Security Features of

Passport

-Kanica Chugh
• "Passport" includes a document which having been issued by or
under the authority of the Government of a foreign country
satisfies the conditions prescribed under the Passport (Entry into
India) Act, 1920 in respect of the 34 of 1920 class of passports to
which it belongs. "Travel document" includes a document which
having been issued by or under the authority of the Government of
a foreign country satisfies the conditions prescribed. - The
Passports Act, 1967.

"Passport"
The following classes of passports can be issued under the Passport Act 1967,
namely:
Official
Diplomatic
General Citizen Passports.

In addition, Jumbo and Hajj passports are also issued.

Indian passports can be classified

into three main categories:
• Ordinary/Regular/Tourist Passport (Deep Blue cover) – Issued for ordinary
travel, such as vacations and business trips (36 or 60 pages). It is a „Type P‟
passport, where „P‟ stands for Personal.
• Official/Service/Special Passport (White cover) - Issued to individuals
representing the Indian government on official business. It is a „Type S‟
passport, where „S‟ stands for Service.
• Diplomatic Passport (Maroon cover) - Issued to Indian diplomats, top
ranking government officials and diplomatic couriers. It is a "Type D"
passport, where „D‟ stands for Diplomatic.

Indian passports can be classified

into three main categories:
(i) Machine Readable Passport (MRP): Ordinary Passport of 36 pages (dark blue cover).
(ii) Machine Readable Passport (MRP): Jumbo Ordinary Passport of 64 pages (dark blue
cover).
(iii) Machine Readable Passport (MRP): Official Passport (off white cover). Machine
Readable Passport (MRP): Diplomatic Passport (maroon cover).
(iv) Machine Readable Passport (MRP): Indo-Bangladesh Passport (light blue cover).
(v) Person of Indian Origin (PIO): Booklets (grey cover).
(vi) Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI): Booklets (sky blue cover).
(vii) Emergency Passport (white cover).
(viii) Indo-China Trade Travel Passport (saffron cover).
(ix) Certificate of Competency for shipping department (14 varieties).
(x) Continuous Discharge Certificates for shipping Department. (xi) E-Passports.

Different types of Travel Documents

(i) Substrate: Ashok Pillar cylinder water marks.
(ii) Cover page: Ashok Chakra printing (visible in 365 nm).
(iii) First page-body printing: Black in visible light and green in Luminescence.
(iv) Heat Activated Ultra Violet (HAUV) film: Printing visible in red and yellow
in UV.
(v) Data page: Micro line, text, tint, design (Emblem, Govt. of India), Passport
printing, rainbow printing: Blue and orange printing, gothic numbering,
bifluorescencent invisible design, invisible fibers (green and blue).
(vi) Page numbering: Micro lines on all pages visa visible and invisible.
(vii) Passport number: 8 digit alphanumeric laser perforated conicals of passport
booklet

Security features of Indian Passports

• Bio data: photograph, name, date of birth, issue and expiration date, signature
• General inspection: exterior view, binder thread, numbering by perforation, watermark
• Transmitted light examination: all the pages, fibres, printing processes, substrates,
laminations under 10X magnification
• UV light examination: fibres, printing inks, paper including overt and covert security
features
• Visible light examination: security features such as passport papers/pages,
gothic/punched number, biographical/bio data page, LSI, barcode, micro printing,
fugitive/sensitizing ink
• Stereomicroscopic examination: document number, substrate elements, print processes,
lamination
• Oblique light examination: dicuts

Checklist for Forensic

Screening/Examination of Passports
A. Visible Light Examination-
• Examination of passport can be performed by
front eye view examination. Visible light
examination includes detailed examination of
security features such as passport papers/pages,
gothic/punched number, biographical/bio data
page, LSI, barcode, micro printing,
fugitive/sensitizing ink.

Security Features of Indian Passport

• The high quality papers are used in Indian
passports that are of 100 GSM [grams per
square meter].
• The number of pages in the passport depends
upon the passport booklet type. All the pages
of the passport show fine trimming and
finishing as per the prescribed standards.
• Alignment of pages and passport
cover/smoothening of folds/creases is also
done as per the standards.

