Can a Canceled Passport Be Used for Identification?

Every passport has an expiration date, and after that date has passed, the passport is useless, right? Wrong. A canceled or expired passport still has your photo on it along with your name and other identifying information. Although you can't use it to take a flight to Paris, it may still serve as identification for you in some states.

You have to jump through so many hoops to get a U.S. passport that it can feel strange that it expires without any bells and whistles whatsoever. The passport application isn't exactly concise, and you need to support it with a specific type of photo as well as evidence proving your identity and your citizenship. Even to renew your passport by mail you need an application, a new photo and a new fee.

Then, suddenly, 10 years later, the passport slips into invalidity. You don't get an email notification or a letter or a phone call. When the expiration date arrives, the passport simply can't be used for foreign travel anymore.

Your expired passport won't get you across the border, but it can usually be used as an identification document. It's always considered the best form of ID for a passport renewal application, for instance. When you apply for a first passport, you must provide evidence establishing your identity and also have to prove that you're a U.S. citizen. By providing an expired passport, you establish both. If, on the other hand, you have lost your passport, you must once again search for government issued photo ID and your certified birth certificate.

But passport renewal is only one of the instances when you can use your expired passport as ID. If you wish to get an affidavit or other legal document notarized, for example, the notary will require photo ID. Many states specify in their laws what kinds of expired documents can be accepted by notaries in these circumstances.

Notaries follow state laws on whether an expired document can be used for identification. Quite a few states have adopted the Revised Uniform Law On Notarial Acts that deals with the issue. Under the act, an ID, including a passport, can be accepted for a notarization up to three years after it has expired. These states include Oregon, Montana, Iowa, North Dakota and West Virginia. That means that in those states, you can use an expired passport as identification for the three years after it expires.

However, some other states, like California and Florida, base the rule about using an expired ID on the date the expired ID was issued. This usually rules out using an expired passport. For example, in both California and Florida, an expired document may be used for identification for a notary acknowledgment if it was issued within five years of the date of notarization. This is unlikely to be the case with an expired passport since even a child's passport is valid for five years from the date of issue and an adult's for 10 years.