Does easyAML support foreign-language passports?
Yes, every internationally compliant passport includes a Latin-script Machine-Readable Zone.
Internationally compliant passport includes a Machine-Readable Zone (MRZ) on the photo page - two lines of OCR-friendly characters at the bottom - that contains the passport holder's name, nationality, DOB, document number and expiry, formatted in English using the Latin alphabet, regardless of what language the rest of the passport is in.
How the platform reads them:
- The customer captures the photo page with their phone camera.
- The platform's OCR extracts the MRZ and decodes it into the standard fields.
- The captured face is matched against the live selfie via biometric comparison.
- PEP, sanctions and adverse-media screening run on the Latin-character name as decoded.
Languages tested and working include Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, Korean, Russian, Thai, Greek and most others - the MRZ standardisation is global because it's part of the ICAO 9303 passport specification.
Where this doesn't fully apply:
- Older passports (pre-2000 in some jurisdictions) without an MRZ - these still exist but are rare. Document-based verification falls back to manual review.
- Other foreign-language ID documents (driver's licences, national identity cards) - these don't have MRZ equivalents, so automatic extraction isn't possible. The document can be captured as supplementary evidence but won't drive the automated flow on its own.
- At least one document in English is required for the automatic extraction step; the foreign-language passport itself counts because of the MRZ.
For Japanese non-resident verification specifically, see "How is a Japanese non-resident director of an Australian company verified?" later in Section 4 - there's a tested workflow combining Japanese passport, Japanese driver licence and other supporting documents.
See AUSTRAC's Overview of initial customer due diligence page.