---
Source: https://docs.microblink.com/blinkid/scan-passport
Title: Scan a passport
Description: Scan the MRZ and biographical data from passport documents with BlinkID
---
# Scan a passport
Passports have a data page (the page with the photo) that contains two zones:
- **VIZ (Visual Inspection Zone):** the biographical data printed in the upper half—name, nationality, date of birth, document number, and similar fields
- **MRZ (Machine Readable Zone):** the two lines of OCR-formatted text at the bottom of the page, encoding the same core fields in a machine-readable format
BlinkID extracts both zones and cross-validates the data between them.
## Default behavior
By default, BlinkID scans only the data page (`passportDataPageScanOnly: true`).
This is the correct setting for most use cases: the data page contains all the core biographical data.
Some passports have a second inner page (for example, a visa page) that additional data can be extracted from.
To also scan this second page, set `passportDataPageScanOnly` to `false` and use `automatic` scanning mode.
The SDK will then prompt the user to turn to the second page when relevant.
## Scan the data page (default)
No special configuration is needed—just initialize as normal and BlinkID will scan the passport data page.
```typescript
import { createBlinkId } from "@microblink/blinkid";
const blinkId = await createBlinkId({
licenseKey: "your-license-key",
// passportDataPageScanOnly defaults to true
});
blinkId.addOnResultCallback((result) => {
console.log("Result:", result);
void blinkId.destroy();
});
```
```kotlin
// passportDataPageScanOnly defaults to true — no special config needed
BlinkIdCameraScanningScreen(
blinkIdSdk = blinkIdSdk,
onScanningSuccess = { result ->
// use result
},
onScanningCanceled = { }
)
```
```swift
// passportDataPageScanOnly defaults to true — no special config needed
let analyzer = try await BlinkIDAnalyzer(sdk: sdk)
BlinkIDUXView(
analyzer: analyzer,
onScanCompleted: { resultState in
guard let result = resultState.scanningResult else { return }
print("Result:", result)
}
)
```
## Also scan the second page
Set `passportDataPageScanOnly` to `false` to require a second-page scan for passports that support it.
```typescript
import { createBlinkId } from "@microblink/blinkid";
const blinkId = await createBlinkId({
licenseKey: "your-license-key",
scanningSettings: {
documentCaptureModule: {
passportDataPageScanOnly: false,
},
},
});
```
```kotlin
BlinkIdCameraScanningScreen(
blinkIdSdk = blinkIdSdk,
sessionSettings = BlinkIdSessionSettings(
scanningSettings = ScanningSettings(
documentCaptureModule = DocumentCaptureModuleSettings(
passportDataPageScanOnly = false,
)
)
),
onScanningSuccess = { result -> },
onScanningCanceled = { }
)
```
```swift
let sessionSettings = BlinkIDSessionSettings(
scanningSettings: ScanningSettings(
documentCaptureModule: DocumentCaptureModuleSettings(
passportDataPageScanOnly: false
)
)
)
let analyzer = try await BlinkIDAnalyzer(
sdk: sdk,
blinkIdSessionSettings: sessionSettings
)
```
## Read biographical data (VIZ)
The VIZ data is available in the aggregated top-level result fields, as well as in the per-side `viz` field of `subResults`.
```typescript
blinkId.addOnResultCallback((result) => {
// Top-level aggregated fields
console.log("Full name:", result.fullName?.latin?.value);
console.log("Date of birth:", result.dateOfBirth?.originalString?.latin?.value);
console.log("Nationality:", result.nationality?.latin?.value);
console.log("Document number:", result.documentNumber?.latin?.value);
console.log("Date of expiry:", result.dateOfExpiry?.originalString?.latin?.value);
console.log("Sex:", result.sex?.latin?.value);
// Raw VIZ from the data page
const dataPage = result.subResults[0];
console.log("VIZ:", dataPage.viz);
void blinkId.destroy();
});
```
```kotlin
onScanningSuccess = { result ->
// Top-level aggregated fields
println("Full name: ${result.fullName?.value}")
println("Date of birth: ${result.dateOfBirth?.value}")
println("Nationality: ${result.nationality?.value}")
println("Document number: ${result.documentNumber?.value}")
println("Date of expiry: ${result.dateOfExpiry?.value}")
println("Sex: ${result.sex?.value}")
// Raw VIZ from the data page
val dataPage = result.subResults[0]
println("VIZ: ${dataPage.viz}")
}
```
```swift
onScanCompleted: { resultState in
guard let result = resultState.scanningResult else { return }
// Top-level aggregated fields
print("Full name:", result.fullName?.value ?? "")
print("Date of birth:", result.dateOfBirth?.value ?? "")
print("Nationality:", result.nationality?.value ?? "")
print("Document number:", result.documentNumber?.value ?? "")
print("Date of expiry:", result.dateOfExpiry?.value ?? "")
print("Sex:", result.sex?.value ?? "")
// Raw VIZ from the data page
let dataPage = result.subResults[0]
print("VIZ:", dataPage.viz as Any)
}
```
## Read MRZ data
MRZ data is available in `subResults[0].mrz`.
It contains the same core fields as the VIZ, plus MRZ-specific fields like `primaryId`, `secondaryId`, `opt1`, and `opt2`.
```typescript
blinkId.addOnResultCallback((result) => {
const mrz = result.subResults[0].mrz;
if (mrz) {
console.log("Document number:", mrz.documentNumber);
console.log("Nationality:", mrz.nationality);
console.log("Date of birth:", mrz.dateOfBirth.originalString);
console.log("Date of expiry:", mrz.dateOfExpiry.originalString);
console.log("Gender:", mrz.gender);
console.log("Primary ID:", mrz.primaryId);
console.log("Secondary ID:", mrz.secondaryId);
console.log("Raw MRZ:", mrz.rawMrzString);
console.log("MRZ verified:", mrz.verified);
}
void blinkId.destroy();
});
```
```kotlin
onScanningSuccess = { result ->
val mrz = result.subResults[0].mrz
if (mrz != null) {
println("Document number: ${mrz.documentNumber}")
println("Nationality: ${mrz.nationality}")
println("Date of birth: ${mrz.dateOfBirth.value}")
println("Date of expiry: ${mrz.dateOfExpiry.value}")
println("Gender: ${mrz.gender}")
println("Primary ID: ${mrz.primaryId}")
println("Secondary ID: ${mrz.secondaryId}")
println("Raw MRZ: ${mrz.rawMrzString}")
println("MRZ verified: ${mrz.verified}")
}
}
```
```swift
onScanCompleted: { resultState in
guard let result = resultState.scanningResult else { return }
if let mrz = result.subResults[0].mrz {
print("Document number:", mrz.documentNumber)
print("Nationality:", mrz.nationality)
print("Date of birth:", mrz.dateOfBirth.value)
print("Date of expiry:", mrz.dateOfExpiry.value)
print("Gender:", mrz.gender)
print("Primary ID:", mrz.primaryId)
print("Secondary ID:", mrz.secondaryId)
print("Raw MRZ:", mrz.rawMrzString)
print("MRZ verified:", mrz.verified)
}
}
```
The `verified` field is `true` when all MRZ check digits are valid—a basic integrity check for the scanned MRZ.
## Related articles
- [How to scan a single-sided document](scan-single-side.md)
- [How to scan a double-sided document](scan-double-side.md)
- [BlinkID settings validation](settings-validation.md)
Last updated on Jul 24, 2026