Passport

A passport is a, usually issued by a 's to its citizens, that certifies the identity and  of its holder primarily for the purpose of international travel. Standard passports may contain information such as the holder's name, place and date of birth, photograph, signature, and other relevant identifying information.

Many countries have either begun issuing or plan to issue s that contains an embedded, making them and difficult to. , there are over 150 jurisdictions issuing these s. Previously issued non-biometric machine-readable passports usually remain valid until their respective expiration dates.

A passport holder is normally entitled to enter the country that issued the passport, though some people entitled to a passport may not be full citizens with (e.g.  or ). A passport does not of itself create any rights in the country being visited or obligate the issuing country in any way, such as providing. Some passports attest to the bearer having a status as a or other official, entitled to rights and privileges such as.

Many countries normally allow entry to holders of passports of other countries, sometimes requiring a also to be obtained, but this is not an automatic right. Many other additional conditions, such as not being likely to become a public charge for financial or other reasons, and the holder not having been, may apply. Where a country does not another, or is in dispute with it, it may prohibit the use of their passport for travel to that other country, or may  to holders of that other country's passports, and sometimes to others who have, for example, visited the other country. Some individuals are subject to sanctions which deny them entry into particular countries.

Some countries and international organisations issue s which are not standard passports, but enable the holder to travel internationally to countries that recognise the documents. For example, persons are not normally issued a national passport, but may be able to obtain a  or the earlier "" which enables them to travel to countries which recognise the document, and sometimes to return to the issuing country.

Passports may be requested in other circumstances to confirm identification such as checking into a hotel or when changing money to a local currency.

History
One of the earliest known references to paperwork that served in a role similar to that of a passport is found in the. , dating from approximately 450 BC, states that Nehemiah, an official serving King, asked permission to travel to ; the king granted leave and gave him a letter "to the governors beyond the river" requesting safe passage for him as he traveled through their lands.

mentions the first passport and passbooks in world history. According to the text, the superintendent of passports must issue sealed passes before one could enter or leave the countryside.

Passports were an important part of the Chinese bureaucracy as early as the, if not in the. They required such details as age, height, and bodily features. These passports (zhuan) determined a person's ability to move throughout imperial counties and through points of control. Even children needed passports, but those of one year or less who were in their mother's care might not have needed them.

In the medieval, a form of passport was the bara'a, a for taxes paid. Only people who paid their ' (for s) or ' (for s) taxes were permitted to travel to different regions of the Caliphate; thus, the bara'a receipt was a "basic passport."

sources show that the term "passport" is from a medieval document that was required in order to pass through the gate (or "porte") of a city wall or to pass through a territory. In, such documents were issued to foreign travellers by local authorities (as opposed to local citizens, as is the modern practice) and generally contained a list of towns and cities the document holder was permitted to enter or pass through. On the whole, documents were not required for travel to sea ports, which were considered, but documents were required to travel inland from sea ports.

King is credited with having invented what some consider the first passport in the modern sense, as a means of helping his subjects prove who they were in foreign lands. The earliest reference to these documents is found in a. In 1540, granting travel documents in England became a role of the, and it was around this time that the term "passport" was used. In 1794, issuing British passports became the job of the Office of the. The 1548 Imperial Diet of Augsburg required the public to hold imperial documents for travel, at the risk of permanent exile.

A rapid expansion of and wealth in Europe beginning in the mid-nineteenth century led to large increases in the volume of international travel and a consequent unique dilution of the passport system for approximately thirty years prior to. The speed of trains, as well as the number of passengers that crossed multiple borders, made enforcement of passport laws difficult. The general reaction was the relaxation of passport requirements. In the later part of the nineteenth century and up to World War I, passports were not required, on the whole, for travel within Europe, and crossing a border was a relatively straightforward procedure. Consequently, comparatively few people held passports.

During World War I, European governments introduced border passport requirements for security reasons, and to control the emigration of people with useful skills. These controls remained in place after the war, becoming a standard, though controversial, procedure. British tourists of the 1920s complained, especially about attached photographs and physical descriptions, which they considered led to a "nasty dehumanization". The British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act was passed in 1914, clearly defining the notions of citizenship and creating a booklet form of the passport.

In 1920, the held a conference on passports, the. Passport guidelines and a general booklet design resulted from the conference, which was followed up by conferences in 1926 and 1927.

