Unlike the passport book, the RFID chip in the passport card is designed to be readable at a greater distance, allowing border agents to access traveler information before they pull up to the inspection station.

In an effort to improve efficiency at land crossings, the passport card also includes a vicinity-read radio frequency identification chip with a unique identifying number tied to government databases.

In order to offer a less expensive and more portable alternative to border communities and frequent travelers, the passport card was developed. citizens traveling to Canada would have been required to obtain a passport booklet in order to enter the United States. Previous to the WHTI, many different types of documents were acceptable to cross the border, including birth certificates issued by thousands of different authorities within the United States and Canada. One result of this was the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), which mandates as of 2007 that a smaller, more secure number of documents verifying both identity and citizenship be used to facilitate identification and international border crossing. state generally requires people to carry identification.Īs a result of the September 11, 2001, attacks, the United States began implementing a range of measures to increase the security of its borders and its identity documents. National identity cards with similar utility are common inside the European Union and EFTA countries for both national and international use, with the difference that such cards are often mandatory to carry in several of these countries. The card is manufactured by L-1 Identity Solutions. By the end of 2016, more than 12 million passport cards had been issued to U.S. Applications have been accepted since Februproduction of the cards began July 14, 2008. The passport card (previously known as the People Access Security Service Card, or PASS Card) was created as a result of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), which imposed more stringent documentary requirements on travelers. However, the passport card cannot be used for international air travel.

The passport card allows its holders to travel by domestic air flights within the United States, and to travel by land and sea within North America. passport book, the passport card is only issued to U.S. nationals exclusively by the U.S. Department of State, compliant to the standards for identity documents set by the REAL ID Act, and can be used as proof of U.S. citizenship and identity. The United States passport card is an identity card and a limited travel document issued by the United States federal government in the size of a credit card.

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