MetricFlyer

I was born overseas to US parents... but the city is in a "disputed" country, so I opted to list just "city of birth" option.(allowed upon request, per State Dept's FAM)

Here's the weird thing... I suspect that the RFID chip in both my US passport book and card are unradable(inactive) because of this. All the US passports of my family members and friends can be read with no problem by immigration officials in US and foreign countries. Not mine. (again, both book and card)

When I contacted Dept of State, I was told that they'd be happy to replace my passport free of charge. 3 weeks later, I received the replacement passport book. Just used it again this morning. I asked the foreign(EU) passport checker if she could see the info on my passport. She couldn't. She asked the guy in the next counter to try it. His reader also couldn't read the RFID chip. (but let me through, obviously, otherwise I wouldn't be here writing this )

So... am I correct in assuming that it was done deliberate because "city of birth" is not the usual data that would appear on the passport data? (therefore couldn't be programmed into the RFID)

Called the passport hotline in the US. They denied this(or wasn't aware of it). Just told me that I can get another replacement free of charge.

Thanks!

N965VJ

When I received my RFID enabled passport a few years ago, I gave it some Hammer Time, and have had no issues or delays transiting customs anywhere. Since it does not seem this is causing you any problems, perhaps the State Department saved you some wear and tear on the blunt heavy object of your choice.

Epod

The chip in the passport CARD allegedly only contains a pointer to your full record, probably based on the card number. If that's true, there wouldn't be any information on the chip regarding your place of birth.

BigFlyer

If you or a friend have an Android phone with an NFC chip, if you download the free app NFC TagInfo you can try to read the chip and see what it says.

I just looked at a US epassport (not mine, a friend's as mine is not handy), and in the Place of Birth field it says "CALIFORNIA USA". One would think that even if the field had a city name alone it should be readable - after all countries can change their names and presumably it can be read by immigration officials.

MetricFlyer

already tried that on 5 different US passports.... all the other ones are
scanned very quickly. not mine... it doesn't even register. (passport
card also doesn't scan... but others people's cards scan just fine)

(not that it surprised me, since the immigration officers couldn't scan
it either)

König

My passport book and card could not be scanned by my phone either, but I know for sure that at least the passport card works fine because many times crossing the land border I saw RFID reader's counter go up.

MetricFlyer

I have my family's 5 passport books and 5 passport cards in front of me
My own passport book and card are the only two that can't be scanned
by the phones.(Samsung Galaxy S3 and Note 2) The other 8 only take
3 to 5 seconds to scan and I can see the personal data and photo
embedded on the RFID. Not sure why mine can't be scanned.

SeriouslyLost

You made sure to ask it nicely first?

MIT_SBM

I don't mean to hijack this thread [as is oft said when one is hijacking a thread], but I want to ask a question of those who have scanned their own and other's passports using this software. Did/do you have any concerns regarding identity theft? I know some people are so concerned that they buy RFID shields for their ePassports, others go as far as 'hammering' or 'nuking' the chip in an attempt to disable it. Do you think there is any risk in scanning your passport book or card using software from some random poster?

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To add to the on-going conversation: I highly doubt that just having the characters "city of birth" in a field disabled the RFID chip. IF the RFID chip is in fact disabled and has been on more than one version of your passport, then it was probably disabled by the Passport issuer. I find it highly unlikely that you would have received two defective passport books and a defective passport card, once again leading me to believe that the RFID chip was disabled by the issuer. [Occam's Razor]

SeriouslyLost

More likely that if a field is missing the software treats it as corrupted data an doesn't display anything. Out of interest in knowing myself, I'm checking with a friend or two that will know the answer on that one.

lin821

Not sure how the RFID chips affect your 5 passports, but here's an old thread about "City of Birth" in US passports:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/pract...-passport.html

mkt

My passport has issues reading, always has.

weltfrieden

does it have city of birth listed, instead of state/country of birth?

Randyk47

I doubt after three years they're monitoring this thread closely.

DaveBlaine

I think it was Sir Mix-a-lot who said, I like big bumps and I can not lie.