Verify a U.S. Passport Card : 4 Checkpoints

The United States passport card is an optional national identity document and a travel document issued by the U.S. federal government in the format of a credit card.

This card allows its holder to travel on domestic flights within the United States and to travel by land or sea within North America. However, it cannot be used for international air travel (source Wikipedia).

So, how can you verify a U.S. passport card and ensure the presented document is authentic? The answer is in this article!

The first step when verifying a U.S. passport card, if you have access to the original document, is to check the overall appearance: it must show no signs of cutting, peeling, modification, or any corrections.

Pay close attention especially around and at the photo area.

The new passport card is in the ID-1 format, the size of a credit card, similar to the new biometric identity cards.

The second step for online verification of a U.S. passport card is to check the consistency of the information on the document.

The document number can be found in two different places: at the top of the front side and in the first line of the MRZ (Machine Readable Zone).

Both must be identical:

The holder’s date of birth can also be found in two different places: in the center of the front side of the card, and at the start of the second MRZ line in the YYMMDD format:

Similarly, the last and first names can be found on the front of the card and in the third 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:

Finally, the last item that appears twice on the card: the expiration date, found on the front and in the second MRZ line in YYMMDD format:

The lower part of the U.S. passport card consists of three lines containing the information present on the card, with validation keys to prevent reading errors or forgery.

1. Document Type: 2 characters, code indicating the document type, represented by the letters “IP.”
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. Check Digit: 1 character, check digit of the unique card number.
5. End of Line: 15 characters, internal administrative codes with chevrons “<” used to fill the line.

1. Date of Birth: 6 characters, year, month and day of birth in YYMMDD format.
2. Check Digit: 1 character, check digit of the date of birth.
3. Sex: 1 character, “M” for male, “F” for female.
4. Expiration Date: 6 digits, card expiration date in YYMMDD format.
5. Check Digit: 1 character, check digit of the expiration date.
6. Country Code: 3 characters, ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 code of the holder’s nationality (here USA).
7. Separator: 2 chevrons “<<”
8. State Department Document Control Number: 9 characters, State Department control number.
9. Check Digit: 1 character, check digit of the concatenation of characters line 1 positions 6-15, line 2 positions 1-7, and line 2 positions 9-15.

1. Holder’s Last Name and First Names: holder’s last name followed by the first name(s). The last and first names are separated by two “<” characters. Compound last names, compound first names, or multiple first names are separated by a single “<” character. Spaces and apostrophes are replaced by “<”. The last name is truncated to 30 characters if necessary, and any accents on letters are removed. The line is then completed by “<”.

A U.S. passport card contains 4 check digits (or security keys) which validate the information preceding them.

They help prevent transcription errors or intentional/unintentional modifications.

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

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

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

The character string to validate is: “810101”.

To calculate the check digit we proceed as follows:

– “8” has a value of 8 and is in first position, so multiply by 7: 8 * 7 = 56

– “1” has a value of 1 and is in second position, so multiply by 3: 1 * 3 = 3, add to the previous 56, total 3 + 56 = 59.

– “0” has a value of 0 and is in third position, so multiply by 1: 0 * 1 = 0, add to the previous 59, total 0 + 59 = 59.

– 1 * 7 = 7 and 7 + 59 = 66

– 0 * 3 = 0 and 0 + 66 = 66

– 1 * 1 = 1 and 1 + 66 = 67

We obtain a total of 67, from which we take modulo 10 (remainder of division by 10), keeping only the last digit, which is “7”.

Our check digit is therefore valid since the document shows a 7!

The document contains various security features that help validate its authenticity.

This is the final step to verify a U.S. passport card, as it takes the most time.

A next-generation holographic device is used to protect the holder’s photograph on the card.

It changes color depending on the angle:

An electronic chip is embedded in the card and allows contactless reading of the information present on the document.

The image changes depending on the orientation of the card.

This device is found on the front, top left of the card:

Some elements are only visible under ultraviolet light, but this requires specialized equipment (thus not suitable for verifying a U.S. passport card online).

The ink changes color depending on the angle.

You now have all the keys to verify a U.S. passport card online and ensure it is authentic!

No specialized equipment is required: with some attention and time, you can avoid most frauds commonly encountered daily!

You can also use our service which performs verifications in seconds through our web application: results are available directly in the app and as a PDF report!