1. Passport Papers/Pages-
• Passport number is perforated through the half back part of the passport with laser. This
numbering is called Gothic Numbering , which is present in the half back part of the
passport i.e. from page 19 to 35 and back cover of the passport in case of 36 type booklet.
• Typical distinguishing marks are produced which include traces of burning round the edges
of the holes. Raised edges around the holes on the back of the perforations should be absent.
• When viewed from front to back, conical decrease in size of the perforated holes in the
passport booklet should be present. This feature is incorporated to avoid tampering in the
passports.

2. Gothic/Punched Number-
• It includes personal details of the bearer of the document which
appeared as text in the visual and machine readable zones.
• Biographical page is composed of several layers of Polycarbonate
(PC), which is a thermoplastic polymer with excellent durability
(lifecycle can exceed up to 10 years) and fused at high temperature
and pressure to form a single monolithic structure.
• Background printing is done with coloured offset printing i.e. pre-
printed text.

3. Biographical/Bio Data Page-

• Personalization is the process, whereby the passport holder's image,
signature and biographical data are incorporated into the passport. The
holder's biographical data (Biodata) appears both in the Visual Inspection
Zone (VIZ) and in the Machine Readable Zone (MRZ) on the bio data
page.
• Photograph of the holder, signature and bio data text are incorporated
directly by the process of integration during personalization. The photo is
transferred to the bio data page by digital means which is called as
Integrated Digital Photograph and it printed by Thermal Wax Printing.
• Apparently, the personal data page has been shifted from inner cover to
page 2, while data on last page is shifted to page 35. The signature and seal
of passport issuing authority has been shifted from page 1 to the overleaf of
front cover page.
 Biographical/Bio Data Page of Back Side

Biographical/Bio Data Page of Front Side

• The Ministry of External Affairs launched a new
series of passport booklets in April 2013 with the
Letter Screen Image (LSI) of the holders. Letter Screen Image on Front Bio Data Page
• In LSI passport booklets, the personal data such
as name, address, date of birth, file number, etc.
of the applicant are embedded in tiny fonts,
which forms the ghost/shadow image of the
holder.
• The LSI passport is now being issued by all
passport issuing authorities in India and abroad.
LSI is appearing as ghost images of the applicant
and it is the replica of the applicant‟s original
photograph.

4. Letter Screen Image (LSI) -

• The text of LSI cannot be checked by naked eye, but can
be seen with a magnifying glass and cannot be forged.
After filing the necessary information of the applicant that
includes name, date of birth, address and after affixing the
scanned photograph, the ghost image of the photograph,
along with the applicant‟s information will be printed in
dots on the booklet by using the LSI machine at the
regional passport office.
• A barcode is an optical, machine-readable, representation of data. The data
usually describes something about the object that carries the barcode. Code
128, used in the Indian passport is a very high-density barcode symbology. It
is used for alphanumeric barcodes. It can encode all 128 characters of
American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) and by use of
an extension character (FNC4), the Latin-1 characters defined in ISO/IEC
8859-1. Basically, Barcode present in the passport is made from passport
number of the concerned individual (Fig 8).

5. Barcode-
• Lines or motifs made up of very
small letters or numbers that are
barely perceptible to the eye are
called as micro prints. Micro prints
contain printed text smaller than 0.25
mm/ 0.7 pica points which require the
use of low magnification, e.g. a
magnifier or a loupe. That is the
reason forged passports often show
unreadable micro prints.

6. Micro Printing-
• Microprinting is present as “GOVERNMENT OF INDIA”
and “BHARAT SARKAR” (in Hindi) subsequently on
biographical page (Fig 9). All the printed lines (horizontal
& vertical) on the VISA pages of the passport are also
printed as “VISA PAGE (Respective Page No.)” and VISA
PRASTHA (Respective Page No.)” in Hindi on each
remaining page (Visa Page) of the passport.
• The base printing of the passport is done by fugitive ink. Fugitive ink
present in the passport can react to chemicals/solvents.
• In contact with a specific chemical, the ink will migrate or changes
colour resulting in a visible distortion. The phenomenon of this
bleaching effect is called as fugitation/sensitization.
• The text (except biographical page), page no., lines and all the
security printing, etc. shows fluorescence of greenish colour.

7. Fugitive/Sensitizing Ink-
• There is three types of Passport Cover under UV Light
passport covers depending
upon the colour/class of
passport. The front part of
the cover shows golden
embossing over it.

