IS my new passport chipped?

I just received my new passport in the mail. I flipped through the book and the last page says 'this passport contains sensitive electronics, please do not bend or expose to high temperature'.

I went through the passport, and cannot find anything that even remotely looks electronic. What can this possibly mean?

I thought all new passports get chipped now?

Mine is anyway.

reply to post by hikix


Your passport most likely has an embedded RFID chip.

Its so they can be scanned instead of having the customs official file through your passport and see if you are allowed in the country.

I don't like it. Good thing I have an older passport.

You might want to expose it to heat just to test it out

I will take a guess and say it works much like an ID works on the back.
There is a barcode and it can be scanned and has all my information upon that code.

If you bend or expose this ID the bar code wont work, and you will have to get a replacement one. Also Cat-Scans will ruin the bar code aswell.
While its not a chip, or electronic, it still reads offf by using a scanning device.

Tho I am just taking a guess, I dont have a passport, but I do have a Class E Endorsment lic. And has a bar code that is senstive to such things.

MY memory may not be all that great. But, for some reason I feel like I have seen a video where someone puts their passport in a microwave, and hears a popping sound. He then shows his passport, and the burn mark where the chip exploded. Has anyone seen this video?

You have a Biometric Passport, which contains a Chip. Most Countries now issue Biometric Passports, I have 3 passports (Irish, British & Australian) and all are Biometric. They have been around in some countries since 2005.

At the moment most countries only have your personal details and photo on the chip (the same info in the passport) but the plan is to eventually have things like fingerprints added (this is no secret, and is the aim of the Biometric Passport). Germany from November last year started to add fingerprints.

You can tell if a Passport is Biometric if it has this symbol on the front cover:

Biometric Symbol

(see the symbol on the bottom of the Passports)








The Chip is located in different parts of the passport, depending where your country places it, In my Irish passport it’s on the Photo Page in the top right corner inside the plastic. On my Australian passport it’s in the very middle page of the passport, in my British passport it’s clearly visible. Some it’s easy to see, some it’s not – I don’t know where on the US one it is.

Location of Chip in Australian Passports

Location of Chip in a British Passport

See, those are easy to see, but on the Irish one for example you have to tilt the photo page at an angle inot the light and you can see it, so maybe the US one is similar to that, and thats why you can't find the chip?

Here is more info from Wikipedia about the Biometric Passport anyway.

Wikipedia Biometric Passports

Mikey




[edit on 23/3/2008 by Mikey84]

reply to post by Mikey84



thanks for the info... i do happen to have that biometric mark on the front of the passport. I flipped through the book and cannot find any chip or any information on the chip.

reply to post by hikix


Ok, I’ve done a bit of searching and the location of the Chip on United States passport is on the back cover – so feel your fingers around the back cover and you should feel a tiny bump, thats your chip.

Now, I don’t know what the US passports feel like (my Australian one is like fabric, but my EU ones are like Plastic/Leather type feel).

If the US cover is like the Plastic/Leather type feel then you might not be able to feel the bump, you’ll have to look at the back cover at an angle against the light and you should see the little “dent” – it’s hard to explain, but that’s how I can see it on my Irish passport.

If the US cover is like the Australian one and just a fabric type, then you should be able to feel the bump.

Here is the link to the US Passport site, which explains that it’s located in the back cover.

US Electronic Passport

Mikey