Good Idea- Scan and Email passport
 

I read in the latest issue of Travel and Leisure this great idea. Scan and email your passport, birth certificate, and driver's license to a secure address. Then if you lose your passport, you can access the information by computer. I think this is great. My son lost his ID in Mexico (before he had a passport) and honest to God, I didn't think we would ever get him home. However, I'm not sure my hotmail email address is considered a secure address.

I wouldn't trust free services like hotmail or yahoo, as they've been breached in the past. But it is a good idea! Even better, I've got a website (secure) that I pay for. I can log on remotely to the files section. If I upload the PDFs to my passport and ID beforehand, I can get it anywhere I have internet access, and not worry about email security :)

agree with GreenDragon.
I have all that copied; in my safe deposit box, in my safe at home, and always leave it with one copy with family member who is not traveling when we are - also including our travel plans, airline info, all in an emergency packet - and all is kept with the second emergency packet in case of.....which has all our credit card info, etc in case of loss.

You can also leave a copy with a trusted person, and have it faxed to you (or scanned and e-mailed).

My parents have current copies of our passports, I leave copies on my dining room table, and hide copies in my luggage whenever we travel out of the country.

That way if our passports get lost or stolen, I have copies as do my parents and cat sitter.

This might sound stupid but how far would you get on a photocopied passport?

Yes, I already do the copying of all documents, leaving with family, taking an extra copy, etc. I thought the scanning and emailing would be less hassle free and no need to bother others. GreenDragon, would you give me the name of your secure site? Thanks.

My site is my own website, where I can upload files (like pictures and webpages). Since I'm the administrator, I can use it as file storage if I want :)

And a photocopy of your passport greatly increases the ease of getting a replacement at your local embassy.

You can not get anywhere on a faxed or copied passport - the idea is when you are in a panic having lost cards, documents, etc you at least have the numbers.

Another similar suggestion is to once a year empty your wallet onto the screen on a copy machine and copy both sides of everything important - keep this page somewhere safe so if your wallet is stolen or lost you have all the credit card numbers and contact phone numbers in one easy place.

You're afraid of a webmail server being "insecure" and then hand your passport to a minion working the front desk at your hotel?

I don't get the logic.

I took our passports to a copy center and had the info page copied and reduced to wallet size, then had them lamanated. Granted it won't work as a legal document but it will help at the embassy if you do happen to lose it. All the info is right there in an easy to carry form.

JAGM- get your own secure website. Just pick one that is not being used. They cost I think around 35 bucks a year. Green Dragon, can you confirm?

P

Yup, that's about what mine costs, with bellsouth.

irecommend, with photocopies of your passports it is much easier and faster for the US Embassy in another country to expedite new ones.

Especially if all of your ID is stolen.

JAGM:

When I first read about having passport data on some place on the web, e-mail account or what ever, I thought it to be a good idea. In the past, I always took a photocopy of our passports AND would stop in at a consulate office if I could to let them make their own copy and to let them know I was in the country.

Then I discussed the web idea with a very knowledgeable friend and he suggested something even smarter.

Scan the desired data and copy that data to a memory chip.

Carry the chip and you have the data if and when you need it.

That way it is not on any site that can be infiltrated.

I will be trying that for our next winter trip, January 2009. In fact, I carry quite a few chips and will put it on several. I do not think it will take a lot of space and I know that my information will not be circulated or available to anyone unless the chip is stolen or I give it out.

Comments invited.

Woodie

I do that. I have an encrypted thumb drive and I have a copy of all my important documents in that.

I also list the numbers of credit cards, etc. in my mini address book. On a different page, I list the expirations as "important future dates". I list them in the same order as the credit card numbers, but put things like "Jay's 30th birthday", "10th anniversary", etc.

Then I have the 800 numbers listed as regular phone entries (I put the numbers in alpha order by the company name so it's easy to match).

This way, I have all the info I need to replace my card, without having it all on one page.