ClearID OCR – Privacy Notice

Last updated: 8 November 2026

Who we are

ClearID OCR (www.clearidocr.com) reads the details from passport images and returns them as text. ClearID OCR is the trading name of Raman Singh, a sole trader based in the United Kingdom. Raman Singh is the data controller for the personal data described in this notice, except where a business uses ClearID OCR for its own customers (see “Businesses using ClearID OCR”).

• Privacy questions and requests: privacy@clearidocr.com
• Other enquiries: contact@clearidocr.com

What information we process

When you use ClearID OCR, we process:

• The passport image you upload: a photo or PDF of the passport data page, including everything visible in it, such as the holder’s photograph, name, date and place of birth, nationality, passport number and other printed details.
• The details read from it: the fields you ask for, such as name, passport number, dates, nationality, sex, place of birth, issuing authority and the machine-readable lines.
• Technical information: your IP address and browser type, which are recorded when you connect (see “How long we keep information”).

We do not use the photograph to identify anyone, and we do not create biometric templates from it.

How the service handles your upload

1. You upload an image and choose which details you want.
2. Our own software reads the passport in the server’s memory and checks what it reads against the check digits built into the passport’s machine-readable lines.
3. If a detail you asked for can’t be read with certainty, the whole image is sent to Microsoft Azure AI Document Intelligence to read it (see “Service providers”). Microsoft receives everything visible in the image, not only the details you asked for. What Microsoft returns is checked before it is shown to you.
4. The results are sent back to your browser. Any changes you make to them, and any copying, happen in your browser.

ClearID OCR’s own software does not save the image or the results: it does not write them to a database, to files or to its logs, and it discards them once your results have been returned. Our service providers keep some information for limited periods, as explained below.

Service providers

We use Microsoft, Railway and Zoho to operate the service and handle correspondence. They act as processors where they handle personal data on our instructions. Railway also acts as an independent controller for certain account and service-usage data, as explained in its Privacy Policy.

• Microsoft (Azure AI Document Intelligence) reads details our own software could not read with certainty. It is used only when needed, and it processes the image in its UK South data centre. According to Microsoft’s documentation for this service, uploaded documents and results are stored temporarily and deleted within 24 hours after the analysis is completed, and are not used for any other purpose, including training (Microsoft’s data, privacy and security information).
• Railway hosts the ClearID OCR website and software. Our software runs on Railway servers in the EU (Amsterdam). Railway also records basic information about each connection, including your IP address, and stores these records in the United States (see “How long we keep information”).
• Zoho (Zoho Mail) hosts our email, so it processes any message you send to privacy@clearidocr.com or contact@clearidocr.com (see “If you email us”).

Why we use your information, and our lawful basis

We use the information only to read the passport and return its details to the person who uploaded it, and to keep the service secure.

• Your own passport: we process it to provide the service you asked for (contract).
• Someone else’s passport (for example, a family member’s): we process it to provide the reading service the uploader asked for, relying on legitimate interests. We have weighed this against the passport holder’s interests, taking particular care where the passport belongs to a child, and we remain responsible for our own processing of it. The uploader must also have a lawful reason to share the passport with us.
• Security and abuse prevention (for example, limiting how often one IP address can upload): legitimate interests in keeping the service available and secure.

Passport details are not in themselves special category data, and because we do not use the photograph to identify anyone, it is not processed as biometric data.

How long we keep information

• Passport images and results, in ClearID OCR’s software: only while your request is being processed (normally a few seconds), then discarded.
• IP addresses, in ClearID OCR’s software: about one minute, to limit repeated uploads.
• Images sent to Microsoft, and the results: deleted by Microsoft within 24 hours after the analysis is completed.
• Connection records kept by Railway (the time, the page requested, your IP address and browser type; never passport images or details): stored by Railway in the United States for 90 days, then deleted automatically. Railway does not allow these records to be deleted earlier, individually or on request.

International transfers

ClearID OCR’s software runs in the EU (Amsterdam) and Microsoft processes images in the UK. Some personal data is transferred outside the UK:

• Railway stores connection records, including IP addresses, in the United States. These transfers are covered by Railway’s Data Processing Addendum, which uses the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework where Railway is certified, or otherwise the EU Standard Contractual Clauses with the UK International Data Transfer Addendum.
• Microsoft is a US company. Any transfer outside the UK is covered by Microsoft’s Products and Services Data Protection Addendum, which uses the Standard Contractual Clauses or other transfer mechanisms approved by data protection authorities.
• Zoho hosts our email correspondence. Its UK Privacy Policy describes processing within its international group and by service providers, including in the United States, the EEA and other countries where it operates, subject to applicable data protection agreements. You can contact us for information about the safeguards applicable to our mailbox.

You can ask for a copy of these safeguards by emailing privacy@clearidocr.com.

How we keep your information secure

• Uploads travel over an encrypted connection (HTTPS).
• Our software processes images and results in memory and does not write them to disk or to its logs.
• The business API requires a secret key, and the keys for our service providers are kept in the server’s settings, not in the website or its code.
• Administrative access to the hosting and AI accounts is limited to Raman Singh.

Businesses using ClearID OCR

When a business sends passports to ClearID OCR for its own purposes, through our API or through the website for its customers, that business decides why the passports are processed and is the controller. We act as its processor and process the passports only to provide the reading service. When we act as a processor for a business, Microsoft and Railway act as our sub-processors. A business that wants to use ClearID OCR in this way must first contact us at contact@clearidocr.com to agree written data processing terms. The business is responsible for telling the passport holders.

If your passport was sent to us by a business, please contact that business first about your rights.

If you email us

If you email privacy@clearidocr.com or contact@clearidocr.com, we receive your name, email address and anything you include in your message. Our mailbox is hosted by Zoho (Zoho Mail).

• Why we use it: to reply to you and, for privacy requests, to keep a record of how we handled them.
• Lawful basis: legitimate interests in answering your enquiry; for privacy requests, our legal obligation under data protection law.
• How long we keep it: up to 2 years after the matter is closed, unless we need it longer to deal with a legal claim.

Your rights

Depending on the circumstances, you may have rights to access, correct or delete your personal data, restrict or object to its use, and receive it in a portable form.

Our application normally cannot retrieve passport images or extraction results after processing has finished. However, correspondence, technical records and temporary copies held by our providers may remain for the periods explained above. We handle requests concerning information for which we are responsible, including information processed on our behalf, and obtain assistance from our processors where needed.

To make a request, email privacy@clearidocr.com. We will reply within one month.

If you are unhappy with how we handle your information, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or by phone on 0303 123 1113. We would appreciate the chance to resolve your concern first.

Children’s passports and changes to this notice

The service is intended for adults. If you upload a child’s passport, you should be their parent or guardian or have another lawful reason to do so.

We may update this notice when the service changes, for example if we add a new provider. The date at the top shows when it was last updated.