Received my Passport

[jimgreener]

Hello All
I received my passport today. I applied on Jan 10th (expedited).
Interesting thing is that they sent my Naturalization Certificate also along with the passport. And also there was my picture also, which I found interesting.

One question is that the new passport is little different than my wife's(who got it in 2002).
In my passport there is sign and information that there is electronic chip in the passport.
Another interesting thing is that old passports used to have picture on the back of front cover but new passports have picture on the back of first page not the cover. Can someone else confirm this is how their passport looks
Thanks

 

[cafeconleche]

Yup, this is the new epassport or biometric passport with an RFID chip in it. Do you like the design?

 

[jimgreener]

It looks like a comic book

 

[nycjordankix]

i don't see my picture in the envelope, but it's not a big deal, lol

 

[Vorpal]

I also had one of the pictures sent back to me along with the passport. They only need 1 picture anyway.

 

[dms1]

Another interesting thing is that old passports used to have picture on the back of front cover but new passports have picture on the back of first page not the cover.

I assume they changed this for the same reason that the UK did a few years ago. Having the picture on the inside of the cover meant that forgers could use the inner pages from a stolen passport and only have to create a new cover. Having the photo etc. on an inner page was supposed to make life a lot harder for forgers. The latest UK passports also have the passport number punched through every page in a dot-matrix format, effectively rendering stolen passports useless as the basis for forging a new one.

 

[jimgreener]

I assume they changed this for the same reason that the UK did a few years ago. Having the picture on the inside of the cover meant that forgers could use the inner pages from a stolen passport and only have to create a new cover. Having the photo etc. on an inner page was supposed to make life a lot harder for forgers. The latest UK passports also have the passport number punched through every page in a dot-matrix format, effectively rendering stolen passports useless as the basis for forging a new one.

From what you are saying, it seems having photo on the back of cover is more secure. But the latest passports have photo on the back of first page (NOT COVER)

 

[dms1]

From what you are saying, it seems having photo on the back of cover is more secure. But the latest passports have photo on the back of first page (NOT COVER)

I was trying to say it is less secure on the cover. If you have the photo on the inside of the cover, someone can steal a passport and just replace the cover with a forgery to make a fake passport. Obviously if the picture etc. is on one of the inside pages then they cannot do this. I presume the reason it is considered safer is that the inner pages are harder to forge - they contain numerous watermarks and other security features much like bank notes. Of course, having the embedded ID chip in the cover makes forgery almost impossible.

 

[nycjordankix]

i agree, the cover already contain a chip and the inner page has ur information and photo that's nearly impossible to forger, since now the government don't just look at the date page but also read the information from the chip to identify the PP holder.

 

[cafeconleche]

Yah, but many passports have the number punched right through. The US used to do it too, and maybe, they still should. But, what do I know about passport security.

 

[nycjordankix]

i think it is difficult to make the data page, since if the chip fails to be read or scanned, they have to read the data page, and every single page inside the passport has the "eagle" watermark.

 

[ucheojo1]

From what you are saying, it seems having photo on the back of cover is more secure. But the latest passports have photo on the back of first page (NOT COVER)

Jimgreener. You passport format is the same as all that aplied after 2007. Both Citizens born here and Naturalized.

Dont worry about the photo front or back.
My wife has the old format that expired. She applied and they gave her the electronic passport.

Due to security issues, Countries around the world are switching to the
Electronic format.