not every traveller owns a smartphone with a secure element. Governments will need hybrid models for some years.
- Privacy governance – Selective disclosure and zero-knowledge proofs reduce data sharing, yet clear rules on subpoena access and retention are still evolving.
- Fraud tactics – Wallet malware and deepfake injection are emerging risks. Solutions include on-device liveness with ISO SC37 compliant checks and continuous revocation lists.
The bottom line
Digital Travel Credentials will not just speed up border queues; they will rewrite the entire eVisa lifecycle from application to arrival. Travel sellers that wait for regulators to force adoption risk missing a rare opportunity to own the credential hand-off layer—and the high-margin services that sit on top of it.
SimpleVisa already supports verifiable-credential outputs in its API and white-label flows, so partners can start experimenting today. If you want to see how DTC-ready eVisa issuance fits into your 2026 roadmap, book a live demo or explore the Future of Travel APIs guide. The border of tomorrow is closer than you think; the time to integrate is now.