Passport Card Has 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 Stars - What Does This Mean

Passport Card Has 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 Stars - What Does This Mean

As far as we can tell the number of stars and the 4-digit codes makes no difference in status, rather it is most likely a way to perform a classified "check sum" to verify the given data. People who perform the State Citizen Secrets passport correction have received Passport Cards with 3, 4, and 5 stars despite everyone executing the same steps. No one who scans passports or enters data into Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) devices has seen a "Do Not Detain" messages for the detainee due to some special star or code status on the identification card.

NOTE: Do Not Detain / Do Not Stop status comes from issuing a form of injunction (i.e. court-ordered directive requiring a party to do or cease a specific act) or Bill of Peace in a Court of Equity. This directive is then sent to local LEO and disseminated across all federal LEO databases to issue such a code.

It should also be noted that these features appear only on non-immigrant visas; immigrant visas have a completely different format and do not contain either the asterisks or the four-digit number. U.S. consular officials have only given evasive answers such as "not of any significance" and "the stars on a U.S. visa are among the normal features of a U.S. visa" and another person online who claims to be a consular official stated: "Wow, you have a keen eye! :) Those are computer-generated features that help make each visa as unique as the people who obtain them."

Officially, the features do not exist. Based on images of US visas online, it can be seen that these features were introduced sometime between 1999 and 2000; however, guidance on the US State Department web site does not even acknowledge their existence:

Annotated image of a sample US nonimmigrant visa

In issuing visas, consular posts follow rules laid down in Chapter 9 of the Foreign Affairs Manual, in which the US State Department's procedures are laid out. These are based on various sections of the Code of Federal Regulations. In the case of issuing nonimmigrant visas, this is covered by 9 FAM 41.113, which tells consular officers how to issue a visa in accordance with the regulations at 22 CFR 41.113. The relevant section is the very first one:
9 FAM 41.113 PN1 INFORMATION ABOUT THE MACHINE READABLE VISA (MRV)
The information on the MRV is printed on an adhesive foil and consists of five sections that:
  1. Reflect the applicant’s biographic data;
  2. Contain information about the visa itself (visa type, number of entries, date of issuance, and date of expiration);
  3. Show the 88-character field used for annotating additional information about the recipient, when necessary; (e.g., annotation of a petition number, SEVIS number, etc.);
  4. Display a digitized photo of the visa recipient; and
  5. Contain a machine-readable zone (MRZ) consisting of two lines of highly sensitive coded data. Scanners connected to authorized computer networks can read the data located in the MRZ and instantly recall records associated with the MRV. Damage to either line may prevent the scanner from reading the data, requiring manual data-entry before processing, which could lead to delays at ports of entry. You should instruct MRV recipients to take care with their MRVs, avoiding folding the foil, and preventing contact between the foil and objects that could damage it, such as paper clips, staples, etc.
Note that no mention is made here, or anywhere else in the unclassified parts of 9 FAM, about the asterisks or the four-digit number. Those parts of the visa do not appear to be relevant to whether the visa holder is of any particular concern to US authorities. In particular, it does not appear to indicate that the visa holder poses any particular level of "risk". This also appears to be the opinion of various immigration lawyers.

These features do serve a purpose, but that purpose is classified and appears only in a classified section of 9 FAM, if at all. We know for sure that the four digit number is not binary as numerous examples can be seen on Google Images of visas with four-digit numbers containing digits other than 0 or 1, though these appear to be far less common.

We also asked Chris Gronski of DestinationFreedom.com who used to do a lot of passport stuff whether he had evidence to substantiate what the stars mean. This was his answer: "Patriotic myths! No such facts or evidence. We asked the State Department in a FOIA and they said (in writing) it was security in nature and was classified. One of our clients the husband had 4 stars (on the card) there are no stars on passports; his wife had 3 and 3 of their minor children had 3 and one had 4. Go figure. The husband had a high military security clearance. We polled our clients we have stars 1 through 5. I have 3."  - Chris Gronski, 6/2/24

NOTE: One can also read the reply (see attachment) to the Social Security Administration regarding the use of these identification numbers or even "check sums" in regards to our permanent (i.e. Numident) records that the government maintains.