# Is it safe / normal to send a scanned copy of your passport to a potential employer?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-safe-normal-to-send-a-scanned-copy-of-your-passport-to-a-potential-employer/635104>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [September 18, 2012, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-safe-normal-to-send-a-scanned-copy-of-your-passport-to-a-potential-employer/635104 "2012-09-18T20:35:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-safe-normal-to-send-a-scanned-copy-of-your-passport-to-a-potential-employer/635104/1 "2012-09-18T20:35:38Z")

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Long story short, I’ve applied for a job abroad, and I’ve now been given an offer to fly over and meet with the company. They’re offering to book me a flight, and I’ve been asked to send a scan of the first page of my passport, as this apparently is needed for the booking.

Am I paranoid to be a bit :dubious: about this? Is this normal procedure? Could there be some sort of fraud involved? Is there any kind of trickery someone could potentially get up to with a scanned copy of your passport?

(For the record, the company involved seems completely legit, and I can find nothing on the Web that suggests that they would be up to anything fishy.)

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**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-safe-normal-to-send-a-scanned-copy-of-your-passport-to-a-potential-employer/635104/2 "2012-09-18T20:46:14Z")

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Was a required part of my application when I was applying for jobs overseas. In my experience it is normal.

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**Author:** ![Cyros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Cyros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyros)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-safe-normal-to-send-a-scanned-copy-of-your-passport-to-a-potential-employer/635104/3 "2012-09-18T20:49:05Z")

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I’m not sure about booking flights but I do know that hotels in some areas (the Middle East in my experience) ask for at least a passport number when making reservations.

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**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-safe-normal-to-send-a-scanned-copy-of-your-passport-to-a-potential-employer/635104/4 "2012-09-18T21:15:14Z")

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It’s typical. I recently arranged for my employer to invite a guest from overseas, and that was one of the things they needed in advance. (In this case it wasn’t for _booking_ the flight, but for us to reimburse the cost of the trip.)

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**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-safe-normal-to-send-a-scanned-copy-of-your-passport-to-a-potential-employer/635104/5 "2012-09-18T21:22:06Z")

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Thanks for your replies. I guess it’s OK then. 🙂