A passport number and a travel document number are usually the same number when you’re traveling on a passport. Your passport number is one kind of travel document number, so if a form asks for a travel document number and you plan to cross the border on a passport, the number printed on your passport data page is the right entry. The reason forms use the broader phrase at all is that several other credentials also qualify as travel documents, and each one carries its own identifying number.
Where Your Passport Number Lives
On the current Next Generation U.S. Passport, the passport number is a letter followed by eight digits. It sits in the upper-right corner of the data page (the page with your photo) and repeats at the bottom of every page in the book.1U.S. Department of State. Information About the Next Generation U.S. Passport
One thing that trips people up: the passport number is not the same as the passport book number. The book number, sometimes called the inventory control number, is a separate sequence used for internal administrative tracking. Some visa forms, like the DS-160, ask for both. If your passport has a book number, it’s typically printed on the inside back cover or a page near the data page. Not every country includes one.
Travel Document Number Is the Broader Category
A travel document number is the identifying number on any official credential that authorizes you to cross an international border. Every passport number is a travel document number, but not every travel document number is a passport number. Forms use the broader phrase to leave room for people traveling on something other than a standard passport book.
The place you’re most likely to see the phrase is on U.S. Customs and Border Protection systems. When you retrieve your I-94 admission record online, CBP asks for a travel document number and expects the passport number from the machine-readable zone of whatever passport you used to enter the country. If you entered on a different credential, you’d use that credential’s number instead.2Homeland Security. I-94/I-95 Frequently Asked Questions
Other Documents With Their Own Numbers
Several credentials besides a standard passport book qualify as travel documents, and each has its own unique number:
- Refugee travel document. USCIS issues these to people with refugee or asylee status, and to lawful permanent residents who got their Green Card through that status. If you hold refugee or asylee status and are not yet a permanent resident, you generally need this document to re-enter the U.S. after traveling abroad.3U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Travel Documents
- Re-entry permit. For lawful permanent residents and conditional permanent residents planning to be outside the United States for a year or more. A valid re-entry permit lets you seek admission at a U.S. port of entry without a returning resident visa.3U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Travel Documents
- Advance parole document. Issued through Form I-131, it lets certain people re-enter the U.S. while an immigration application is pending. It has its own number and is not a substitute for a passport.4U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Instructions for Form I-131, Application for Travel Documents, Parole Documents, and Arrival/Departure Records
- U.S. passport card. A wallet-sized alternative to the passport book, valid for land and sea travel between the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Bermuda. It carries a nine-character number printed on the back. It cannot be used for international air travel.5U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative
A few other credentials work for land and sea crossings for U.S. citizens under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, including Enhanced Driver’s Licenses and Trusted Traveler cards like NEXUS and SENTRI. Each has its own identifying number, and that number is the travel document number when you use that credential to cross.5U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative
Numbers That Are Not Your Travel Document Number
A few identifiers get mistaken for a travel document number. They aren’t.
Your Known Traveler Number, which Trusted Traveler Programs call your PASSID, is a membership ID for expedited screening like Global Entry, NEXUS, and TSA PreCheck. It goes in the Known Traveler Number field when you book a flight, not the travel document number field. You still need to present a passport or permanent resident card at the port of entry; the PASSID speeds up processing but does not replace the underlying document.6Trusted Traveler Programs. Frequently Asked Questions
Your I-94 admission number is separate too. It’s an 11-character alphanumeric number CBP assigns to your entry, linked to your travel document in CBP’s system but distinct from it.2Homeland Security. I-94/I-95 Frequently Asked Questions Your visa number is also its own identifier and is not interchangeable with your passport number.
Your Passport Number Changes When You Renew
Every renewal gives you a new passport number. The old number stays with the old book.7U.S. Department of State. Frequently Asked Questions About Passport Services Update the number anywhere you’ve stored it: airline profiles, Global Entry, employer travel systems, and any pending visa applications.
If you hold a valid U.S. visa in your old passport, you don’t need a new visa. You can travel with both books, and a CBP officer will admit you on the new passport with a notation that the visa is in the other one. Do not try to remove the visa from the old passport; that invalidates it.8Travel.State.Gov. Frequently Asked Questions – About Visas – The Basics
Picking the Right Number for the Form in Front of You
The safe rule: look at the document you’ll present at the border, and use the number printed on it. Traveling on a passport book? The number on your data page is both your passport number and your travel document number. Crossing by land with a passport card? Use the nine-character number on the card. Holding a refugee travel document, re-entry permit, or advance parole document? Use the number on that specific credential.
When a form has separate fields for “passport number” and “travel document number,” it’s usually accommodating travelers on non-passport credentials. Fill in whichever field matches what you’re carrying. If you’re using a standard passport and only see a travel document number field, your passport number is the right answer. The mistake to avoid is pulling a number from the wrong document or substituting an unrelated identifier such as your visa number, I-94 number, or Known Traveler Number. When in doubt, open the document you’ll hand to the officer and copy the number exactly as it appears.