An agency wants my passport number
Thread poster: Lisa Laplante
Lisa Laplante
Lisa Laplante  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 22:22
Member (2004)
French to English
Feb 6, 2020

I have been asked to work for a translation agency that gets high marks from Proz Blue Board. They sent me an NDA to complete and sign. The NDA asks me for my ID or passport number! Is this standard practice? I don't remember ever getting asked for my passport number and I certainly wasn't going to give out my US Social Security number. Your thoughts?

 
Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 02:22
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
Not normal Feb 6, 2020

I don't know of any justification for it. That's your personal identity, not your professional one.

I suggest you ask them why they want it. I bet they'll quote some quality standard of the ISO9001 type. But those standards say no such thing. They just require the agency to check out their suppliers to make sure they're genuine. There are other ways to do that.


Christophe Delaunay
Yolanda Broad
Marilynn Paquette
Philip Lees
Corbett AM
ahartje
Edilaine Grandolpho
 
Katalin Horváth McClure
Katalin Horváth McClure  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 22:22
Member (2002)
English to Hungarian
+ ...
One idea Feb 7, 2020

I had a client asking for such identification last fall. I pointed them to my ProZ profile with "Verified Identity". That was enough for them.


Tina Vonhof (X)
 
Ann Marie Bohan
Ann Marie Bohan  Identity Verified
Ireland
Local time: 02:22
German to English
+ ...
EU Feb 7, 2020

I had to provide a passport number for a client as I was included in a bid for an EU body. I wasn't happy about it (neither was the client) but we had to do it.

 
Lisa Laplante
Lisa Laplante  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 22:22
Member (2004)
French to English
TOPIC STARTER
Update Feb 7, 2020

Good news all! I checked with the customer. They said that they sometimes need the passport number for money transfer, but it's not mandatory so I can skip it if I want. I advised them that I always put payment information on my invoice.
Many thanks to all for your input, it's been enlightening, to say the least!


 


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An agency wants my passport number







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