Machine-readable zone (MRZ) is typically found on official travel or identity documents of many countries. It can have 2 lines or 3 lines of machine-readable data. This method allows to process MRZ written in accordance with ICAO Document 9303 (endorsed by the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission as ISO/IEC 7501-1)). MRZ are commonly found on machine-readable passports (MRP) which are machine-readable travel document (MRTD) with the data on the identity page encoded in optical character recognition format. Many countries began to issue machine-readable travel documents in the 1980s. MRZ’s are specified in the ICAO Document 9303 (endorsed by the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission as ISO/IEC 7501-1). The ICAO Document 9303 describes three types of documents. Usually passport booklets are issued in “Type 3” format, while identity cards and passport cards typically use the “Type 1” format. The machine-readable zone of a Type 3 travel document spans two lines, and each line is 44 characters long. The following information must be provided in the zone: name, passport number, nationality, date of birth, sex, and passport expiration date. There is room for optional, often country-dependent, supplementary information. The machine-readable zone of a Type 1 travel document spans three lines, and each line is 30 characters long.
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