# How do passports work? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 19, 2009, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-passports-work/481960 "2009-01-19T07:21:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-passports-work/481960/21 "2009-01-19T20:30:03Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > That’s not been my experience at Sydney Airport, on the 20 plus times I’ve gone through: first you go through immigration, then you collect your bags, then you go through customs. In America it is ostensibly the same thing: first you go through immigration, then you collect your bags, then you go through customs. Except that after you think you have cleared passport control the guy who is ostensibly only “customs” and only interested in your luggage starts asking questions about “how long do you plan to stay” and other such things which are, clearly, not customs but Immigration. I do not know how they formally divide the work but it is quite clear that the customs people are acting as a second immigration hurdle. Maybe, probably, they are working in concert with the first guys and double-check for the same responses. It is a favorite tactic of the US authorities to ask the same questions over and over in the hope that the “customer” might give a different answer in which case he’s screwed. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-passports-work/481960/22 "2009-01-19T21:24:01Z")
> [@CalD](#): > > Is it of any interest to Australian customs officials that some guy arrives with a Kenyan passport, which would be **a passport that Australian officials have absolutely no way of verifying the legitimacy** of? **Emphasis mine.** Never assume that. Instead, assume that the official about to stamp your passport and allow you to enter their country knows quite a bit more about you than what is contained in your passport. ---
**Author:** ![Convict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Convict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Convict)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-passports-work/481960/23 "2009-01-19T21:56:54Z")
> [@susan](#): > > When you visit countries with more stringent control/tracking of citizen and non-citizen travel, your passport and visa serve not just as your ID, but as a means of ascertaining where you are and for how long. E.g., in Vietnam my passport is held by my hotel for the duration of my stay, and I can’t get a room without it. If I want to spend a night somewhere else but retain my room, I must obtain my passport from the first hotel and present it to the second in order to get a room. It was like this when I traveled to the Soviet Union in 1990. Our passports (and maybe visas, I don’t remember) were held by the hotel until checkout. Since that was during the Cold War the trip was somewhat interesting. Our passports got us into West Germany. We hopped on a plane from there to West Berlin, no passport stamp or visa required. We flew out of East Berlin so a transit visa was required to get us past the Wall (no passport stamp). When we arrived in Moscow the border guards looked at our passports but only stamped our visas. When we left the USSR we had to hand our visas over to the border guards. Then transit visa from East to West Berlin and then a passport stamp when we left Frankfurt. Looking at my passport you would think I spent 17 days in West Germany. ---
**Author:** ![Gotterfunken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58956e/32.png) [@Gotterfunken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gotterfunken)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-passports-work/481960/24 "2009-01-19T22:58:45Z")
> [@sailor](#): > > I do not know how they formally divide the work but it is quite clear that the customs people are acting as a second immigration hurdle. Maybe, probably, they are working in concert with the first guys and double-check for the same responses. It is a favorite tactic of the US authorities to ask the same questions over and over in the hope that the “customer” might give a different answer in which case he’s screwed. A few years ago, I returned to the US after spending a couple of weeks in Spain and Portugal. On my landing card, in the box where you declare the total value of goods purchased while overseas, I just filled it in with “0” (zero). I did so because I really didn’t really buy anything more than postcards–nothing of any commercial value. I had done the same on previous trips, and hadn’t experienced any trouble with it. The immigration officer (I think it was La Guardia or JFK, though I can’t recall for certain) noticed the “zero” and quizzed me about it. I told him, in all honesty, that I hadn’t done any shopping–I had spent my time visiting museums and sightseeing (I was still a poor student then, and didn’t have any money to spare on shopping, anyway). He scribbled something on my landing card, stamped my passport, and sent me on to get my bags and go through customs. When I arrived at customs, the customs agent asked to see my landing card, and after looking at it, he went through the same questions with me, and I answered them the same way as with the immigration officer. After I had answered his questions, the customs agent said “Well, the guy up front [the immigration officer] didn’t believe you, but I do.” And then he let me go through, without having me open my bags or anything. From this experience, I gathered that the immigration officer must have flagged my landing card when he scribbled on it, and the customs agent was thereby alerted that he should give special attention to me and my bags. Since then, I’ve always filled in my landing card with the value of goods as some sort of positive quantity, even if it’s just a few dollars worth of postcards or guidebooks. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-passports-work/481960/25 "2009-01-20T07:39:34Z")
> [@CalD](#): > > Thanks for the responses guys. Are you in Australia? Check out a few episodes of “Border Security” on TV. Customs are quite good at detecting forged passports even if they are from other countries. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-passports-work/481960/26 "2009-01-20T09:13:02Z")
countries usually have reciprocal agreeements and share information with one another and the immigration officer in front of you can tell immidietly if your passports a fake. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-passports-work/481960/27 "2009-01-20T14:22:53Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > The purpose of a passport is not so much for your home country, but so you can prove your citizenship or nationality to the countries you are visiting. For example, the US has a mutual [visa waiver program](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_waiver_program) with 35 countries. People with passports from those countries can enter the US as a tourist without a visa. People who don’t hold one of those passports require a visa to enter. It’s for your home country too. You won’t get through customs in the US without one even if you’re a US citizen. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-passports-work/481960/28 "2009-01-20T18:48:33Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > It’s for your home country too. You won’t get through customs in the US without one even if you’re a US citizen. Obviously false. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-passports-work/481960/29 "2009-01-20T22:51:32Z")
