Oftentimes passing through border security can be painstakingly difficult, which is why we were shocked (and frankly quite amused) when we heard that Martin Reisch managed to cross the Canadian-American border with a scanned copy of his passport on an iPad 2. Reisch says that he was too close to the border to turn around when he realized he'd forgotten his passport at home, but thankfully, he had a digital copy of the document in his Dropbox folder. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology and a whole lot of luck, he handed the border officer the iPad 2 and his driver's license, and was granted access into the US. Sure to improve your faith in security procedures, Reisch successfully used the same digital credentials on his return to Canada about a week later.
Update: US Customs and Border Protection denies Reisch's story: "The assertion that a traveler was admitted into the U.S. using solely a scanned image of his passport on an iPad is categorically false. In this case, the individual had both a driver's license and birth certificate, which the CBP officer used to determine identity and citizenship in order to admit the traveler into the country."

There are 52 Comments. Add yours.
Not a big deal I wouldn’t think. I’m sure they still verified the information. Having the actual passport in hand vs. an iPad is the same to me. Although I wouldn’t chance it.
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 5:39 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
The issue here is that your passport has several security features built into the paper, whereas the scanned image of one does not.
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 8:20 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
ok maybe that works from the canadian border but if youre flying here from afghan your gonna get tasered
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 5:39 PM EST reply Recommend (20) Flag actions
True. If from Afgan, they would scan through every fold of the passport using microsope to prove it was forged – and let them through only when they are helpless to prove anything wrong.
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 11:10 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Well that’s surprising, I wonder what the border officials thought of that. Pretty cool that they let him do that.
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 5:40 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
This is the future, but not in this format of course.
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 5:41 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Not the near future…
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 7:53 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 5:44 PM EST reply Recommend (20) Flag actions
I love that! Jackie Chan has the perfect face for that expression.
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 5:49 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Welcome to the internet. I can tell you’re quite new.
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 8:09 PM EST reply Recommend (5) Flag actions
The BBC story says that he returned the same day, minor point, I don’t know which is correct.
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 5:44 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Shouldn’t they have blurred out a lot of that info on that iPad pic?
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 5:45 PM EST reply Recommend (16) Flag actions
Yeah, the VISA ID Number should be blurred
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 5:46 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
as soon as i logged in you wrote the comment I was supposed to O_o
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 5:46 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Same here lol
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 5:46 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
This man looks like a terrorist – we need to know anything and everything about him.
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 5:46 PM EST reply Recommend (3) Flag actions
Seriously. With a face like that, I’m surprised he wasn’t selected for a ‘random’ search.
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 6:00 PM EST reply Recommend (4) Flag actions
Well, maybe someone will copy it, photoshop their picture on and will try it too.
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 5:48 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Shocking that so much of his identity is included. They should have added his home and mobile phone numbers as well as his email address just to round things out.
I wonder how many password challenge questions can be answered with knowledge of his birth date and birth place (at least, that is what that looks like is on there).
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 6:01 PM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
So he gets lucky by being able to do this and brags about it to the press? Shouldn’t he just have kept his mouth shut and considered himself fortunate that he didn’t have to be turned away.
The border officers can use their discretion. Hopefully, this story doesn’t get a border officer in trouble or they develop a policy not to accept this as common practice.
Personally, I would have kept my mouth shut, counted my blessings and kept it moving.
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 5:47 PM EST reply Recommend (3) Flag actions
Wrong attitude. Border policies can and should be discussed. Particularly if theyre in as sorry a state as they are in the USA.
As a first step i would recommend to either make them secure a’la Israel or make them friendlier. Unfriendly and not doing anything for security – apart from the theater aspect of it – is lame.
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 9:31 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
He actually used his driver’s licence too… http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20120104/ipad-border-crossing-clarification-120104/
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 5:47 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
True. But if he was flying from third country, even his real passport would have been scrutinized as it was forged.
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 11:06 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Driver’s license and birth certificate. The scanned passport was not used as a means to identify him according to US Customs.
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 5:49 PM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
If he would’ve tried it at the airport, the TSA would’ve confiscated his iPad, laughed at him for forgetting his real passport, and sold the iPad on the street.
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 5:50 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
I was a able to get through airport security in the US once with just my Canadian driver’s license. I had forgotten my passport at a friends house.
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 6:00 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Canada to the TSA is just another state in the union!
