# US Passport Mystery Green Dot
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-passport-mystery-green-dot/263618
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [September 8, 2004, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-passport-mystery-green-dot/263618 "2004-09-08T07:12:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 19
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@love2butterfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/love2butterfly)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-passport-mystery-green-dot/263618/1 "2004-09-08T07:12:55Z")
A friend of mine has a US Passport with a green cover. It turns out that it was an anniversary edition (explains the green cover) however there was a green colored felt dot on the front cover. The size was that of a hole punch in paper.
Is the green dot a secret symbol and/or serve a purpose?
Thanks
love2butterfly
PS-I asked him and he refuses to answer and just plays it off.
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### Author:  [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-passport-mystery-green-dot/263618/2 "2004-09-08T07:17:47Z")
Just curious. Do you know what year the passport was issued?
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### Author:  [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-passport-mystery-green-dot/263618/3 "2004-09-08T07:21:04Z")
Totally friendly pointer here, **love2butterfly** :
Read the forum descriptions. This forum is for bad language and political retards. Your question would probably be more at home in “General Questions.”
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### Author:  [@love2butterfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/love2butterfly)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-passport-mystery-green-dot/263618/4 "2004-09-08T07:29:58Z")
The passport was issued in 1993 (200th anniversary of something or other) with Ben Franklin quote on the back page.
It’s the green dot on the front cover that is driving me nuts.
Note: This is my first time ever posting anywhere (I’m not retarded but simply ignorant) and would love to know how to post this question in the appropriate forum.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
love2butterfly
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### Author:  [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-passport-mystery-green-dot/263618/5 "2004-09-08T08:18:42Z")
there’s a pulldown menu at the bottom right of this page; it lists the forums. “General Questions” is for questions that seek a factual answer. “The BBQ Pit” (this forum) is for posts whose originators predict will become especially contentious: it’s the forum where namecalling is allowed.
“About this message board” will give you further information.
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### Author:  [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-passport-mystery-green-dot/263618/6 "2004-09-08T08:23:01Z")
Also, if you’ll go to the [front page](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/index.php?), you’ll see a listing of the forums with brief descriptions of each. And as I mentioned before, ATMB (About This Message Board) includes a lot of threads that clarify policies.
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### Author:  [@Spiny\_Norman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiny_Norman)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-passport-mystery-green-dot/263618/7 "2004-09-08T12:25:58Z")
- let me ask: Are you sure it’s felt ?
WIld-ass guess: I’ve had a label shaped like a green paper dot placed on my passport several times when checking in for an international flight. I never had the nerve to ask why, though. (“Hello, Homeland Security ? We have this guy with a foreign passport and an accent asking questions about security procedures.”) For a while, I assumed it meant “carrier remembered to remove the I-94 stub from this passport”, but that wouldn’t apply to a US passport. (I-94 is a form that has to do with the Visa Waiver program, and if the INS doesn’t get the stub as you leave the US, they may not belive you actually left, and you can get in all sorts of problems the next time you try to enter.)
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### Author:  [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-passport-mystery-green-dot/263618/8 "2004-09-08T13:00:34Z")
I’m moving this from the Pit to the General Questions forum. Welcome, **love2butterfly** , we’re glad to have you here.
On the [opening Message Board page](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb), you’ll find a list of the forums and a brief description. To post a question or start a thread, you click on that forum, and then on the “Start New Thread” button.
No sweat, everyone has a li’l problems here and there when they first join on. And we’re glad to have you with us. And glad you took my email suggestion to post this question here! I’m curious, but I don’t think Cecil would have taken it on for the column.
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### Author:  [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-passport-mystery-green-dot/263618/9 "2004-09-08T22:38:22Z")
My passport was issued in 1993 too, and is green, but I don’t have a dot. Is it perhaps something your friend stuck on there himself and he’s messin’ with you?
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### Author:  [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-passport-mystery-green-dot/263618/10 "2004-09-08T23:10:42Z")
Oh shit a **green dot?**
Never mind, nothing, it’s not important
::: adjusts tin foil on head, shoves hands in pockets, walks away whistling :::
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### Author:  [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2004, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-passport-mystery-green-dot/263618/11 "2004-09-09T00:23:17Z")
I have random stuff stuck all over my passport, by security personnel in various countries. Including a blue dot, actually.
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### Author:  [@observer11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/observer11)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2004, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-passport-mystery-green-dot/263618/12 "2004-09-09T04:06:28Z")
Here are pictures of the U.S. passport’s current blue cover and previous green cover. Doesn’t look like any felt dots:
[http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pub/transporters/Appendix2-14.html](http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pub/transporters/Appendix2-14.html)
As others have said, it probably is something an airline or some other authority stuck on the passport so that other officials could know at a glance that the passport had been checked. I’ll bet if the passport holder had made the same trip the next day he’d have the same kind of dot in a different color.
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### Author:  [@love2butterfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/love2butterfly)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2004, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-passport-mystery-green-dot/263618/13 "2004-09-09T04:32:07Z")
> [@observer11](#):
>
> Here are pictures of the U.S. passport’s current blue cover and previous green cover. Doesn’t look like any felt dots:
>
> [http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pub/transporters/Appendix2-14.html](http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pub/transporters/Appendix2-14.html)
>
> As others have said, it probably is something an airline or some other authority stuck on the passport so that other officials could know at a glance that the passport had been checked. I’ll bet if the passport holder had made the same trip the next day he’d have the same kind of dot in a different color.
I’m not a conspiracy nut so hear me out.
The owner (my friend) of the passport with the mysterious green dot was in the Naval Intelligence Service (NIS) and I was just thinking that maybe the green dot was some type of little known identifier that some countries may use to just waive you through as you could possibly be military, contracted intelligence, or whatever.
The green dot had a “felt like” surface and was definitely permanent. It was located near the upper right hand corner on the front passport cover and about the size of a hole punch.
The only stamp inside the passport was from France and that is the only country he claims to have visited (with that passport) during the time the passport was valid.
Here are two stupid questions - if France or any other country placed a permanent dot (any color) on the front of your passport cover every time you arrived or departed and you traveled a lot, wouldn’t the dots eventually cover so much of the front that it would look silly or outright fake until opened? Why mess around with dots when you can just stamp the inside pages?
I’m just trying to figure out why that green dot is there?
Respectfully,
love2butterfly
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### Author:  [@love2butterfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/love2butterfly)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2004, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-passport-mystery-green-dot/263618/14 "2004-09-09T04:49:43Z")
> [@SmackFu](#):
>
> I have random stuff stuck all over my passport, by security personnel in various countries. Including a blue dot, actually.
Dear SmakFu,
I appreciate your reply however feel the need to mention that I have traveled to so many countries, the US Embassy had to twice add pages for additional visas and entry stamps, etc. My passport is very well worn however I have yet to see a dot placed anywhere on or in my passport.
In addition, I have friends (from US and other countries) who have traveled even more that I and none of them have seen a green (or any other colored) dot.
The mystery of the the green dot is driving me insane so somebody please help.
Yours Truly,
love2butterfly
PS - It’s probably too late to say that I’m not crazy but assure you I’m not.
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### Author:  [@observer11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/observer11)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2004, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-passport-mystery-green-dot/263618/15 "2004-09-09T06:09:14Z")
If this guy was on official government business he would (or at least could) have gotten an official passport:
[http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mpassport.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mpassport.html)
It’s hard to believe that any intelligence operative would want any kind of indication of that fact on his passport.
Maybe there are some travel websites where you would get a more useful response. Arthur Frommer, Lonely Planet, Fodor’s? An airline counter employee at an international airport probably sees thousands of passports a day. If you could get your message out to them you might get a good answer.
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### Author:  [@Atticus\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atticus_Finch)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2004, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-passport-mystery-green-dot/263618/16 "2004-09-09T06:54:04Z")
I find it hard to believe that there’s any permanent “Get through US Customs quickly” sticker. That would allow just about anyone to circumvent Customs and smuggle drugs or whatever, just by sticking on a small sticker.
I think it’s more likely to be a temporary “Already checked this person” sticker, designed to last five minutes between customs stations, from somewhere in the world, as other posters have suggested. The fact that you and the rest of your friends haven’t received one of these yourself (neither have I, off the top of my head) doesn’t negate this theory.
If it’s really killing you, why not contact the Passports Office, or whatever it’s called in the US.
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### Author:  [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2004, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-passport-mystery-green-dot/263618/17 "2004-09-09T15:40:30Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Here are two stupid questions - if France or any other country placed a permanent dot (any color) on the front of your passport cover every time you arrived or departed \<\\>
I’ve traveled to and from France many times with my green, issued-in-1993 passport, and they have never put dots on the cover.
Re your friend being in the NIS, I would hope they and the airlines have a more-foolproof system than “green dot means wave through, don’t bother checking anything, he’s DoD and A-OK.” I don’t imagine it’s too hard to replicate a green dot of felt on one’s passport cover.
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### Author:  [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2004, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-passport-mystery-green-dot/263618/18 "2004-09-09T16:26:51Z")
> [@missbunny](#):
>
> I’ve traveled to and from France many times with my green, issued-in-1993 passport, and they have never put dots on the cover.
I have a blue passport, and have also traveled to France many times, and I believe that on at least two occasions, stickers were put on my passport when I checked in luggage. The stickers sound nothing like the ones described in the OP, though.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2004, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-passport-mystery-green-dot/263618/19 "2004-09-09T17:23:00Z")
Oh…he’s one of _those_…
Was the passport issued overseas at an American embassy? If so, the dot could be an indicator of that.