Um… actually, it obviously isn’t. I invite you to try “Look, Mr. Customs Official, I’m a citizen, so let me in” next time you travel overseas and see what they say. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-passports-work/481960/30 "2009-01-20T23:17:18Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Um… actually, it obviously isn’t. I invite you to try “Look, Mr. Customs Official, I’m a citizen, so let me in” next time you travel overseas and see what they say. #1 - Cite me a law that says an American citizen cannot be allowed back into his country without a passport. You will not find it because it does not exist. #2- How do you explain Americans who travel to countries which do not require passports? Do they have to stay there forever? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-passports-work/481960/31 "2009-01-20T23:25:23Z")
> [@sailor](#): > > #1 - Cite me a law that says an American citizen cannot be allowed back into his country without a passport. You will not find it because it does not exist. > > #2- How do you explain Americans who travel to countries which do not require passports? Do they have to stay there forever? #1 - Will the [Customs & Border Patrol](http://help.cbp.gov/cgi-bin/customs.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=74) website do? > [@](#): > > If traveling from outside the Western Hemisphere, all U.S. citizens MUST present a passport, including children and infants Sorry, but that’s just the way it works. You either have to present a U.S. passport, a passport from a visa waiver state, or a visa- which will be (natch) in your passport. #2 - They will be told that they’ll need a passport to reenter the country, unless there’s a reciprocal agreement in place. We call those exceptions. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-passports-work/481960/32 "2009-01-21T00:22:01Z")
\> If traveling from outside the Western Hemisphere, all U.S. citizens MUST present a passport, including children and infants America has taken over the entire western hemisphere so that now they are synonymous? When did that happen? Poor Canadians. ---
**Author:** ![MrFloppy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@MrFloppy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrFloppy)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-passports-work/481960/33 "2009-01-21T00:30:22Z")
I renewed my UK Passport last year and my new one has a wirey thingy laminated into the back page. Looks like a spiral coil of wire. Is that some kind of RFID? Mrs. Floppy (US Citizen) renewed hers and it doesn have one. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-passports-work/481960/34 "2009-01-21T03:09:22Z")
> [@MrFloppy](#): > > I renewed my UK Passport last year and my new one has a wirey thingy laminated into the back page. Looks like a spiral coil of wire. Is that some kind of RFID? > > Mrs. Floppy (US Citizen) renewed hers and it doesn have one. That’ll be the [biometric chip](http://www.ips.gov.uk/passport/about-biometric.asp). And yes it is an RFID device. Although it’s called “biometric”, so far the only data stored on the chip is a digitised version of the photograph, together with the details already printed in the passport (name, date of birth, etc). So there is no “hidden” data on there. ---
**Author:** ![MrFloppy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@MrFloppy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrFloppy)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-passports-work/481960/35 "2009-01-21T03:16:28Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > That’ll be the [biometric chip](http://www.ips.gov.uk/passport/about-biometric.asp). And yes it is an RFID device. > > Although it’s called “biometric”, so far the only data stored on the chip is a digitised version of the photograph, together with the details already printed in the passport (name, date of birth, etc). So there is no “hidden” data on there. Ahh. That probably explains why the darn thing cost me almost $200! ---
**Author:** ![Galena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@Galena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galena)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-passports-work/481960/36 "2009-01-21T03:18:30Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > That’s not been my experience at Sydney Airport, on the 20 plus times I’ve gone through: first you go through immigration, then you collect your bags, then you go through customs. Actually, I think this may be not precisely correct. When I was in Sydney last year, my understanding was that the first line was customs and immigration and the second line was quarantine, which seems like a substantially different type of procedure than customs. Maybe not? ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-passports-work/481960/37 "2009-01-21T03:32:54Z")
> [@sailor](#): > > Americans can travel to Canada without a passport. Is this still correct? As of last year, I thought a passport was required (of a U.S. Citizen) traveling between the U.S. and Canada. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-passports-work/481960/38 "2009-01-21T03:37:50Z")
> [@MrFloppy](#): > > I renewed my UK Passport last year and my new one has a wirey thingy laminated into the back page. Looks like a spiral coil of wire. Is that some kind of RFID? > > Mrs. Floppy (US Citizen) renewed hers and it doesn have one. I just got my new (US) passport last week and it does have a chip. I feel so high tech. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-passports-work/481960/39 "2009-01-21T04:05:03Z")
> [@jasonh300](#): > > Is this still correct? As of last year, I thought a passport was required (of a U.S. Citizen) traveling between the U.S. and Canada. Passports are required for US citizens _returning to the US_ by air. And I believe that (unless something changes) as of June 1st, they will be required from US citizens returning by water or by land. The Canadian Embassy in Washington on [visiting Canada](http://www.goingtocanada.gc.ca/CIC/display-afficher.do?id=0000000000106&lang=eng). It looks like US citizens do not need passports to visit Canada. It’s kind of hard to tell, though. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-passports-work/481960/40 "2009-01-21T04:39:08Z")
> [@](#): > > -January, 2009- > > Bottom line: As of June 1, 2009, everyone from every country that comes to Canada by air, land and sea needs a passport or equivalent travel document. > > Before June 1, 2009, U.S. citizens do not necessarily need a passport entering Canada by land or sea, but need valid ID that proves identity and citizenship. > > … Canada Border Services does not require U.S. citizens to present a passport to enter Canada. This friendly border crossing agreement used to be mutual; however, now the WHTI requires that U.S. citizens have a passport to return home. [http://gocanada.about.com/od/canadatraveloverview/qt/uscitizenborder.htm](http://gocanada.about.com/od/canadatraveloverview/qt/uscitizenborder.htm) Roaches check in but they don’t check out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-passports-work/481960.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-passports-work/481960.md?page=3)