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 8:30 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I’m sure if he looked even remotely Middle Eastern this wouldn’t have worked.
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 5:51 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Here’s the official statement from CBP: http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/news_releases/national/01042012_2.xml
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 5:54 PM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
“The assertion that a traveler was admitted into the U.S. using solely a scanned image of his passport on an iPad is categorically false. In this case, the individual had both a driver’s license and birth certificate, which the CBP officer used to determine identity and citizenship in order to admit the traveler into the country.”
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 6:53 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Translation: The guy who let him in is in deep shit now.
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 9:32 PM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
“If a traveler does not present WHTI-compliant documents, CBP officers must determine identity and citizenship using a variety of other means, or deny entry.”
The possibility that he had an EDL notwithstanding (albeit unlikely), the decision is entirely up in the hands of the border officer who clearly was satisfied with the documentation he received, whatever format that may be..
Posted on Jan 05, 2012 | 7:53 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
It’s all fun and games until they stamp your screen.
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 5:57 PM EST reply Recommend (20) Flag actions
Hilarious!!
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 6:03 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Not a big deal. As the US and Canada allow open movement across the border without a visa, and passport information (including your photo) can be looked up using the passport number on the scanned copy of the passport, there isn’t any reason they need the physical document for this type of border crossing. Anything requiring a visa would be a no go, however.
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 5:58 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Had the person been named Abu bin Ahmed, the outcome would have been different even though he were a Canadian citizen. You can almost be certain about that.
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 6:06 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
He did have his driver license with him. It is disputed if he had his birth certificate or not, however, I would guess not being that he didn’t have his passport and said he doesn’t think about those types of credentials when driving across the U.S. border. The passport requirement was implemented in the past couple of years, so it is still fairly new. The border patrol did take his license and scanned image of passport into the office for several minutes, then returned and let him pass. This indicative that they ran a background check on him and didn’t just look at the iPad2 in amazement and wave him through like a lot of the sensationalist articles lead you to believe.
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 6:06 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
His identity is going to get jacked so far….
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 6:13 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
I remember getting the third degree just walking back to Buffalo from a day trip to Fort Erie. You think I’m complaining, but the TSA has never made life so difficult, and that’s with a full b. Thought I wasn’t going to make it back for my friend’s wedding.
Guy on foot with a small backpack and proper paperwork, out for a stroll on a beautiful day. Yep, clearly this guy is up to something.
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 6:13 PM EST via mobile reply Recommend Flag actions
I’ve done this. But using my smartphone. I had to ask somebody at home to send me a copy of the passport of my nephew (who’s passport I forgot), granted, he was a minor, but it still worked.
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 6:18 PM EST via mobile reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
They might have just thought he was this actor…

Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 6:24 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Why is this news? I used to go to and from Canada with nothing but a drivers license. It’s… Canada…
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 6:45 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
they changed the rules.
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 6:52 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Not after the patriot act! Good by ‘freedom!’ Here is where I insert Ron Paul 2012 hahaha
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 8:34 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Patriots dont travel.
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 9:33 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
It’s… Canada…
With a border crossing involved its more then just Canada. Also 911 had something to do with it if you remember. The good old border hopping days are long gone. How I miss them. :(
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 10:49 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I’ll bet if this man was from Dirk-dirkistan with a different complexion et al……you get my point..
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 6:47 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I’ve done this with my AAA membership card stored in Evernote from my iPod touch back in the day. All they really needed was the number, which of course I didn’t remember. Nonetheless the serviceman looked at me like I was Jesus.
Technology is awesome.
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 7:00 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Now that Mr. Reisch has pissed off the CBP with this story, good luck on getting a free pass for your customs-eligible goods and get ready for the 3rd degree of questions. You sir, have made your life a little more difficult going between countries.
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 8:16 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I Print airplane e-tickets direct to PDF on my iPhone and use them at check-in or to board. As long as your carrier (or whatever you are doing) uses an optical system to scan the barcode it is all good. Apparently some systems use another method which won’t work.
Woah, I just thought of a very handy app.
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 10:56 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Maybe it’s time for us to use digital passports? That would be cool. NFC and stuff..
Posted on Jan 04, 2012 | 11:14 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Many countries have implemented ePassports, and NEXUS cards exist in North America. The contents of the embedded chip vary by issuing country and passport type, but the overall system is standardized just like the machine readable zone on a passport or EDL.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biometric_passport
Posted on Jan 05, 2012 | 8:02 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
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