Introduction

The Extract Passport Data API lets you extract data from passports of any country programmatically. It uses artificial intelligence to process the images, extract every field on the data page, and validate the MRZ with the ICAO 9303 check digits.

Base URL: https://extractpassportdata.com/api/v1

Authentication

Every API request must be authenticated with an API key. Include your API key in the X-API-Key header of each request.

curl -H "X-API-Key: pass_your_api_key" \
  https://extractpassportdata.com/api/v1/balance

You can create and manage your API keys from the dashboard.

Upload Methods

The API supports several ways to send images. The method is detected automatically from the Content-Type header.

Method	Content-Type	Recommended for
Recommended Multipart	`multipart/form-data`	curl, Postman, HTML forms
Base64 JSON	`application/json`	JavaScript, mobile apps
URL Fetch	`application/json`	Cloud-hosted images
Binario	`image/jpeg`, `image/png`, `image/webp`	CLI tools, streaming

Endpoints

POST/api/v1/extract

Extracts data from an image of the passport data page.

RecommendedMultipart Form-Data

Send files directly. Ideal for curl and Postman.

Field	Type	Description
`image_front`	file	Passport data page (required)
`image_back`	file	Additional page (optional)

curl -X POST https://extractpassportdata.com/api/v1/extract \
  -H "X-API-Key: pass_your_api_key" \
  -F "image_front=@./passport.jpg" \
  -F "image_back=@./passport_extra.jpg"

Base64 JSON

Send base64-encoded images. The data-URL prefix is optional.

Field	Type	Description
`image_front`	string	Base64 of the front image (required)
`image_back`	string	Base64 of the back image (optional)

# Codificar imagen a base64
IMAGE_BASE64=$(base64 -i passport.jpg)

curl -X POST https://extractpassportdata.com/api/v1/extract \
  -H "X-API-Key: pass_your_api_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"image_front\": \"$IMAGE_BASE64\"}"

URL Fetch

Send URLs of hosted images. Only HTTPS URLs are allowed.

Field	Type	Description
`image_front_url`	string	HTTPS URL of the front image (required)
`image_back_url`	string	HTTPS URL of the back image (optional)

curl -X POST https://extractpassportdata.com/api/v1/extract \
  -H "X-API-Key: pass_your_api_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "image_front_url": "https://storage.example.com/passport.jpg",
    "image_back_url": "https://storage.example.com/passport_extra.jpg"
  }'

Binary Upload

Send the raw image as the request body. Supports one image per request.

curl -X POST https://extractpassportdata.com/api/v1/extract \
  -H "X-API-Key: pass_your_api_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: image/jpeg" \
  --data-binary @./passport.jpg

Successful response

{
  "success": true,
  "extraction_id": "clx1234567890",
  "data": {
    "passportNumber": "G12345678",
    "surname": "GOMEZ VELAZQUEZ",
    "givenNames": "MARGARITA",
    "nationality": "MEXICANA",
    "dateOfBirth": "05/07/1980",
    "sex": "F",
    "placeOfBirth": "COAHUILA",
    "dateOfIssue": "05/07/2023",
    "dateOfExpiry": "05/07/2033",
    "issuingCountry": "MEX",
    "issuingAuthority": "SRE",
    "personalNumber": "GOVM800705MCLRLR01",
    "mrzLine1": "P<MEXGOMEZ<VELAZQUEZ<<MARGARITA<<<<<<<<<<<<<",
    "mrzLine2": "G123456786MEX8007050F3307054<<<<<<<<<<<<<<08"
  },
  "tokens_remaining": 19,
  "upload_method": "multipart"
}

GET/api/v1/balance

Returns your account’s current token balance.

Example

curl https://extractpassportdata.com/api/v1/balance \
  -H "X-API-Key: pass_your_api_key"

Response

{
  "success": true,
  "balance": 20
}

Integration Examples

JavaScript / Node.js

// Usando fetch con FormData
const formData = new FormData();
formData.append('image_front', fileInput.files[0]);

const response = await fetch('https://extractpassportdata.com/api/v1/extract', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'X-API-Key': 'pass_your_api_key'
  },
  body: formData
});

const result = await response.json();
console.log(result.data);

Python

import requests

url = 'https://extractpassportdata.com/api/v1/extract'
headers = {'X-API-Key': 'pass_your_api_key'}

# Usando archivos (multipart)
files = {
    'image_front': open('passport.jpg', 'rb'),
    'image_back': open('passport_extra.jpg', 'rb')
}

response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, files=files)
result = response.json()
print(result['data'])

PHP

<?php
$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
    CURLOPT_URL => 'https://extractpassportdata.com/api/v1/extract',
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_POST => true,
    CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => ['X-API-Key: pass_your_api_key'],
    CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => [
        'image_front' => new CURLFile('passport.jpg'),
        'image_back' => new CURLFile('passport_extra.jpg')
    ]
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$result = json_decode($response, true);
print_r($result['data']);

Error codes

Code	HTTP	Description
`MISSING_API_KEY`	401	No API key provided
`INVALID_API_KEY`	401	Invalid or revoked API key
`MISSING_IMAGE`	400	No front image provided
`INVALID_IMAGE_FORMAT`	400	Unsupported format (use JPEG, PNG, or WebP)
`IMAGE_TOO_LARGE`	400	Image exceeds 10 MB
`INVALID_BASE64`	400	Failed to decode base64
`INVALID_MULTIPART`	400	Failed to parse the multipart form
`URL_FETCH_FAILED`	400	Could not fetch the image from the URL
`URL_INVALID`	400	Invalid URL (must be HTTPS)
`URL_BLOCKED`	400	URL blocked for security reasons
`URL_TIMEOUT`	400	Timed out fetching the image (10s)
`UNSUPPORTED_CONTENT_TYPE`	415	Unsupported Content-Type
`INSUFFICIENT_TOKENS`	402	Insufficient token balance
`RATE_LIMITED`	429	Too many failed or in-flight requests per minute; successful extractions do not count (see the Retry-After header)
`TOO_MANY_FAILED_EXTRACTIONS`	429	Too many consecutive failed extractions; check your image quality
`EXTRACTION_FAILED`	500	Extraction error (token refunded)
`INTERNAL_ERROR`	500	Internal server error

Extracted fields

The API extracts the following fields from the passport data page:

passportNumber

Passport number

surname

Surname(s)

givenNames

Given names

nationality

Nationality

dateOfBirth

Date of birth

sex

Sex

placeOfBirth

Place of birth

dateOfIssue

Date of issue

dateOfExpiry

Date of expiry

issuingCountry

Issuing country (ICAO code)

issuingAuthority

Issuing authority

personalNumber

Personal number (if present)

mrzLine1

MRZ line 1

mrzLine2

MRZ line 2

Limits and quotas

Each extraction consumes 1 token
Maximum image size: 10MB
Supported formats: JPEG, PNG, WebP
URL-fetch timeout: 10 seconds
If an extraction fails because of a system error, the token is refunded automatically
Tokens never expire

API Documentation