Do I Have An RFID Passport?
 

I just picked up my new U.S. passport.

How can I tell if it has an RFID chip?

They have a symbol on the front cover. Check here to see what it looks like. No symbol, no RFID.

http://www.hasbrouck.org/blog/archives/001003.html

Pictures HERE

Notice the symbol on the cover.

This thread just cleared up a mystery for me. A friend of my showed me his new ultra secure passport shield that blocked "scanning" that was highly recommended to him before his trip to China.

I thought he was nuts and was just a step away from showing up with an aluminum foil cone on his head to thwart those pesky CIA mind probes. LOL.

Now, at least, I know my friend isnt losing it.

If anyone is interested in the passport shield, let me know and Ill ask him where he got it.

Thank you both.

I just have a plain vanilla version.

Good to know that NYC is still giving out the old one- my application is pending and I'm hoping to not get the new version.

I believe that you need to totally encase your body in aluminium foil for this to work.

I have to honestly tell you that I do not know which Passport Agency office issued my passport as I used an expediting company.

No.

Although I wasn't a fan of RFID chips in US passports and am still not, I had thought the "passport shields" were a bit of a waste at this stage ... but that was until I found out that organized criminal gangs operating most meaningfully out of DXB, KHI and BOM were looking to acquire readers and get them delivered around Asia and Europe for what are presumably nefarious purposes.

What does it say inside your passport as authorizing/issuing agency? Simply "Department of State", as is more recently being done (especially for those done via the mail)? (The standard used to be either "National Passport Agency/Office" or "New York [or other city in its place] Passport Agency/Office".

The Denver passport facility is the only one that is closest to 100% RFID-implementation.

"United States Department of State."

My passport was set to expire in 2008, and I decided to renew now and get not only a better picture, but a non-RFID model.

On the advice of a Seattle passport agency employee, rather than gin up a reason and pay extra to have mine issued in person as recommended here:

http://www.hasbrouck.org/blog/archives/001060.html

...I just sent mine in a couple of weeks ago to the national passport center address for renewals.

He said that at the national centers, they were only issuing something on the order of one of every hundred as RFID at this point, as the production lines weren't up to speed.

In my letter requesting a 48 page model, I also requested a non-RFID, just in case someone would take note of that.

Passports are still being issued for most people without RFID chips, but the "Department of State" as authorizing/issuing agency in the words noted above is now basically standard for most passports issued within the US.

Vendors are having problems, to say the least. There are also a lot of other things in relation to this RFID thing that doesn't inspire confidence either.

Seriously, save yourself a lot of money on a passport shield and use some of that aluminum foil hat and wrap your RFID passport in it. That's what we do for toll road transponders.