Passports have always required special attention since they are by nature the ‘key’ to international travel. A passport is the most valuable document that you will carry abroad. It’s your confirmation of citizenship and your best form of identification. Because of this importance, it requires you to safeguard it constantly.

Since 2006 the United States has been issuing passports with an RFID chip in them. To give you a bit more insight on these newer “electronic passports” or “biometric passports”, here is a bit of information from Wikipedia explaining how they work:

“Biometric passports contain RFID (radio-frequency identification) chips. The purpose of chips is storage of biometric and other data, which are retrievable. (Biometric passports are sometimes referred to as electronic passports, because chips are electronic.)

The legal driving force of biometric passports is the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002, which states that smart-card IDs may be used in lieu of visas. That law also provides that foreigners who travel to the U.S., and want to enter the U.S. visa-free under the Visa Waiver Program, must bear machine-readable passports which comply with international standards. If a foreign passport was issued on or after October 26, 2006, that passport must be a biometric passport.

The chip of a U.S. passport stores an image of the photograph of the passport holder, passport data, and personal data of the passport holder; and has capacity to store additional data. The capacity of an RFID chip is 64 kilobytes, which is large enough to store, in addition to an image of a photograph, passport data and personal data, biometric identifiers such as fingerprints and retina scans.

Data in a passport chip are scannable by readers, a capability which is intended to speed up immigration processing. A passport does not have to be plugged into a reader in order for data therein to be read. Like toll-road chips, data in passport chips can be read when passport chips are proximate to readers. The passport cover contains a radio-frequency shield, so the cover must be opened for the data to be read.”

While the passport cover is supposed to act as a shield against it being read by someone intent upon collecting your personal identification information, it isn’t a completely secure setup at all. The cover of your passport only needs to be open slightly for the RFID chip to be accessible by an electronic reader.

Since protecting your personal information is incredibly important due to the rise in identity theft, we recommend that you take additional precautions to protect the information contained in your passport. At LuggagePoint.com, we carry several passport wallets that contain shielding technology that will not allow electronic readers to access your passport information. These wallets will also protect any credit cards you may carry that contain RFID chips as well.

The Mobile Edge I.D. Sentry Passport Wallet keeps your information secure via its exclusive Wireless Security Shield (WSS) technology which features an alloy material incorporated into the stylish black leather. This wallet will carry your passport and has five slots in it for credit cards too.

Our Kena Kai DataSafe Embossed Italian Leather Passport Wallet not only looks great, but its DataSafe Technology has been tested and approved by the US Government to meet or exceed their strict new FIPS-201 security standards. It features 9 layers of RF shielding material. This wallet is large enough to carry your plane tickets as well as your passport. It also features 7 credit card slots and an additional pocket for cash, receipts or other necessary paperwork. We also feature two other Kena Kai DataSafe Passports Wallets. One is brown Italian leather and the other is black.

Look for more articles in the coming weeks about protecting your passport and what to do if your passport is lost or stolen.