Passport
Some countries decline to accept Tongan Protected Person passports, though they accept Tongan citizen passports. Tongan Protected Person passports are sold by the government of Tonga to anyone who is not a Tongan national. A holder of a Tongan Protected Person passport is forbidden to enter or settle in Tonga. Generally, those holders are refugees, stateless persons, and individuals who for political reasons do not have access to any other passport-issuing authority.
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International travel without passports
- Canada and the United States: Since September 30, 2007, American citizens flying to Canada have needed a passport. When traveling by land, Canadian and US citizens currently do not need a passport to travel between those two countries. A government issued ID (e.g. Canadian Citizenship Card or birth certificate) are currently accepted by both countries as proof of citizenship. As of Dec 21, 2007, planned passport requirements have been once again delayed meaning that US citizens arriving in Canada by land or water do not need a passport until June 1, 2009. [17]
- United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland: Citizens of the UK and Ireland do not require a passport to travel between those two countries. Other EEA nationals must carry a national ID card or a passport. All other nationals require passports.
- The CA-4 countries: Citizens of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua do not require passports to travel between or among any of the four countries. A national ID card (cédula) is sufficient for entry. In addition, the CA-4 agreement implemented the Central American Single Visa (Visa Única Centroamericana).
- Nordic countries -- Denmark, including the Faroe Islands and Greenland, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden: The Nordic Passport Union means that Nordic citizens need only any valid identity card (which is often needed inside each country anyway). They joined the larger Schengen treaty region in 1997, where a national identity card with citizenship is needed. The Nordic Passport Union is still valid for Nordic citizens.
- Lebanon and Syria: Lebanese citizens entering Syria do not require passports to enter Syria, if carrying Lebanese ID cards. Similarly, Syrian citizens do not require passports to enter Lebanon, if carrying Syrian ID cards.
- India, Nepal, and Bhutan: Passports are not needed by citizens of those countries to travel within any of those countries, but some identification is required for border crossing.
- Croatia does not require passports of citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina who have B&H ID cards. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, Slovenia, and Hungary do not require Croatian citizens to have a passport, only Croatian ID cards.
- Serbia does not require passports of citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina who have B&H ID cards. Bosnia and Herzegovina does not require Serbian citizens to have passports, only Serbian ID cards.
- Citizens of Serbia and citizens of Montenegro may travel between the two countries with national ID cards.
- Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania comprise the East African Community. Each country may issue, to an eligible citizen, an East African passport. Those passports are recognised by only the three countries, and are used for travel between or among those countries. The requirements for eligibility are less rigorous than are the requirements for national passports used for other international travel.
- The member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) do not require passports for their citizens traveling within the community. National ID cards are sufficient. The member states are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.
- Russia and some former Soviet Union republics: The participating countries may require an internal passport, which is the equivalent of a national ID card, rather than a passport.
- Many Central American and South American nationals can travel within their respective regional economic zones, such as Mercosur and the Andean Community of Nations, or on a bilateral basis (e.g., between Chile and Peru, between Brazil and Chile), without passports, presenting instead their national ID cards, or, for short stays, their voter-registration cards. This travel must be done overland rather than by air. There are plans to extend these rights to all of South America under a Union of South American Nations.
- Turkey does not require a passport for citizens of several European countries holding national ID cards. Citizens of Greece must have the new ID card, who have the holder's details in both the Greek and the Latin alphabets.
- Citizens of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries need only national ID cards (also referred to as civil ID cards) to cross the borders of council countries.
- Italy and Vatican City: Italy does not require passports for travel to Vatican City, and Vatican City does not require passports for travel to Italy. The only way to get to Vatican City is through Italy, inasmuch as Vatican City is surrounded by Rome, so Italian immigration requirements are de facto those of Vatican City. The Vatican issues its own passports to officials of the Roman Catholic Church who reside in or near the Vatican, and who work there. Each Pope is always given Vatican Passport No. 1.[citation needed]
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European Union (EU)
Citizens of the European Economic Area (the European Union plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) enjoy the freedom to travel and work in any European Union country without a visa, although transitory dispositions may restrict the rights of citizens of new member states to work in other countries. The same rights are also accorded to citizens of Switzerland, although they remain separate from the EEA.
European citizens travelling within the European Union may use standard compliant national ID cards rather than passports. Not all EU countries produced standard compliant national ID cards, and in other countries few people obtained one, which means that many persons need a passport anyway. Unlike most other EU ID-cards, the Swedish national identity card is valid only within the countries which fully implemented the Schengen Agreement, plus Switzerland.
The up to now 24 countries that have signed and applied the Schengen treaty (a subset of the EEA) do not implement passport controls between each other, unless exceptional circumstances apply. Some remaining EU countries, plus Switzerland and Liechtenstein, have signed the Schengen treaty, but are not allowed to be included yet. The main reason is that, according to EU law, the member states which joined the EU in 2004 would have to meet strict criteria with respect to their protection of EU external borders, before intra-EU border controls between the old member states and new member states would be lifted. Switzerland and Liechtenstein require some time to adapt their national airports and databases to the standards of the EU.
As a consequence of the above, a French citizen, for example, may travel to the United Kingdom, another EEA nation, and then freely work in that country. However, since the UK has not signed the Schengen treaty, the French citizen will have to carry at least a national ID card, which will be checked at the border. On the other hand, if and when Switzerland applies the Schengen treaty, the French citizen will be able to travel to Switzerland without being stopped at the border, but he will not be able to work freely in that country without authorisation, because Switzerland is not a member of the EEA. This is true notwithstanding the fact that, in most cases, authorisation to work would nevertheless have to be granted by Swiss authorities according to a specific treaty on free movement which had been concluded between the EU and Switzerland.
