Does customs scan your passport?

USA customs officials get the same information as anyone else when they scan your passport. However, in the US there is no customs or immigration when you leave the country. There's no reason that you should need your son's birth certificate at the airport.



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Why were you flagged?
  • Booking a one-way ticket.
  • Paying for a ticket with cash.
  • Making flight reservations on short notice.
  • Recent travel to certain countries.
  • Holding a passport from a country that the U.S. does not have a good relationship with.


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Yes, it will show up as an object made of (probably) paper, maybe with a chip in it. The chip might give it away as specifically a passport, if the security person manning the system was actually looking for that. But their primary role is to look for weapons and other potential hazards to flight safety.

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The airlines computer system may use the information to flag to staff to carry out a manual documentation check to make sure that you have a suitable visa in your passport for the destination you are travelling to, in addition to meeting any other conditions for travel (eg, return/onward ticket).

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Warped, bent, or curved covers or pages. Peeling plastic. Unauthorized markings: some tourist attractions will have their own 'passport stamp', but since these are not official government agencies, they could. invalidate your passport.

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