Checking a US border crossing card: 4 checkpoints

The U.S. border crossing card is an identification document used by Mexican citizens to enter the United States. This self-contained document allows the holder to visit U.S. border areas when entering by land or sea directly from Mexico, for up to 30 days. (source Wikipedia).

So, how do you check an American border crossing card and make sure that the piece presented is authentic? Find out in this article!

The first step to check an American border crossing card when you can have access to the original part is the overall appearance of the document: it must not show any trace of cutting, removal, modification / rectification of any kind.

Pay particular attention to the level and around the photo.

The American border crossing card is in ID-1 format, the size of a bank card, like the new biometric identity cards, for example.

The second step in verifying a US border crossing card online is to check the consistency of the information on the document.

The document number can be found in the first line of the MRZ tape:

The US visa number can be found in the first line of the MRZ strip:

Here again, the cardholder’s date of birth can be found in two distinct places: in the middle of the front of the card, and at the beginning of the second MRZ line in YYMMDD format:

The same goes for the first and last names, which can be found on the front of the card and in the third line of the MRZ stripe:

The gender of the holder is symbolized by “M” for men (male) and “F” for women (female). This information can be found on the front and in the second line of the MRZ strip:

Finally, the last element present in duplicate on the card: the expiration date, which can be found on the front as well as in the second line MRZ in YYMMDD format:

The lower part of the American border crossing card is made up of three lines that contain the information on the card, with validation keys that prevent misreadings or forgeries.

1. Document Type : 2 characters, code indicating the type of document, represented by the letters “VB”.
2. Issuing country : 3 characters, the ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 code of the issuing country, for the United States it is “USA”.
3. Card number : 9 characters, unique card number.
4. Control key: 1 character, control key for the card’s unique number.
5. End of line : 15 characters, internal administration codes with chevrons ” < ” to complete the line.

1. Date of birth : 6 characters, year, month and day of birth in YYMMDD format.
2. Control key: 1 character, control key for date of birth.
3. Gender: 1 character, “M” for male, “F” for female.
4. Expiry date: 6 digits, card expiry date in YYMMDD format.
5. Control key: 1 character, expiry date control key.
6. Country code : 3 characters, ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 code of the holder’s nationality (in this case MEX).
7. Internal number : 11 characters, internal number of the administration.
8. Control key : 1 character, character concatenation control key line 1 6-15, line 2 1-7, line 2 9-15.

1. Holder’s name and first names : the holder’s first and last names, starting with the last name followed by the first name. The surname and the first name are separated by two characters <. In the case of a compound surname, a compound given name, or multiple given names, they are separated by the character <. Spaces and apostrophes are replaced by the character < and the name is truncated to 30 characters if necessary, and any accents on the letters are removed. The line is then completed by the character <.

A US passport card has 4 control keys (or security keys) that allow you to validate the information that precedes them.

They help avoid transcription errors or changes, whether intentional or not.

The algorithm used to create and validate the control keys is common to all identity documents: the characters have a weight, which is multiplied by a factor according to their position in the chain (7, 3 and 1).

The numbers have their own value (“0” is 0, “1” is 1 etc up to “9” which is 9), the chevron “<” also has a value of 0 while the weight of the letters starts at 10 for the letter “A”, 11 for the letter “B” up to 35 for the letter “Z”.

Let’s take the specimen’s date of birth control key above as an example.

The string to validate is “810505”.

To calculate the control key, we will proceed as follows:

– “8” has a weight of 8 and is placed in the first position, so it must be multiplied by 7: 8 * 7 = 56

– “1” has a weight of 1 and is placed in second position, so we must multiply it by 3: 1 * 3 = 3, which we add to the previous 56, i.e. 3 + 56 = 59.

– 0 has a weight of 0 and is located in the third position, so we must multiply it by 1: 0 * 1 = 0, which we add to the previous 59, i.e. 0 + 59 = 59.

– 5 * 7 = 35 and 35 + 59 = 94

– 0 * 3 = 0 and 0 + 94 = 94

– 5 * 1 = 5 and 5 + 94 = 99

We therefore get a total of 99, from which we will extract the modulo 10 (the rest of the Euclidean division by 10), which is equivalent to keeping only the last digit, i.e. “9”.

Our control key is therefore valid because it is indeed 9 that appears on the document!

The document has various security features to validate its authenticity.

This is the last step to verify a US border crossing card, as it is the longest.

A new-generation holographic device is used to protect the cardholder’s photograph.

The latter changes color depending on the orientation:

An electronic chip is implanted in the card, enabling contactless reading of the information on the document.

Laser engraving of characters that are in relief.

This device can be found on the front, at the top left of the map:

Some elements are visible only under ultraviolet light, but this requires specialized equipment (so not suitable for checking an American border crossing card online).

The ink changes color depending on the orientation.

Laser engraving of characters that are in relief.

The device is shown on the reverse side, top right of the card:

Some elements are visible only under ultraviolet light.

You now have all the keys to verify a US border crossing card online and make sure it’s authentic!

No need for specialized equipment: a little vigilance, time and you will be able to avoid most of the fraud that can be encountered on a daily basis!

Finally, if you need to verify the authenticity of documents as part of a rental application, we offer a dedicated service at the following address: