Anyone get a new US passport? The "Next Generation" is way different.

[bcla]

I was waiting more than two months for my passport. I tried the pilot online submission program where I didn't need to physically submit my old passport and passport card - just enter the numbers and expiration dates. They were both expired but theoretically they were immediately cancelled upon submission of my online renewal application.

I'm thinking maybe they were going through this changeover and that's why it took longer than I thought it would. I got the 58 page passport since it doesn't cost any more. But this thing is way different. The info page is on a piece of plastic and all the information is in a raised print. The passport number is punched through the entire book with what looks like laser holes. The State Department calls this the "Next Generation Passport". A lot of these features were already on passport cards.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/passport-help/next-generation-passport.html

 

[bcla]

They also all start with a letter followed by 8 digits, when the latest of the previous-style US passport book numbers were just 9 digits. I guess that allows them to restart the count. Mine starts with an A and is in the 4 million range.

 

[fla4fun]

Interesting. Mine doesn’t expire for a couple of years, so I hadn’t really been keeping up to date on any changes. I get both the card and book. I will have to stay in the loop so I know what to expect.

 

[bcla]

The info page photo is in black & white, but there's also that small photo with a lenticular finish. I won't post it, but the opposite (endorsement) page where the signature goes also has a color photo, but it's got this weird digitizing feature where my name, DOB, and passport number are blended into the photo in a wavy pattern.

Not sure there this source is from, but it does show a sample where the passport is opened to the info page.

 

[sam_gordon]

They also all start with a letter followed by 8 digits, when the latest of the previous-style US passport book numbers were just 9 digits. I guess that allows them to restart the count. Mine starts with an A and is in the 4 million range.

I wonder if the various electronic forms (DW & I entered our passport info into Delta's webpage for an upcoming international trip) will accept the letter + 8 digits or if the forms are programmed on only accept 9 digits.

We renewed ours last January, so it will be a while before we worry about the new style. I will say the B&W photo matches (seems to at least) the "Real ID" we got.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Yes my husband got the new one when he had to get his replaced last year after it was stolen. They initially denied his photo because of the shadows. The photo that ended up on the passport is worst than the costco card photo in terms of pixilation. But yes he has the new one.

 

[bcla]

I wonder if the various electronic forms (DW & I entered our passport info into Delta's webpage for an upcoming international trip) will accept the letter + 8 digits or if the forms are programmed on only accept 9 digits.

We renewed ours last January, so it will be a while before we worry about the new style. I will say the B&W photo matches (seems to at least) the "Real ID" we got.

Other countries have passport numbers starting with letters, so I don't see why not. US passport cards all start with a C, but they're not used for international travel. I guess they might require some reprogramming if designed to filter out for expected numbers.

 

[QueenIsabella]

DS16 got a new passport, right before Christmas. It has the plastic page--like a driver's license--but it also has a color photo on the page opposite the plastic one. The laser numbers are only through the pages, NOT the cover. He's an "A08", so a few million after the OP. (We also had to apply in person, since he's a minor, and then mail in his old passport with the application.)

On the good side, he'll be 26 when he needs to renew again, no Mom involvement required...

 

[_19disnA]

Not surprising they are updating the security features to make them harder to counterfeit. I would assume the passport number and related information is stored in some sort of database that customs officials can access. It would seem that a bogus passport # would be relatively easy to spot since the information in the database won't match.

 

[tzolkin]

Our kids got passports last year that are this new style. I understand the value of the new security features, but I'm not a huge fan of the hard plastic of the first page. It makes it feel less booklet-like and it feels awkward to open.

I won't post it, but the opposite (endorsement) page where the signature goes also has a color photo, but it's got this weird digitizing feature where my name, DOB, and passport number are blended into the photo in a wavy pattern.

This was the feature our kids noticed immediately. They thought it was very cool that their photo was made up of the letters of their names.

 

[bcla]

DS16 got a new passport, right before Christmas. It has the plastic page--like a driver's license--but it also has a color photo on the page opposite the plastic one. The laser numbers are only through the pages, NOT the cover. He's an "A08", so a few million after the OP. (We also had to apply in person, since he's a minor, and then mail in his old passport with the application.)

My lasered numbers goes all the way to the back cover, but not all the way through. It's really odd too as that inside cover has my passport number in black with a barcode, but then those dots over it. But it is kind of cool how they have all these new features.

I do hope that it all works out. I'm thinking the info page is probably using similar technology that passport cards had since they came out in 2009. But mine had issues where the top layer cracked and the layers started separating. I tried to fix it with an iron and it was much better. But if I had to actually submit it, I'm not sure they wouldn't have considered it "damaged" where I would be required to submit a damaged report and get it renewed in person.

