Documents: what and stored how/where?

[BarbWire]

Regarding scans and/or hard copies of important documents for travel (passports, driver's licenses, global entry cards, emergency contacts, credit card numbers and phone numbers, medical cards):

Q: what documents do you have copies of? for something like a passport, in addition to the photo/data page, do you copy relevant visa pages?

Q: where and in what format do you carry the copies?

I've seen advice to email docs to yourself (do I really want them in gmail?), store them in the cloud (OneDrive? iCloud), put them on you phone/tablet (what happens if that is lost or stolen)?, store on a flash drive somewhere ...

If you had to head to an embassy to get your passport replaced, could you get access to documents in email/cloud?

Alternatively (or in addition) some folks hide hard copies in their luggage...

How do you keep your documents secure yet accessible in an emergency?

[Sunset]

I encrypt them and store them on my phone as a file or on a thumb drive (varies on the travel). It will be secure if the phone is stolen,
If I have a laptop with me, I store it encrypted on that.

I also hide a photocopy in my carry-on luggage, but not my checked luggage.

Email is basically not secure, even if it's not snoopy gmail, all email runs through lots of servers all over the internet, so in theory as person could sniff out your email from the traffic.

[OldShooter]

I don't even class those as "important." Important is deeds, birth & marriage certificates, estate plans, etc. which are hard copies in my gun safe. Monthly full disk backups are there too.

Second tier like your list I carry on trips in paper form with electronic backup via Evernote on my phone and tablet. I never leave any of them in a hotel room or (gasp!) in checked luggage. I have five expired passports here plus the current one and have never had a problem traveling 40+ countries including a number of third world countries.)

[HarveyS]

I have copies of my passport and visas. Also credit cards, global entry card, vaccination card, yellow fever vaccine certificate, etc. Whatever I have with me. I keep copies on the icloud that I can access and my DD can access. I have stopped carrying paper copies. I expect that I could access the cloud from an embassy (or other site) if needed. Also, if my cc is stolen I can find the phone number to call. I do not have copies of my living will or advance directive. I should add those. Interested to see what others do and if there is a better solution.

[ExFlyBoy5]

We have two fire boxes in a safe that is in our F5 tornado rated safe room The common important docs are in there...passports, deeds, wills/advanced directives, POAs etc. Also have some VERY old docs from the family. Some pics, etc...just some stuff that would be tough (emotionally) to lose in a fire or similar catastrophe. We have scans of pretty much all of the paperwork that's in there and that is backed up in the cloud as well as a physical hard drive that is with the inlaws.

I can access most of docs from my phone since I can pull up the cloud backup.

Overkill? Probably...but it helps me sleep a little better at night.

[PaunchyPirate]

For access while traveling, I rely on cloud access. It won’t have to be via phone as I can access them from my computer too. So all I really need is the internet. Although, I guess if I lost both my computer and iPhone while traveling, And needed those types of documents, I’d be up a creek because my passwords are super cryptic and I don’t know them. I rely on my cloud-based password manager to sign into most everything. I’d have to call home and have a friend or relative get in my house and on my other computer. I know the password to sign into my computers themselves.

[steelyman]

I’ve been moving copies of documents to FidSafe which I learned of here on e-r.org.

http://fidsafe.com

[Sojourner]

For those who already use a password manager, like LastPass or Bitwarden, it's probably easiest just to use the secure document storage feature of that system. I use Bitwarden and can securely store up to 1GB of documents, which I can access anywhere via a browser or dedicated mobile app. This is a better solution, IMHO, than using something like Dropbox or OneDrive, neither of which offer end-to-end encryption (AFAIK).

[Sojourner]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaunchyPirate Although, I guess if I lost both my computer and iPhone while traveling, And needed those types of documents, I’d be up a creek because my passwords are super cryptic and I don’t know them. I rely on my cloud-based password manager to sign into most everything.

This is an argument in favor of having your password manager double as your secure document storage system. One password (which you certainly have committed to memory) grants access to all passwords and docs!

[brett]

We keep an online photo of our passport and any visa that we need for our trip.
We can access them on our ipad, phone, or any computer connected to the web.

We also store our passport numbers in a separate place.

Even though we typically only travel with carry on we do take a picture of our bag just in case we do check it anywhere. Good to have a picture if the bag is lost or misplaced by the airline.

All the other hard copy docs that are important or may be difficult to recreate are stored in our bank safe deposit box. Ours, and our deceased parent birth certificates have been needed when applying for UK status for us, and for our son.

[BarbWire]

brett -- thank you for chiming in. I have always found your posts on travel very useful, as our destinations and style seem similar.

Q: "online" -- do you use a cloud location (eg OneDrive?) or a folder in your online email?


------ < slightly off topic below> -----


Following your suggestion, last summer I snagged a discontinued Eagle Creek International carry-on which is a significant improvement over my EastPak Tranverz Int'l carry-on. Now looking for a EDC/day bag which can be stuffed in the carry-on if necessary.

BTW, good luck with UK status. I finally got my UK passport in 2010 via my Welsh father. Tracking down and gathering the required documents was interesting and fun. The UK Passport was my golden ticket to unlimited travel in the EU until .... well, now I'm learning how to count and track Schengen days.

