How to Verify an Argentine Passport Online: Complete Guide in 4 Checks (MRZ, Consistency, Security, Validity)

Article updated in February 2026 to reflect developments in Argentine passports and online document verification tools.

The Argentine passport is an official document widely used as proof of identity in many contexts: KYC checks, international travel, administrative procedures, digital platforms, or banking processes.

Like any identity document, it can nevertheless be subject to documentary fraud attempts: expired passports, visual alterations, inconsistencies between visible data and the MRZ, or tampering with security features.

How can you verify an Argentine passport online and ensure that the document presented is authentic?

The answer in this guide, through 4 essential verification checks.

Before any visual inspection, it is now possible to perform an initial automatic verification using a simple image of the passport.

This step notably allows:

• automatic reading of the MRZ
• validation of check digits
• consistency checks of key fields (name, date of birth, sex, nationality, document number, expiration date)
• detection of common input errors or inconsistencies

⚠️ There is no public database that allows official validation of an Argentine passport.

Online verification therefore relies on documentary analysis and must be completed by a visual inspection of the passport’s security features.

When access to the original document is possible, the first step is to examine the overall appearance of the passport.

The document must show no signs of:

• cutting or tearing
• delamination or gluing
• overprinting or visible modification

Particular attention should be paid to:

• the biographical data page
• the photo area
• the edges of the document
• raised or embossed printed areas

Any sign of scratching, heat exposure, partial replacement, or retouching should be considered a red flag requiring further examination.

The second step consists of verifying the consistency of the information visible on the passport and its correspondence with the data encoded in the MRZ.

Key elements to cross-check include:

• Document number: visible on the data page and in the second MRZ line
• Date of birth: shown on the passport and in the MRZ (YYMMDD format)
• Surname and given name(s): visible on the document and in the first MRZ line
• Holder’s sex: indicated by “M” or “F”, visible on the passport and in the MRZ
• Expiration date: shown on the data page and in the MRZ
• Issuing country and nationality: consistent with the ISO codes used in the MRZ

Any discrepancy, even minor, between visible fields and the MRZ must be treated as a warning sign.

The document number can be found in two different places: at the top right of the front side and at the beginning of the second line of the MRZ.

Both must be identical:

The holder’s date of birth can also be found in two distinct places: in the middle of the front side and in the middle of the second MRZ line in YYMMDD format:

Similarly, the last and first names can be found on the document and in the first line of the MRZ:

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

Another element present twice on the document: the expiration date, found on the front and in the second MRZ line in YYMMDD format:

The issuing country can be found in two places on the document: at the top of the front and at the start of the first line of the MRZ.

The holder’s nationality can be found in the second line of the MRZ in ISO 3166-1 format:

The Argentine passport includes a two-line MRZ compliant with ICAO standards.

The MRZ contains the main document information in a standardized format and integrates five check digits, designed to detect:

• reading errors
• data inconsistencies
• many forms of falsification attempts

MRZ analysis makes it possible to:

• verify the document structure
• mathematically validate encoded data
• detect transcription errors

The check digits rely on the standard ICAO algorithm, using fixed weightings (7, 3, and 1), making this verification reliable, fast, and easy to automate.

1. Document type: 2 characters, code indicating the type of document, represented by the letters “P<”.
2. Issuing country: 3 characters, the ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 code of the issuing country.
3. Last name(s): holder’s last name(s), separated by a chevron “<”.
4. First name(s): holder’s first name(s) separated from the last name by two chevrons, and separated from each other by a chevron “<”.

1. Document number: 9 characters, the passport number printed on the document.
2. Check digit: 1 character, check digit for the document number.
3. Nationality: 3 characters, nationality of the holder.
4. Date of birth: 6 digits, date of birth of the passport holder in YYMMDD format.
5. Check digit: 1 character, check digit for the date of birth.
6. Gender: 1 character, gender of the holder (“M” or “F”).
7. Expiration date: 6 digits, passport expiration date in YYMMDD format.
8. Personal number: 8 digits, personal number of the holder.
9. Check digit: 1 character, check digit for the concatenation of characters from line 2 positions 44-54, 57-64, 65-87.

An Argentine passport includes 5 check digits (or security keys) that validate the preceding information.

They help prevent transcription errors or modifications, intentional or not.

The algorithm used to create and validate check digits is common to all identity documents: characters have a weight, multiplied by a factor depending on their position in the string (7, 3, and 1).

Digits have their face value (“0” is 0, “1” is 1, … “9” is 9), the chevron “<” also has a value of 0, while letters start with a weight of 10 for “A”, 11 for “B” up to 35 for “Z”.

Let’s take as an example the check digit for the date of birth from the specimen above.

The character string to validate is: “691101”.

To calculate the check digit, we proceed as follows:

– “6” has a value of 6 and is in the first position, so multiply by 7: 6 * 7 = 42

– “9” has a value of 9 and is in the second position, so multiply by 3: 9 * 3 = 27, added to the previous 42 gives 27 + 42 = 69.

– “1” has a value of 1 and is in the third position, so multiply by 1: 1 * 1 = 1, added to 69 gives 1 + 69 = 70.

– 1 * 7 = 7 and 7 + 70 = 77

– 0 * 3 = 0 and 0 + 77 = 77

– 1 * 1 = 1 and 1 + 77 = 78

The total is 78, from which we take modulo 10 (the remainder of Euclidean division by 10), which means keeping only the last digit, i.e. “8”.

Our check digit is therefore valid because 8 appears on the document!

This final step aims to confirm the material authenticity of the Argentine passport.

It complements documentary analysis by examining security features that are difficult to reproduce, including:

• security watermarks
• elements visible under ultraviolet (UV) light
• optically variable features (OVF/MOV)
• secure printing and microtext
• security elements present on the inner pages of the booklet

Some of these features can be checked with the naked eye, while others require specialized equipment.

Protects vital information (photo, MRZ); the film fixes the photo and reveals any attempt at scratching.

You now have a structured and reliable method to verify an Argentine passport online: MRZ analysis, information cross-checking, and visual inspection of security features.

Without specialized equipment, this combined approach already makes it possible to detect a large proportion of common documentary fraud cases.

To go further, it is also possible to use an online document verification solution.

For example, TrustDocHub allows you to automatically verify an Argentine passport from an image, with results delivered directly within the application.