 

[bcla]

Our kids got passports last year that are this new style. I understand the value of the new security features, but I'm not a huge fan of the hard plastic of the first page. It makes it feel less booklet-like and it feels awkward to open.

I've heard of passport holders who folded their passports, so perhaps they could prevent people from doing it. OTOH - I remember the old reusable plastic Southwest Airlines boarding passes and I'd see ones that had clearly been folded.

 

[bcla]

Not surprising they are updating the security features to make them harder to counterfeit. I would assume the passport number and related information is stored in some sort of database that customs officials can access. It would seem that a bogus passport # would be relatively easy to spot since the information in the database won't match.

It should be everything including the photo of the passport holder. So it should be next to impossible to successfully fake a passport since it would be correlated with all the stuff in the database.

I do remember fictional accounts of people trying to buy and/or alter passports. The TV show China Beach had one storyline of a Vietnam War deserter offering to buy a woman's passport in order to get back home. I think the idea was that he'd swap out the photo and alter the name. In the movie The Killing Fields they had a UK citizen offering a second passport to his friend Dith Pran to get him out of Cambodia. He altered the name slightly (adding a first name) since the info was handwritten and tried attaching a photo they developed but didn't have fixer where the photo faded. I guess the most devious was a TV show where an international th managed to swap his own passport pages into someone else's passport to make it seem like this person had been in locations where crimes had occurred. The idea was that someone pulled out the stitching and then carefully restitched the pages in.

 

[_19disnA]

There is a current TV show that shows various airports where officials look for drug smugglers as well as those using fake/altered passports. I would assume there are one (or more) databases that all of these customs officials are able to access to see if these are real or fake. Before the days of computers, I could see how this could more easily take place, but it would seem way more difficult with current technology. A forger has no way to 'add' a bogus passport to any of these databases.

 

[Skippy918]

My dh and kids have the new passports. They got theirs last year. Mine is the older style cause I renewed in 2019. I have my first passport from 1999 and they used the actual photo laminated onto the page.

 

[bcla]

There is a current TV show that shows various airports where officials look for drug smugglers as well as those using fake/altered passports. I would assume there are one (or more) databases that all of these customs officials are able to access to see if these are real or fake. Before the days of computers, I could see how this could more easily take place, but it would seem way more difficult with current technology. A forger has no way to 'add' a bogus passport to any of these databases.

It would require some sort of inside help. Obviously fictional accounts show people who managed to fake identities where they managed to get real passports. I think the Amazon Prime show Jack Ryan portrayed a terrorist arriving in the US on a false identity, and CPB (at a general aviation and not commercial airport) checked his US passport and let the terrorist in. However, these days I'm thinking it's not just the passport but also use of facial recognition to perhaps look out for people who might be on some watchlist or who are using fake passports.

 

[bcla]

My dh and kids have the new passports. They got theirs last year. Mine is the older style cause I renewed in 2019. I have my first passport from 1999 and they used the actual photo laminated onto the page.

That was my first style passport. My photo was a Polaroid instant - the kind where the camera takes two identical photos projected onto two images, and where they developed it and then removed the backing. I still have the cancelled passport, and the photo is remarkably still stable after all those years.

 

[NotUrsula]

US passports are worth quite a lot on the black market overseas, even now. Dealers have been known to keep a stock of them so buyers can select one with a photo that at least somewhat resembles the buyer. They don't try to alter the passport anymore, now they go for a resemblance and make the person up to fit it better. There have even been instances where imposters wore latex masks to try to look like the older person pictured on the passport.

 

[MillauFr]

Why on earth in 2022 are they still relying on physical documents for passports? As everyone has already pointed out physical media is rife with fraud and abuse. Fraudsters can create better looking documents than the US Government. And a picture? LOL Please. Disneyworld has a better system to verify identity than our government.

 

[tzolkin]

US passports are worth quite a lot on the black market overseas, even now. Dealers have been known to keep a stock of them so buyers can select one with a photo that at least somewhat resembles the buyer. They don't try to alter the passport anymore, now they go for a resemblance and make the person up to fit it better. There have even been instances where imposters wore latex masks to try to look like the older person pictured on the passport.

Yes. My husband looks absolutely nothing like his passport photo. The last two times we have gone on an international vacation the customs people had to carefully look at his eyes to decide if it was really him or not. In his photo he was super clean cut and baby-faced (our kids' friends always said he looked like Captain America). Now he has a long beard and long hair (looks more like a character from Vikings) and appears significantly older than the photo.

We could probably find 5 random people in the airport who resemble his passport more than he does. So, I could definitely see where it would be easy to use a stolen passport if all you need is to look similar to the photo.