· Written and maintained by Nonimo
To redact a passport card copy is to cover what the person receiving it doesn’t need: the serial numbers printed around the edge, your place of birth, and often the card number and your date of birth. Your name, photo and expiration date are usually enough to prove who you are. Everything else can stay off the copy.
The tool at the top of this page reads a photo or PDF of your US passport card in your browser and puts a chip on each field it recognizes. Everything starts visible; you tap the chips of the fields you want hidden, and solid black boxes cover them. Your card never leaves your device.
If you’d rather leave the fields readable and mark the copy with who it’s for and the date, see how to watermark a passport card. For the book, there is a page to redact a passport copy.
How to redact a passport card copy
1. Add the card
Take a picture of the card on a dark, flat surface, or drop a scan: JPG, PNG, WEBP, HEIC or PDF. The tool recognizes the front and the back of the US passport card, one side per file. If the picture is tilted, crop and straighten it first.
2. Tap what to cover
Each field has a chip: name, card number, serial number, photo, date of birth, place of birth, issue date and expiration date. One tap covers the field, another shows it again, and “Show everything” resets the lot. For anything the chips don’t catch, “Redact by hand” lets you drag over an area, with your finger on a phone.
3. Download the redacted copy
As PNG, JPG or PDF. The boxes are burned into the image, which is re-encoded without EXIF or GPS data. Each side is its own file, so if they asked for both, prepare the back the same way.
What to cover on a US passport card, field by field
The front carries the same personal details as the book’s data page, without the machine readable lines: photo, surname, given names, nationality, card number, sex, date and place of birth, issue and expiration dates. It adds a smaller ghost copy of your photo and three printed serial numbers.
| Field | Where | On a copy you send |
|---|---|---|
| Name, photo, expiration date | Front | Leave visible |
| Passport card number | Front, top right; repeated on the back | Leave if requested (a bank, for example), cover otherwise |
| Serial numbers | Front: bottom left, bottom right, side edge | Cover |
| Date of birth | Front | Cover unless they verify your age |
| Place of birth | Front | Cover |
| Issue date | Front | Cover unless requested |
| Three machine readable lines | Back | Send the front only, or cover them |
The card number and the serial numbers
The passport card number, labeled “Passport Card no.” at the top right of the front, is the one people are asked for. The card is a List A document on the USCIS list of acceptable Form I-9 documents, so an employer records it for Form I-9. That happens with the original card, examined in person or on a live video call under the DHS alternative procedure, and any copy the employer keeps, which an E-Verify employer must do for a passport card, has to be clear and unaltered. Most others don’t need the number.
The smaller numbers printed at the bottom corners and up one side are different: they identify the physical card, not you. Nobody verifying your identity from a copy has any use for them, and the Serial number chip covers all three at once.
The back of the card
Turn the card over and you’ll find the card number again and three lines of letters, digits and chevrons along the bottom, the machine readable zone a document reader scans. The State Department says the card’s RFID chip holds no personal data, only a number linked to a secure government record, but these printed lines spell out your details for anyone with the picture. When the front is all they asked for, send the front alone. If the back has to go too, tap Card number, which also covers its copy in the three lines, then check that nothing else in them is still readable and use “Redact by hand” for anything that is.
What should stay visible, depending on who asks
The passport card doesn’t print your home address, which is why many people prefer it to a driver’s license when a landlord or a membership desk asks for ID. For them, name and photo are usually enough. A new employer completing Form I-9 needs the original card, not a redacted copy. And before a copy goes into a chatbot, cover everything, as described in the list of personal details to remove before a file goes to an AI. If the request is for your license instead, see how to redact a driver’s license copy.
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 passport card copy?
The serial numbers printed along the bottom and the edge, your place of birth, and the date of birth and issue date when nobody needs them. Your name, photo and expiration date usually stay visible. The card number stays if the request needs it, as a bank's often does, and gets covered otherwise. Form I-9 is not a copy request: the employer examines the original card.
Should I redact my passport card number?
Only if nobody asked for it. Some banks want it; a landlord or a gym that only needs to see who you are does not. For Form I-9, the employer records the number from your original card, and any copy kept with the form has to be clear and unaltered, so it's never a redacted one. If the request doesn't mention the number, tap the Card number chip and it's covered.
What are the serial numbers on a passport card?
Besides the passport card number at the top right, the front carries smaller printed numbers at the bottom left, the bottom right and along one edge. They belong to the physical card, not to you, and nobody checking your identity from a copy needs them. The Serial number chip covers all three.
Do I need to send the back of my passport card?
Only if it was requested. The back repeats the card number and carries three lines of machine readable text. If they only want to see who you are, the front is enough, and the back stays with you. If you must send it, tap Card number, which covers its copy in those lines too, and check them before you download.
Does the passport card chip hold my personal data?
According to the State Department, the card's RFID chip holds no name, date of birth or Social Security number, only a unique number that points to a record in a secure government system. A copy, though, shows everything printed on the card, and that is what redacting is for. The picture is what travels, not the chip.
Is blurring good enough for a passport card copy?
Not really. On a small card, a light blur over a number can still be read on a sharp photo, and a shape drawn in a PDF editor can leave the text underneath. The tool covers fields with solid boxes burned into the image, so the file you download has nothing under them.
Is my passport card uploaded anywhere when I redact it?
No. Your card never leaves your device: it is read and redacted in your browser. You download a PNG, JPG or PDF with the covered areas burned in and none of the original photo's metadata, such as the GPS location or the camera model. There is no account to create either.
Can I show my passport card to an AI safely?
Show it a copy with nothing readable left. Tap every chip, from your name and card number to the photo and the dates, so each field is covered. The AI sees the card's layout and labels, which is enough to explain a field or help with a form, and nothing that identifies you.