· Written and maintained by Nonimo
To redact a passport copy is to black out the details the recipient doesn’t need: the two machine readable lines at the foot of the page, your place of birth, the issue date, and sometimes the passport number or your date of birth. What stays visible proves who you are; what is covered no longer travels with the copy.
The tool at the top of this page reads the photo or PDF of your Irish passport in your browser and puts a chip on each detail. You decide, chip by chip, what stays readable, and the boxes are solid, not a blur. Your passport never leaves your device.
If the copy is going to a landlord or a bank, you can also write who it is for and the month across it, as set out on our page on watermarking a passport copy.
How to redact a passport copy
1. Add your passport’s data page
Take a photo with your phone or drop in a scan, as JPG, PNG, WEBP, HEIC or PDF. Crop, straighten or rotate it if the page sits at an angle. The tool recognises the data page of the new 2026 Irish passport and of the 2013 design.
2. Tap what you want hidden
The page opens with everything visible and a chip for each detail. Tap one to cover it with a black box, tap again to bring it back, and Show everything undoes the lot. Cover the passport number, or your date of birth, and it is also covered where it repeats in the two lines at the bottom. To black out both lines completely, use Redact by hand.
3. Download the redacted copy
As PNG, JPG or PDF, with the boxes burned into the pixels and none of the original photo’s metadata. If the passport is going out inside a longer scanned file, redacting a PDF properly covers the traps in the rest of it.
What to redact on an Irish passport, field by field
The data page of an Irish passport carries its labels in Irish and English, Sloinne/Surname, Náisiúntacht/Nationality and so on, around the photo. Most recipients need four or five of its fields. The rest are there for a border officer.
| field | on the copy you send |
|---|---|
| Surname, forenames, photo | visible: this is what they check |
| Date of expiry | visible: it shows the passport is valid |
| Passport number | visible only if they have to record it |
| Date of birth | covered unless they ask for it |
| Place of birth, date of issue | covered |
| The two lines at the foot (MRZ) | each detail you cover is covered here too |
The fields are those on the Irish passport data page; the second column is our advice.
The two lines at the foot repeat the whole page
The machine readable zone is the part people forget, because it doesn’t look like personal data. Under ICAO Doc 9303, the international standard for passports, it is two lines of 44 characters holding your name, the passport number, nationality, date of birth, sex and expiry date. Hide the number above and leave it below, and it is still in plain sight. In the tool, each detail you cover above is covered in the lines too; to black out both lines completely, use Redact by hand.
When the number has to stay
A bank, a credit union or a solicitor has to verify your identity on documents under section 33 of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010, so the number, the photo and the expiry stay readable for them. A landlord comparing applicants, a club or a course provider almost never needs it.
Before a passport copy goes to an AI
To ask ChatGPT about a visa form or a field you don’t understand, go further: tap every chip still visible until nothing points to you. What the assistant keeps of an image is set out in our guide to whether ChatGPT keeps your photos, and our list of personal data to redact in an Irish document puts the passport number beside the PPS number. If it’s your Irish passport card they want rather than the book, redacting a passport card covers the front and the three lines on the back.
Nonimo is the software that does this on your own computer: it redacts client names and IDs before your text reaches ChatGPT. No account needed, and the app does it without your files leaving your machine.
Common questions
What should I redact on a copy of my Irish passport?
Whatever the recipient has not asked for. Usually that means the two machine readable lines at the foot, your place of birth and the issue date, and often the date of birth. Your name, photo and expiry date normally stay, because that is what they are checking. The passport number stays only when they have to record it.
How do I hide the passport number?
Tap the Passport number chip and a solid box covers it. The two lines at the bottom of the page repeat that number, so its characters there are covered too, without you doing anything else. Before you hide it, check the recipient doesn't need it: a bank, credit union or solicitor verifying your identity will usually record it.
What are the two lines at the bottom of my passport?
The machine readable zone, or MRZ: two lines of 44 characters set out in the international standard ICAO Doc 9303. They repeat your surname, forenames, passport number, nationality, date of birth, sex and expiry date in a form a reader takes in at once. Covering a detail above and leaving it there protects nothing.
Is it better to blur or black out a passport copy?
Black it out. A light blur can leave digits guessable, especially on a sharp phone photo. The tool lays solid boxes that are burned into the image, so in the downloaded file there is nothing underneath: no layer to remove and no annotation to peel back, unlike a box drawn over a PDF in some editors.
What if part of the page isn't picked up by a chip?
Use Redact by hand. Drag across any area of the photo, or run your finger over it on a phone, and it is covered. That suits a signature caught in the picture, a note on the opposite page or a reference number written on a scan. Undo removes the last box and Start again clears them all.
Can a letting agent see my full passport?
Not at the application stage, in the Data Protection Commission's view: proof of identity from numerous potential tenants before a specific offer will generally not be consistent with data minimisation. Once you are offered the tenancy, send a copy with your name, photo and expiry visible and the rest covered, unless they explain why they need more.
Does my passport get uploaded anywhere?
No. The data page is read and redacted in your browser, and the file never leaves your device. What you download, as PNG, JPG or PDF, has the boxes burned into the pixels and carries no metadata from the original photo, so there is no GPS position and no phone model.
Can I show my redacted passport to ChatGPT?
Cover everything first. Tap the chips that are still visible, name, photo and passport number included, until nothing on the page points to you. The assistant then sees the layout and the field labels, which is enough to explain a form or a field, and a chat that holds your full passport is one less to clean up later.