Passport card - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The passport card is an alternative to a passport

United States passport

United States passports are passports issued to citizens and non-citizen nationals of the United States of America. They are issued exclusively by the U.S. Department of State. Besides issuing passports , also limited use passport cards are issued by the same organization subject to the same...

produced in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

to meet the documentary requirements of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative

Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative

The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative is a law of the United States that requires all travelers to show a valid passport or other approved secure document when traveling to the U.S. from areas within the Western Hemisphere. The purpose, according to the U.S. Department of State and U.S...

. The U.S. Passport Card is a wallet-size travel document, issued to U.S. citizens only, that can be used to enter the United States from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Bermuda at land border crossings or sea ports-of-entry and is more convenient and less expensive than a passport book. The passport card cannot be used for international air travel

Air travel

Air travel is a form of travel in vehicles such as airplanes, helicopters, hot air balloons, blimps, gliders, hang gliding, parachuting or anything else that can sustain flight.-Domestic and international flights:...

.

Applications have been accepted since February 1, 2008; the cards were made available to the public beginning in July 2008. As of March 2010, more than 2,700,000 Passport Cards had been issued to U.S. citizens.. The card is manufactured by L-1 Identity Solutions .
Identity cards

Identity document

An identity document is any document which may be used to verify aspects of a person's personal identity. If issued in the form of a small, mostly standard-sized card, it is usually called an identity card...

with the same objectives are common inside the European Union for both national and international use.

Rationale

The passport card is an alternative to an ordinary U.S. passport booklet for land and sea travel within North America (Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Bermuda). Like the passport book, the passport card is issued only to U.S. citizens and nationals. However, the passport card cannot currently be used for international air travel. The Department of State indicates that this is because "designing a card format passport for wide use, including
by air travelers, would inadvertently undercut the broad based international effort to strengthen civil aviation
security and travel document specifications to address the post 9/11 threat environment."

The passport card is being issued by the United States Department of State

United States Department of State

The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...

in response to border community residents' needs for a less expensive and more portable alternative to the conventional booklet since the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative's requirements for travelers to carry a single document verifying both identification and citizenship have come into effect. In an effort to improve efficiency at land crossings, the passport card also includes a vicinity-read radio frequency identification

Radio Frequency Identification

Radio-frequency identification is a technology that uses radio waves to transfer data from an electronic tag, called RFID tag or label, attached to an object, through a reader for the purpose of identifying and tracking the object. Some RFID tags can be read from several meters away and beyond the...

chip with a unique identifying number tied to government database

Government database

Government databases collect personal information for various reasons .-Canada:...

s; unlike the passport book, the RFID chip in the passport card is designed to be readable at a greater distance and will not contain any information from the MRZ of the passport card beyond the identifying number. To prevent the RFID chip from being read when the card is not being used, the passport card comes with a sleeve designed to block RFID while inside.

Under the REAL ID Act

REAL ID Act

The REAL ID Act of 2005, , was an Act of Congress that modified U.S. federal law pertaining to security, authentication, and issuance procedures standards for the state driver's licenses and identification cards, as well as various immigration issues pertaining to terrorism.The law set forth...

, the passport card will also be accepted for federal purposes (such as domestic air travel or entering federal buildings), which may make it an attractive option for people living in states whose driver's licenses and ID cards are not REAL ID-compliant when those requirements go into effect. TSA regulations list the passport card as an acceptable identity document at airport security checkpoints.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has indicated that the U.S. Passport Card may be used in the Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9

I-9 (form)

The Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 is a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services form. It is used by an employer to verify an employee's identity and to establish that the worker is eligible to accept employment in the United States....

process. The passport card is considered a “List A” document that may be presented by newly hired employees during the employment eligibility verification process to show work authorized status. “List A” documents are those used by employees to prove both identity and work authorization when completing the Form I-9.

According to the US consulate in Germany, the passport card can be used as a valid proof of citizenship and proof of identity both inside and outside the United States. However, the acceptance of the passport card as the identity document by private and governmental entities within the USA varies greatly.

Validity and fees

The passport card will share the same validity period as the passport book: 10 years for persons 16 and over, 5 years for children under 16. As of July 13, 2010, the passport card renewal fee for eligible applicants (adults only, by mail) is $30; first-time applicants and those applying in person must also pay a $25 processing fee, for a total fee of $55. Passport cards for children must be applied for in person; the total fee is $40, including the $25 processing fee.

Adults who already have a fully valid passport book may pay a fee of $30 to apply for the card as a passport renewal.

A citizen or national is allowed to hold both a card passport and a booklet passport. A passport in either form entitles its holder to apply for the other form (or both forms) as a "renewal" by mail at the end of its validity period.

Card layout

The passport card is formatted according to specifications for credit-card (ID-1) sized travel documents, as described in ICAO Document 9303, Part 3, Volume 1. The card contains both human-readable and machine-readable information; the latter is printed in the machine-readable zone on the rear of the card as OCR

Optical character recognition

Optical character recognition, usually abbreviated to OCR, is the mechanical or electronic translation of scanned images of handwritten, typewritten or printed text into machine-encoded text. It is widely used to convert books and documents into electronic files, to computerize a record-keeping...

-readable text in a similar format as on the identity page of the passport book. The zone starts with the letters IP (designated by ICAO for passport card), followed by the issuing country code USA and the holder's name: IPUSA. The general layout of the Passport Card is virtually identical to the layout of the Border Crossing Card

Border Crossing Card

A Border Crossing Card is a document that allows limited entry into the United States by visitors. The cards authorize visits to the border areas of the United States for a set amount of time...

issued to Mexican citizens with primarily the background imagery and entitlements varying between the two cards.

Anti-counterfeiting features

In addition to the embedded RFID chip, the front of the card features a complex multi-layer hologram consisting of an American bald eagle surrounded by the words "United States of America Department of State" in a small clearly readable font, further surrounded by the same words repeatedly in microprint. The card's background consists of interweaving smooth curves rich in variable color and microprint. Most of the information on the card is printed as intaglio (raised) print, with the date of birth, vertical letters "USA", and an alphanumeric sequence underneath the laser etched main photograph being particularly prominent. A second, smaller "photograph" is included on the right side of the card; when closely inspected this "photo" is actually an approximation of the shading in the original photo composed of various letters from the card holders name. There is also an embossed seal in the upper left hand corner of the card (partially overlapping the photograph) reminiscent of the eagle grasping 13 arrows and an olive branch that appears on the back of a US one dollar bill. On the rear of the card, the "PASSsystem" mark appears in color-shifting ink.

Countries

Passport cards can be used in the following countries (when travelling via land border or boat):

External links

Fact Sheet: Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) Passport Card Technology Choice: Vicinity RFID Release Date: October 17, 2006
Fact Sheet: US Passport Card Release Date: January 8, 2008