1. Passport Cover-
• The Emblem of India is emblazoned in the centre of the
front cover. The word 'passport' (in Hindi as well as in
English) are inscribed above the Emblem whereas „Bharat
Ganrajya„(Hindi) and 'Republic of India' (English) are
inscribed below the Emblem. The back part of the cover
contains punched passport number. When the passport
cover is viewed under the UV light it shows Ashoka
Chakra in both front and back of the cover
• Stitching thread [stitched in the spine] is used for stitching the
pages of a booklet of passport. Stitching is sewn with a set pattern
by using reverse stitching machine that is known as Saddle
Stitching. The thread shows multi-coloured fluorescence with
green, yellow and red colour when exposed to UV light.

2. Stitching/Binding Thread-
• A laminated sheet is a type of plastic sheet with invisible
security features that is affixed to the bio data page in
order to protect data entries against falsification.
Lamination is done by using HAUV [Heat Applied Ultra
Violet] film by fusing it at 160 to 180 degree Celsius
temperature. The key aim of any security laminate is data
protection: securing and protecting it from fraudulent
alteration.

3. HAUV/Laminated Film-
• Previously, lamination was present on the inner side of the passport
cover i.e. biographical page. But currently passport is having „double
laminations‟ on both the bio data pages (front and back) and their
respective back sides. Provision of double lamination has been
included on pages 1, 2, 35 and 36. It is a new security feature
implemented in Indian passport to enhance the overall quality of
passports as well as to improve their security.
• When biographical page is seen under the Ultra Violet light, it shows
“GOVERNMENT OF INDIA” {Reddish in colour} repeatedly [in
few lines] and “BHARAT SARKAR” {Greenish in colour, in Hindi}
repeatedly [in multiple lines]. It has to be noticed that there will be
only three lines of “BHARAT SARKAR” between the both lines of
“GOVERNMENT OF INDIA” (Fig. 13). The printed text on the
laminated sheet can be viewed under normal light. It means
lamination contains visible and invisible printing.
HAUV Film under UV Light
• Guilloches are decorative
engraving technique by which a
very precise intricate repetitive
pattern or design is mechanically
engraved into an underlying
material with fine detail. They
are the traditional elements of the
document design comprising
regular geometrical patterns of
fine lines, which are produced by
special machines or on a
computer.

4. Guilloches/Fine Line Pattern-

• These also serve as a security feature against
counterfeiting. Indian passports contain guilloches
pattern which is visible under UV light and
fluoresce with various colours in different
wavelength i.e. visa page shows light greenish
colour of Guilloches Pattern under UV
• Fibres are small, thread-like particles embedded in a substrate during
manufacture. During the early stages of the paper manufacturing process,
small fibres with various colours and properties are randomly placed on to the
paper.
• Fibers are the integral part of the paper structure and can only be lifted away
from the paper by mechanical means. Fibres may be visible without
equipment or with UV light sources.

5. Fibers-
• Fluorescent Ink is used to print background text
or motifs. This type of ink is visible under
visible light and fluoresces under UV light.
Fluorescence is a short-lived light emission
which ceases within 10-8 seconds.
• Ultraviolet light is not visible itself, only its
effect, i.e. the visible fluorescence stimulated by
UV light can be seen in fluorescent ink. Indian
passports show greenish fluorescence of all
printed text.

6. Fluorescent Ink-
• In transmitted light examination,
passport is held between the
light source and eye as shown in
the diagram.
• Watermark is examined by
using transmitted light.

C. Transmitted Light Examination

• A watermark is a translucent
design produced during the
paper manufacturing process
and it contains tonal gradation,
formed in the paper or other
substrate. It is created by the
displacement of paper by
making certain areas of the
paper slightly thinner or thicker
than the rest of the sheet.

1. Watermark-
• Side light may be used to recognize the uneven
structure of a watermark. The watermark should not
appear under UV light. Indian passport contains
single tone watermark that is of dark shade. Indian
passport contains 2 and ½ Ashoka Pillar as head to
head or tail to tail condition on each page except
biographical page.
• Oblique light is impacted from the
side with at a shallow angle and used
to examine dicuts in Passport.

D. Oblique Light Examination-

• Dicuts are the type of horizontal/ oblique lines,
which are present in front and back page of
biographical page. In earlier passports „two
special dicuts‟ were formed on biographical
page having shape of Ashoka Pillar form. But
now in the recent passport, it is eliminated.

1. Dicuts-