· Written and maintained by Nonimo
A new employer, a landlord, a bank or a travel company asks for a copy of your passport, and what you send is a picture of the whole data page. That picture then sits in their inbox, their shared drive or their chat for years. A watermark written across it says who the copy was for, what for and when. If it ever shows up attached to something else, the line itself gives it away.
The tool above lets you watermark a passport copy online, right in your browser: add the photo or the PDF, write who it’s for and download the copy. Your passport never leaves your device. The watermark comes from Nonimo, which keeps client data out of ChatGPT, Claude and Copilot for US firms.
For the wallet-size card, see how to watermark a passport card. Permanent residents asked for proof of status can watermark a Green Card copy the same way.
How to watermark a passport copy
1. Add a photo or PDF of the data page
Drop the image into the tool, or pick it from your phone: on a phone it opens the camera or your photos. It takes JPG, PNG, WEBP, HEIC, the format iPhone photos are saved in, and PDF. If the picture is crooked, the crop and rotate controls straighten it. The page is read in your own browser.
2. Write who the copy is for
The Watermark text field comes with a complete line, “For this application only”, followed by the current month and year. You can keep it, edit it to name the recipient and the reason, or swap in one from Suggested text, then choose a Layout: Tiled, Diagonal or Horizontal. Examples and when to use each are below.
3. Download the watermarked copy
As PNG, JPG or PDF. The watermark is burned into the pixels and the image is re-encoded, so the file comes out with no EXIF data, no GPS location and nothing else from the original. What you can’t see in a photo matters too, as with metadata in PDFs, Word files and photos. Send that copy, not the original picture.
What to write on a US passport copy
Three things: the recipient, the reason and the date. The more specific the line, the more it does. A generic COPY or CONFIDENTIAL fits any misuse; a line that says “for the Maple Street lease” makes every other use obvious to anyone who looks at it.
For Maple Street lease use only · October 2026
For notary signing appointment use only · October 2026
For checking account opening use only · October 2026
For tour booking, Lisbon trip use only · October 2026
Who asks for a passport copy in the US varies, but the reasons are usually the same. A US passport is a List A document on the USCIS list of acceptable Form I-9 documents, so it proves both identity and work authorization when you start a job. For that form the employer examines the original passport in your presence, or, if it uses E-Verify, on a live video call under the DHS alternative procedure, after you send it clear, unaltered copies. An employer can choose whether to photocopy it, one that uses E-Verify must keep a copy for photo matching, and either way that copy comes straight from the original and is kept with your I-9, so it is not the copy to watermark. Banks, landlords, notaries and tour operators ask for it as proof of identity, and some people simply prefer the passport over a driver’s license that shows their home address.
Put the month as well as the year. A copy made in October that resurfaces in March, in a process you don’t recognize, is one more sign that somebody reused it. The passport number on that page is also on the US list of personal information to remove before AI reads a document.
Where the watermark goes: Tiled, Diagonal or Horizontal
Across the data, never in a corner. A corner is cropped in a second, and then the copy says nothing. The tool has three layouts, and the right one depends on who receives the copy.
Tiled repeats your line diagonally over the whole page, across your name, the passport number and the photo. It leaves no clean strip to crop, and it is the one to use with a landlord you have never met, an app you don’t know or anyone you won’t deal with again.
Diagonal and Horizontal place a single, more discreet line that keeps everything else easy to read. They work for a copy going to someone you trust, such as your accountant or your own company’s HR team.
On the Next Generation passport the State Department began issuing in 2021, the data page is a polycarbonate sheet with laser-engraved details, and the passport number, a letter followed by eight digits, also appears at the bottom of every page in the book. A copy of the open book often shows the page above it too, with the signature line. Tiled runs across all of it.
No layout hides any data, so the person receiving the copy can still check who you are. That is why there is rarely a good reason to ask for a copy without one.
Before you send it, make sure whoever is asking is who they say they are. The FTC’s warning about rental listing scams describes fake landlords asking for ID and personal details to steal identities. If you are the one receiving these copies, our brokerage page shows how to use AI on rental applications with the applicant’s details redacted first. Prefer the company’s own upload portal to a text thread, and once the process is over, delete the picture from your chats. Keep it out of AI chatbots too: ChatGPT can store uploaded images even after you delete the conversation. If what they ask for is your driver’s license instead, there are watermark pages for licenses from California, Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, New Jersey, Virginia, Washington, Arizona, Tennessee, Indiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, Maryland, Wisconsin, Colorado, Minnesota, South Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, Oregon, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Utah, Iowa, Nevada, Arkansas, Mississippi, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Idaho, West Virginia, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Maine, Montana, Rhode Island, Delaware, South Dakota, North Dakota, Alaska, Vermont, Wyoming and DC. No license? The watermark guide for state ID cards does the same job for a non-driver ID. And if a landlord asks for your Social Security card as well, watermark that card copy with the property and the month.
Common questions
What should I write on a watermarked passport copy?
Who the copy is for, what for, and the month and year, for example: For Maple Street lease use only, October 2026. The more specific the line, the more it protects you, because if the copy ever turns up somewhere else, the text itself says where it came from. A generic word such as COPY or CONFIDENTIAL fits every misuse.
Where should the watermark go on a passport copy?
Diagonally across the data, over your name, the passport number and the photo. A watermark in a corner or along the margin can be cropped off in a second, and then the copy is clean again. That is why the Tiled style, which repeats the line over the whole page, is the hardest one to get rid of.
Can someone remove a watermark from a passport copy?
It depends on how it was added. A watermark sitting on its own layer, as some PDF editors do it, can be deleted. One burned into the pixels and repeated over the data means retouching the whole image, and the retouching usually shows. The tool on this page burns the watermark into the image when you download it.
Can I watermark my passport copy on my phone?
Yes. The tool runs in your phone's browser: adding the passport opens the camera or your photos, and it also takes the HEIC format iPhones use. You type the line, choose a layout and download the copy as PNG, JPG or PDF on the same phone, with nothing to install.
Does a watermark make my passport copy useless to the person I send it to?
No. The watermark hides no data, so the recipient can still read your name, the number and the dates and check who you are. A bank, a landlord or a tour operator can work with it just fine. What it takes away is the chance to reuse that copy for something you never agreed to.
What if someone insists on a passport copy without a watermark?
Ask why. A watermark hides nothing, so it does not stop anyone from verifying your identity. Before you send anything, also ask whether a copy is needed at all: many checks only require seeing the passport in person. Form I-9 is one of them: the employer examines your original passport, and any copy kept with the form must be a clear, unaltered copy of that original, never a watermarked one.
Is it safe to text or email a watermarked passport copy?
Safer than sending a clean one, though not risk free. The picture stays in the chat and in both phones' photo libraries, so delete it once the process is over and ask the recipient to do the same. And confirm the request first: the FTC warns that fake landlords ask for ID copies to steal identities.
Should I also watermark the passport card?
Only if you were asked for the card, and then it gets its own watermark. The passport card is a separate document with its own number and serial numbers, and it has its own page on how to watermark a passport card copy.