[brett]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BarbWire brett -- thank you for chiming in. I have always found your posts on travel very useful, as our destinations and style seem similar. Q: "online" -- do you use a cloud location (eg OneDrive?) or a folder in your online email? ------ < slightly off topic below> ----- Following your suggestion, last summer I snagged a discontinued Eagle Creek International carry-on which is a significant improvement over my EastPak Tranverz Int'l carry-on. Now looking for a EDC/day bag which can be stuffed in the carry-on if necessary. BTW, good luck with UK status. I finally got my UK passport in 2010 via my Welsh father. Tracking down and gathering the required documents was interesting and fun. The UK Passport was my golden ticket to unlimited travel in the EU until .... well, now I'm learning how to count and track Schengen days.

This may sound silly but when I say that we keep them 'on the web' we actually store them in our gmail accounts (PDF). We can access them on our ipads, on our phone (if we have them) or on any third party device. Sounds a bit iffy but this is what works for us.

We both have have Certificates of Patriality....now called Certificate of Entitlement. We retained the pages from our old passports where the Consulate had placed the stamps some 40 years ago.

Years later my son decided at the last moment to spend a year working in the UK and then travel through Europe.

We had all the docs at hand, including my parents & grandparents UK birth certificates, because we kept them in our bank safe deposit box close at hand. In spite of a number of moves, including cross country. It is one reason we keep the box. We also back up our photos on to a removeable hard drive every year or so and store the drive in the box.

Prior to the early 2000's my birth certificate consisted of a copy of a page of the church registry record of my Christening, complete official stamp issued by the Province. Hard to believe. It included my parents signatures, their occupation, and the same for the two witnesses and the minister (civil law). Fortunately it is now computerized and easy to obtain.

I was able to hand them to him, he applied and quickly got his Certificate of Entitlement. This enabled him to get his National Insurance number, etc. a week later when he landed a job in London. IT would have been a huge PIA to assemble what was required if those docs were not readily available.

It is amazing what one can be asked for. When I was getting security clearance for a Federal job I had to provide details of my mother's entry to Canada. I was fortunate that she remembered the date, Valentines Day, the city, and the name of ship. They were able to get what was required from that info.

Like you, our intention was to apply for UK passports (by virtue of our parent's citizenship and our DOBs) because we had our eye on an EU passport. Fir exactly the same reason as you. Alas....Brexit put an end to that so we too will be counting days at some point in the near future (hopefully).

[old medic]

Ours are in a firebox, in our fireproof safe. anyone else keep a bottle of water in there safe?. should internal temps get to high, the steam should help to protect stuff.

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sojourner For those who already use a password manager, like LastPass or Bitwarden, it's probably easiest just to use the secure document storage feature of that system. I use Bitwarden and can securely store up to 1GB of documents, which I can access anywhere via a browser or dedicated mobile app. This is a better solution, IMHO, than using something like Dropbox or OneDrive, neither of which offer end-to-end encryption (AFAIK).

Yep, I have passport info (exp. date, passport #, etc) and an image of the first page in LastPass. Same with my driver's license, and I keep CC numbers, expiration dates, and CVVs in LP also, but I don't need an image of those. I have security pretty high on LP, which I won't go into here unless someone wants help setting it up.

I keep our passports in a fireproof lockbox which I keep in a larger safe...long story short, I bought the lockbox ages ago, then had the opportunity to purchase a small floor safe that isn't fire rated, so I just keep the lockbox in the safe just in case...with the lockbox keys right there in the safe. I also have a passport card that I keep in my wallet, because why not? I do keep that and my contactless credit cards in an RFID blocking sleeve.

For health insurance, I use the MyUHC and CVS apps, which have an option to display your card info on the screen. IIRC, they both can do that even offline, if you've logged in at least once.

Not travel related, but I do have scans of a lot of important documents, like birth and death certificates that I keep in the cloud, since a lot of financial institutions allow you to upload digital copies. Those all require 2FA to access, though, and have additional security if a new device tries to log in. A lot of the cloud services have good security, the biggest risk is that people (including me) give some computers unrestricted access. (My phone always requires an additional login.) But I feel like I keep my computers pretty secure, so I'm not that concerned.

[FIREd_2015]

I scan and convert the files to pdf format. Encrypt the pdf files using Adobe Acrobat and email them to myself and also keep copies on my phone and a thumb drive. I can pretty much access them anywhere since Acrobat Reader is ubiquitous.

[brett]

duplicate

[brett]

I suspect that just keeping a record of your passport number, issue date, etc. might be sufficient.

If embassy or consulate have this they can access everything. Having a photo of or a scan of a passport does not in any way prove that you are the rightful holder of that passport.

The image, including a photo, of a passport doc (or any other doc) can be easily changed electronically. I cannot imagine that it would be accepted by many. Somewhat less acceptable than even an expired passport.

[matjung]

I prefer paper based copies of important documents.
Up to now I went twice to an embassy. Both times I had the feeling they are the opposite of a service oriented environment.
They may not be able to grant you internet access.
I would also make copies of credit cards and the phone number of the credit card issuing company.
A note with my own phone number is also handy.
It also depends on where I travel to, and for how long.