The Chinese Embassy in UK has issued its first biometrics visa to British-Cypriot economic Nobel Prize winner Christopher Pissarides, December 16, 2018.

Chinese ambassador to UK, Liu Xiaoming (L), and British-Cypriot economic Nobel Prize winner, Christopher Pissarides (R) pose for photos at the Chinese Embassy in London, December 17, 2018. (Photo: VCG)

Chinese ambassador to UK, Liu Xiaoming, personally issue the visa to the 2010 Nobel Prize in Economics, who is also a professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

"The new measures are in-line with global trends toward applying biometrics worldwide," said Liu.

"I feel honored to be the first citizen receiving Chinese biometrics visa," said Pissarides, suggesting the new technology will help speed up his visits to China for academic exchanges.

The Chinese Embassy in UK started collecting finger prints of new visa applicants on November 1st.

The Chinese Embassy in Norway also began collecting biometric information in October.

Biometrics technology can recognize human's unique biological characteristics, including finger prints, iris scans and facial recognition. Since the September 11th terrorist attacks in the United States in 2001, numerous countries have moved to introduced biometrics into their visa applications.