Some European countries require all persons to carry, or, at least possess, an ID card or a passport. So while Switzerland will not check French travellers' passports at the border, they may have to show their national ID cards within the country, such as when required by police officers to do so.
Except at the border, ID cards are not required by UK law. There is, however, a de-facto requirement to prove one's identity to conduct business. A European has to show a European national ID card to open a UK bank account or to prove eligibility to work.
Refugees and stateless persons, who do not have access to passports, may be issued a travel document by the country in which they reside. Holders of those travel documents generally require visas for international travel, and are not be entitled to consular protection. Exceptions to this include persons holding 1951 Convention Documents, who could benefit from some visa-free travel under the convention, persons who reside in the Schengen area, and persons who reside in the Nordic Passport Union area. Holders of UK passports and Irish passports do not automatically benefit from visa-free travel within the Common Travel Area.
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Domestic travel that requires passports
Under a special arrangement agreed during the formation of Federation of Malaysia, the Malaysian Borneo States Sabah and Sarawak can retain their respective immigration control systems. As a result passport is required for traveling from Peninsular Malaysia to Malaysian Borneo, as well as the mutual travel between the 2 states, including Malaysian citizens who hold Malaysian passport. However passport is not required for Sabah or Sarawak citizens to travel from Malaysian Borneo to Peninsular Malaysia.
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Immigration stamps in passports
For immigration control, immigration officials of many countries stamp passports with entry stamps and exit stamps. A stamp can serve different purposes. In the United Kingdom, an immigration stamp in a passport includes the formal leave to enter granted to a person subject to entry control. Otherwise, a stamp activates or acknowledges the continuing leave conferred in the passport bearer's entry clearance.
Under the Schengen system, a foreign passport is stamped with a date stamp which does not indicate any duration of stay. This stamp is taken to mean either that the person is deemed to have permission to remain for three months or for the period shown on his visa.
Neither the UK nor a Schengen country is allowed to stamp the passport of a person not subject to immigration control, whether a citizen of that country or a national of another EU country. Stamping is prohibited, because a passport stamp is imposition of a control that the person is not subject to. This concept is not applicable in other countries, where a stamp in a passport simply acknowledges the entry or exit of a person.
Countries have different styles of stamps for entries and exits, to make it easy to identify the movements of persons. The colour of the ink may also provide information about movements. In Hong Kong, prior to and immediately after the 1997 transfer of sovereignty, entry and exit stamps were identical at all ports of entry, but colours differed. Airport stamps used black ink, land stamps used red ink, and sea stamps used purple ink. In Macau, under Portuguese administration, the same colour of ink was used for all stamps. The stamps had slightly-different borders to indicate entry and exit by air, land, or sea. In several countries the stamps or its colour are different if the person arrived in a car in opposite to bus/boat/train/air passenger.
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Additional images
 Cover of an ordinary Indian passport |
 Cover of an ordinary Azerbaijani passport |
 Cover of a machine readable Brazilian passport |
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See also
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References
- ^ History of Passports. Passport Canada. Retrieved on April 18, 2008.
- ^ Marrus, Michael, The Unwanted: European Refugees in the Twentieth Century. New York: Oxford University Press (1985), p. 92.
- ^ Machine Readable Travel Documents (MRTD). ICAO. Retrieved on June 15, 2006.
- ^ The ID Chip You Don't Want in Your Passport. Bruce Schneier. Retrieved on September 1, 2007.
- ^ Scan This Guy's E-Passport and Watch Your System Crash. Kim Zetter. Retrieved on September 1, 2007.
- ^ Queen and Passport - royal.gov.uk.
- ^ See "Passport Message" in the United States passport article.
- ^ Resolutions of 23 June 1981, 30 June 1982, 14 July 1986 and 10 July 1995 concerning the introduction of a passport of uniform pattern, OJEC, 19 September 1981, C 241, p. 1; 16 July 1982, C 179, p. 1; 14 July 1986, C 185, p. 1; 4 August 1995, C 200, p. 1.
- ^ Andean Community / Decision 525: Minimum specific technical characteristics of Andean Passport.
- ^ Application Form. New Passport. Retrieved on June 15, 2006.
- ^ Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, Bureau of Consular Affairs, U.S. State Department, <http://travel.state.gov/travel/cbpmc/cbpmc_2223.html>. Retrieved on 20 May 2008.
- ^ For U.S. Citizens, Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, <http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/vacation/>. Retrieved on 20 May 2008.
- ^ Passports, Visas & Permits. Cyprus Facts. Retrieved on June 15, 2006.
- ^ e-Channel, <http://www.immd.gov.hk/ehtml/20041216.htm>. Retrieved on 20 May 2008.
- ^ Arrangement for entry to Hong Kong from Mainland China, <http://www.immd.gov.hk/ehtml/hkvisas_9.htm>. Retrieved on 20 May 2008.
- ^ Travel Advice by Country Foreign & Commonwealth Office
- ^ Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative
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Further reading
- Krueger, Stephen, Krueger on United States Passport Law. Hong Kong: Crossbow Corporation (2nd ed. 1999 & supps.).
- Lloyd, Martin, The Passport: The History of Man's Most Travelled Document. Stroud, UK: Sutton Publishing (2003) (ISBN 0-7509-2964-2).
- Salter, Mark B., Rights of Passage: The Passport in International Relations. Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner (2003).
- Torpey, John, The Invention of the Passport: Surveillance, Citizenship, and the State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2000).
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External links
- PRADO - The Council of the European Union Public Register of Authentic Travel- and ID Documents Online
- How Passports Work USA focused information from Howstuffworks
- ICAO MRTD Machine Readable Travel Documents
- The Optical Character Recognition standard, a free link
- Dateline NBC investigation into passport fraud
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