Machine-Readable Passport

Machine-Readable Passport

A machine-readable passport is a document that the government of a given country issues for the purpose of international travel. Its introduction dates back to the 1980s, while at the moment, most worldwide passports are MRPs.

Let’s take a closer look at the definition of a machine-readable passport, its benefits as well as a tip on how we can detect that our passport is a machine-readable one.

How to define the machine-readable passport

An MRP is a passport that has some data that can be easily read by a computer. The said data is located on the identity page of the document featuring the passport holder’s personal details.

Typically, the computer-readable data comprises two lines of text, including some letters, symbols, and numbers. These details comprise name, nationality as well as the individual’s passport number.

The test is scanned by a computer using the system of character recognition. This way, the personal data is recognized.

How to recognize an MRP

To determine if your passport is an MRP, you can look for a series of chevrons or two lines of code at the bottom of the passport’s personal data page. These lines most often contain your passport details encoded in a format that can be read by machines. If you see these markings, you are a holder of an MRP, allowing you to take advantage of the benefits it offers during your international journeys.

What is worth mentioning a computer-readable passport is not the same as ePassport, also known as a biometric passport . Biometric passports have additionally embedded microchips inside the covers. Therefore, the difference is that a computer-readable passport not always can have a microchip, while biometric passports must have one.

Computer-readable passport benefits

Machine-readable passports are very beneficial both to travelers and border control officials. It is not surprising then why they are gaining more and more popularity. These are just a few benefits of them:

Reduced check-in

Thanks to computer scanning, the data of a traveler can be instantly verified, which significantly decreases the time spent in the immigration control lane. It is a win-win situation not only for a traveler but for an immigration officer too.

Security

Since the printed data must match the details on the document, it is very hard to forge an MRP, especially when compared to traditional ones.

Fewer errors

The fact that there is no need to manually enter the individual’s details (as they are automatically scanned and read by a computer) eliminates the potential risk of making errors.