Mixed results on whether or not you should include a passport in your EDC. What about in your BOB?

As part of BoB, at least a color photocopy if not the origional. Just like your insurance paperwork, medical records, and birth certificate.

Your passport should be in your BOB, or at least nearby so you can grab both at the same time.

The BOB is for fleeing, taking off, abandoning your vicinity, because it's risky to stick around. Anything left behind should be presumed to be unprotected. Anything you feel you really need should come with you. Good forms of identification should be among those things that come with you. Few things are as good as a passport.

I think a passport in a BOB is a legitimate use, much more so than say, EDC'ing a passport "just in case". Your BOB is when something "bad" has happened and you know that you have to get out of Dodge. Depending on the likely disasters in your locale, your home may not be there when you get back or may be inaccessible for a long time, so it makes sense to take important documents with you. And, if you're near a border and there's a good chance you'd cross over (say, you had friends/family on the other side that you could stay with) then certainly a passport is vital in that situation.

That said, if your BOB is kept stored in your vehicle or other place with a higher risk or vulnerability to theft than your own home (I'm talking about before you need the BOB, not while you're actually bugging out), I'd have to think twice about keeping valuable documents in the BOB. I'm thinking more along the lines of a BOB kept at home and sensitive documents are stored securely and then put into the BOB just before I need to head out.

I wouldn't carry a passport unless out of the country.

A lot of travellers carry a colour photocopy of their passport (stored separately of course), and have another one accessible to a family member or trusted friend. This helps your country's embassy or consulate issue an emergency passport quickly.

I suspect that in a genuine disaster, a passport photocopy in combination with other genuine ID would be worth having. It might help grease the bureaucratic wheels that grind so slow.

I can see keeping secure a color copy in case your passport was lost or stolen, but wouldn't you want to be carrying the original to use for its intended purposes?

Depending on the rules in your jurisdiction, it may be possible to have the copy of the passport (or of any other original document) notarized by a notary, attesting that the copy is a true copy of the original. Legally, it may have little meaning, but the stamp and signature on the document will show local authorities that you took extra care and it is amazing how impressed people can be by a rubber stamp.

The usual notary (e.g. at the bank) may not be familiar with how to do this as it requires different wording on the document (the attestation) than is used on the typical notary certification. Find someone who knows what they are doing to do it for you.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, bws48, good stuff.

Do we have anybody in the business of dealing with passports who could chime in?

Thanks.

I asked Mr. Google, he gave me lots of possibilities, here is one of them.

In part:

"Q: Can I certify a copy of a passport or a driver's license?
A: A Notary may certify the copy if law permits Notary-certified copies. An alternative in states not authorizing Notary-certified copies, is to perform a "copy certification by document custodian," whereby the holder of the original document certifies the copy in a written statement, and the Notary executes a jurat underneath the signed statement."

So I guess it varies depending on which state you live in. I suspect that googling something like "notarizing passport CA" will give more info...

The U.S. has a new Passport Card that can be used for land or sea re-entry into the U.S. from Canada and I believe from Caribbean cruises. It costs less than a regular passport. It is $20 if you already have a passport and $45 if you don't. It's the size of a credit card so it's a bit easier to carry, can serve as a spare of sorts and is a bit more durable than a regular passport. It might make a convenient back-up for some. I was planning on getting one but then travel to Juarez hasn't been that safe this year.