With no passport on hand, Canadian flashes iPad scan to get into U.S.

A Canadian man has found an unusual way to get through U.S. Customs ? by flashing an iPad.

Martin Reisch says a border officer let him cross into the United States from Quebec after he presented only a scanned copy of his passport on the computer tablet.

Mr. Reisch?s entrance into the U.S. without a hard copy travel document hints how stricter rules at the American border may still have some flexibility, at least in certain cases.

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The Montrealer said he was about a half-an-hour drive from the Vermont border last week when he realized he had forgotten his passport at home.

Mr. Reisch remembered he had stored a scanned copy of the document on his iPad and decided to attempt to cross, instead of turning his car around for the two-hour drive home.

?I figured I?d try, and in the worst case, I would have to go home,? he said Tuesday.

Mr. Reisch, 33, said he explained his situation to the customs agent, who seemed mildly annoyed when he handed him the iPad.

?He kind of gave me a stare, like neither impressed nor amused,? Mr. Reisch said of their exchange last Friday in southern Quebec.

The officer took the iPad into the border office for five minutes before coming back out to give Mr. Reisch the green light and wish him happy holidays.

?He was very nice about it,? he said of the officer.

?I think a good part of it had to do with the fact that it was the holidays and I seem like a nice-enough person.?

U.S. Customs and Border Protection says it will accept documentation such as a passport, an enhanced driver?s licence or a Nexus pass from Canadian citizens entering at land crossings. The list doesn?t mention facsimiles, like scans and photocopies.

A spokeswoman for the department did not immediately respond to questions Tuesday on whether scanned passports are also commonly accepted at U.S. points of entry.

Mr. Reisch, who went to Vermont to see friends and take landscape photos, said he also successfully used the passport on his iPad to get through Canadian Customs on the way home later that day.

He hopes border officials eventually make digital identification an official form of travel document.

?I like the idea of things being catalysts for change,? said the freelance photographer and videographer, who noted that many airlines now accept digital boarding passes stored on smartphones.

?It?s a recognized form of checking in [on airlines], so I see the future as 100-per-cent being able to cross with your identity on a digital device ? it?s just a matter of time.?

Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/with-no-passport-on-hand-canadian-flashes-ipad-scan-to-get-into-us/article2290029/?utm_medium=Feeds:%20RSS/Atom&utm_source=Technology&utm_content=2290029

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