This paper presents a low-cost method for providing biometric verification for applications that do not require large database sizes. Existing portable iris recognition systems are typically self-contained and expensive. For some applications, low cost is more important than extremely discerning matching ability. In these instances, the proposed system could be implemented at low cost, with adequate matching performance for verification.Additionally, the proposed system could be used in conjunction with any image based biometric identification system. A prototype system was developed and tested on a small database, with promising preliminary results.