The iPad 2
A Canadian man who had scanned his passport into his iPad has said he was able to enter the US using the digitised document as he had forgotten his hard-copy passport.
Montreal man Martin Reisch (33) was on his way to Vermont to deliver Christmas gifts. He realised as he was nearing the Canadian border with the US that he did not have his passport and so presented the US border officer with his iPad and driver’s licence.
“I thought I’d at least give it a try,” the Associated Press reports Reisch as saying.
Reisch said the officer took the iPad into the border hut for about five or six minutes.
“When he came back, he took a good long pause before wishing me a Merry Christmas,” Reisch said, adding that he knew the officer had made an exception.
Reisch successfully re-entered Canada the same day. While he said he won’t forget his passport again, he hopes one day digital identification will become commonplace.
Since 2009, Canadian citizens require a passport, an enhanced driver’s licence or a Nexus pass for US land border crossings.
Neither the Canadian or US border agency commented on Reisch’s case.
