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Chips have been present in passports, even the all-paper ones, since the 1990s, with all the same information. They’re called “Biometric Passports”. The plastic

Chips have been present in passports, even the all-paper ones, since the 1990s, with all the same information. They’re called “Biometric Passports”. The plastic card in newer passports is for durability and making them more difficult to forge. But the chip doesn’t contain “everything that matters”. The chips have biometric info (hence the name) like legal name, sex, nationality, photos, and sometimes fingerprints. But the bulk of a passport book is made up of tens of pages where stamps, stickers, and even entire visa documents can be stapled/attached. None of these are present in the chip.

WeylandYutani 2y ago
Some people fly to places like Afghanistan which do not have all these fancy computers I suppose.
abeppu 2y ago
> The chips have biometric info (hence the name) like legal name, sex, nationality, photos, and sometimes fingerprints ... legal names and nationalities aren't "biometric info" though. Is it fair to say that the chip contains the content of the travel document at the time it was issued (doesn't the chip also include the passport number, issue/expiration dates, etc) but not the stamps/visas that are added after the passport is issued ? I think everyone gets that the chip isn't updated when you get stamped into or out of a country.
- placardloop 2y ago
  > Is it fair to say that the chip contains the content of the travel document at the time it was issued Yes to expiration date and number (although afaik it does vary because each country may include or exclude certain information), but in general no, because even if you have a visa issued to you at the time of a passport being issued (like at the time of a passport renewal), the chip will not have that information. The chip information is basically just proving who you are, but doesn’t have any info on where you are permitted to go (other than permissions implied by your characteristics like nationality). That information is stored elsewhere, like in the passport pages or a country’s internal immigration records.
rswail 2y ago
The chip has at least the same information that is printed in machine readable format on the photo page. It has all the same fields in one or two lines with "<" field separators. I've had the chip read, I've also seen the passport being scanned to read those lines. A passport has two components, one is identification of the holder, the other is the travel (entry/exit stamps) history and potentially the conditions of entry (visas etc).

WeylandYutani 2y ago

Some people fly to places like Afghanistan which do not have all these fancy computers I suppose.

abeppu 2y ago

> The chips have biometric info (hence the name) like legal name, sex, nationality, photos, and sometimes fingerprints ... legal names and nationalities aren't "biometric info" though. Is it fair to say that the chip contains the content of the travel document at the time it was issued (doesn't the chip also include the passport number, issue/expiration dates, etc) but not the stamps/visas that are added after the passport is issued ? I think everyone gets that the chip isn't updated when you get stamped into or out of a country.

placardloop 2y ago
> Is it fair to say that the chip contains the content of the travel document at the time it was issued Yes to expiration date and number (although afaik it does vary because each country may include or exclude certain information), but in general no, because even if you have a visa issued to you at the time of a passport being issued (like at the time of a passport renewal), the chip will not have that information. The chip information is basically just proving who you are, but doesn’t have any info on where you are permitted to go (other than permissions implied by your characteristics like nationality). That information is stored elsewhere, like in the passport pages or a country’s internal immigration records.

rswail 2y ago

The chip has at least the same information that is printed in machine readable format on the photo page. It has all the same fields in one or two lines with "<" field separators. I've had the chip read, I've also seen the passport being scanned to read those lines. A passport has two components, one is identification of the holder, the other is the travel (entry/exit stamps) history and potentially the conditions of entry (visas etc).