Passport Support: FAQs

We are an Australian company founded by two experienced travellers.  Passport Support runs no businesses other than what you see here, so we will never use your personal information for marketing other products, we will never spam you, we will never sell or hire your personal information to other companies or governments, and we won’t access your stored documents.

After you have registered, simply take a digital photo or scan of each your important travel documents and save them to your computer.  Then use the simple interface in the secure area of the Passport Support site to upload each file.

Simply log in from any internet connection in the world using your username, surname and password.  Select the document you wish to access and click on download.  A printable copy of the document will be displayed on the screen for you.

Yes, you may log on and add or delete documents when ever you like.

The cost is A$15 per year (including GST for Australian purchasers).  For this you can store your passport photograph page, visas, airline tickets, driver's licences, travellers' cheques and any other documents up to a limit of 20MB.  We will bill your credit card on the day you register, and on the same day each year until you decide you no longer wish to use the service and cancel your registration.

Your credit card company will automatically convert the cost from Australian Dollars into your home currency at the current exchange rate.

You can cancel whenever you want.  Simply go to the home page and click on the "Cancel Service" button.  Enter your username, surname and password and your service will be cancelled and your credit card will not be charged again.  Your stored images will be immediately deleted from our database.

No.  Payments are handled by SecurePay.  Check out their website at www.securepay.com. 

Of course if you choose to store an image of your credit cards in the secure section of the site, then that image will be stored.

At this point we don’t support other methods of payment.  However, the name on the credit card used to pay for the service doesn’t have to be the same as the name on the passport or other documents you are storing.  So the best solution is to have another person pay for the service using their credit card (with their permission of course) and then pay them cash in return.

You can store your Passport photograph page, visas, airline tickets, driver's licence, travellers cheques, credit cards and any other documents you wish up to a limit of 20MB.  Documents must be stored in .jpg, .bmp, .doc or .pdf form. 

Yes, you could.  But consider the following points:

- Many email services, particularly free web-based emails services are not encrypted, and do not have security systems to protect information stored on them.  Identity information is too important to store on these systems.  It is at least as important as electronic banking details and you would never consider using an unencrypted site for internet banking.

- Many email services are provided by corporations which do not have adequate controls about which of their employees can access information stored in your inbox.  Identity information is too important to trust to the employees of large corporations providing free web-based emails.

- If you are caught in a position where you need assistance from an overseas embassay, police service or government department they are more likely to take you seriously if you want to download your documents from a service dedicated to storing travel documents, than if you simply want to check your email.

Our security is as good as or better than most banks.  It is certainly much more secure than carrying photocopies of your documents in your day pack or emailing them to yourself.  Our security is broken into three areas:

Web Site Security

• The Passport Support website uses 128 bit encryption, the same as internet banking sites.  This encryption is currently considered unbreakable for practical purposes.
• The login process requires you to enter your username, surname and password.  This prevents against automated attacks by hackers.
• Every time your account is accessed, you are sent an email.  So in the very unlikely event that there is unauthorized access to your account, you will know about it straight away.

Interface Security

• The server where your documents are held is configured so that it can only be accessed from the Passport Support website.  This prevents anyone from bypassing the website security and trying to access your details from another website or server.
• There are no back doors - no employees of Passport Support can access your documents.

Physical Security

• Your documents are stored on a server hosted by one of the most respected and long standing hosting companies in Brisbane, Australia. 
• The server that your images are stored on is contained in a locked building.
• Only pre-authorised persons have access to the server room.
• The server has no monitor or keyboard.  So even if an unauthorized person is in the room, information on the server cannot be accessed.

You have three options:

1. You can delete old documents which you don't need copies of any more eg expired visas.
2. You can make your images smaller, or lower resolution.
3. You can set up a second account with a new user name which allows you to store another 20MB of images.

Passport Support images are only copies.  It is just like carrying a photocopy of your documents in your bag, but more secure and more convenient.  They won’t let you cross borders, but they will help you replace your documents or help to establish your identity if you lose your original documents.

Unfortunately people can have their documents stolen in any country, even your own.  By keeping a copy of your documents on Passport Support you have an instant reference to help you when replacing your lost documents.

We are actively marketing to police, embassies and border crossings in virtually every country so if you have lost your documents and need help to access Passport Support at any of these places, they will know and understand the service.

Passport Support is not affiliated or owned by any government.  We aren’t an ID system or a central registry of identity for a government or any other agency.  We can’t think of any reasonable circumstance where a government or other agency could gain access to your stored details.

We only charge A$15 per year.  You can cancel at any time, but if you cancel you forfeit the unused time for the rest of the year.

No, Passport Support provides a secure storage facility to assist you if your travel documents are lost. Taking out appropriate travel insurance before any trip is strongly recommended. Once you have taken out appropriate travel insurance it's probably a good idea to store a copy of the policy number and contact numbers at Passport Support prior to travel.