While the United Nations held a travel conference in 1963, no passport guidelines resulted from it. Passport standardization came about in 1980, under the auspices of the (ICAO). ICAO standards include those for s. Such passports have an area where some of the information otherwise written in textual form is written as strings of alphanumeric characters, printed in a manner suitable for. This enables border controllers and other law enforcement agents to process these passports more quickly, without having to input the information manually into a computer. ICAO publishes Doc 9303 Machine Readable Travel Documents, the technical standard for machine-readable passports. A more recent standard is for s. These contain to authenticate the identity of travellers. The passport's critical information is stored on a tiny computer chip, much like information stored on s. Like some smartcards, the passport booklet design calls for an embedded contactless chip that is able to hold  data to ensure the integrity of the passport and the biometric data.

Issuances
Historically, legal authority to issue passports is founded on the exercise of each country's executive discretion (or Crown prerogative). Certain legal tenets follow, namely: first, passports are issued in the name of the state; second, no person has a legal right to be issued a passport; third, each country's government, in exercising its executive discretion, has complete and unfettered discretion to refuse to issue or to revoke a passport; and fourth, that the latter discretion is not subject to judicial review. However, legal scholars including A.J. Arkelian have argued that evolutions in both the constitutional law of democratic countries and the international law applicable to all countries now render those historical tenets both obsolete and unlawful.

Under some circumstances some countries allow people to hold more than one passport document. This may apply, for example, to people who travel a lot on business, and may need to have, say, a passport to travel on while another is awaiting a visa for another country. The UK for example may issue a second passport if the applicant can show a need and supporting documentation, such as a letter from an employer.

National conditions
Today, most countries issue individual passports to applying citizens, including children, with only a few still issuing family passports (see below under "Types") or including children on a parent's passport (most countries having switched to individual passports in the early to mid-20th century). When passport holders apply for a new passport (commonly, due to expiration of the previous passport, insufficient validity for entry to some countries or lack of blank pages), they may be required to surrender the old passport for invalidation. In some circumstances an expired passport is not required to be surrendered or invalidated (for example, if it contains an unexpired visa).

Under the law of most countries, passports are government property, and may be limited or revoked at any time, usually on specified grounds, and possibly subject to judicial review. In many countries, surrender of one's passport is a condition of granting in lieu of imprisonment for a pending criminal trial due to.

Each country sets its own conditions for the issue of passports. For example, requires applicants to be interviewed before a  will be granted. When applying for a passport or a national ID card, all Pakistanis are required to sign an oath declaring to be an impostor prophet and all  to be non-Muslims.

Some countries limit the issuance of passports, where incoming and outgoing international travels are highly regulated, such as, where s are the privilege of a very small number of people trusted by the government. Other countries put requirements on some citizens in order to be granted passports, such as, where male citizens aged 18–30 years must prove that they have completed, or are exempt from, to be granted an ; otherwise a passport is issued valid only until the end of their 28th year, to ensure that they return to carry out military service. Other countries with obligatory military service, such as and, have similar requirements, e.g.  and.

National status
Passports contain a statement of the nationality of the holder. In most countries, only one class of nationality exists, and only one type of ordinary passport is issued. However, several types of exceptions exist:

Multiple classes of nationality in a single country
The has a number of  due to its colonial history. As a result, the UK issues various passports which are similar in appearance but representative of different nationality statuses which, in turn, has caused foreign governments to subject holders of different s to different entry requirements.

Multiple types of passports, one nationality
The (PRC) authorizes its  of  and  to issue passports to their permanent residents with  under the "" arrangement. Visa policies imposed by foreign authorities on Hong Kong and Macau permanent residents holding such passports are different from those holding ordinary passports of the People's Republic of China. A (HKSAR passport) permits visa-free access to many more countries than ordinary.

The three constituent countries of the have a common nationality. is a member of the, but and  are not. Danish citizens residing in Greenland or Faroe Islands can choose between holding a and a Greenlandic or Faroese non-EU Danish passport.

Special nationality class through investment
In rare instances a nationality is available through investment. Some investors have been described in Tongan passports as 'a Tongan protected person', a status which does not necessarily carry with it the right of abode in Tonga.

Passports without sovereign territory
Several entities without a sovereign territory issue documents described as passports, most notably, the in Australia and the. Such documents are not necessarily accepted for entry into a country.

Validity
Passports have a limited validity, usually between 5 and 10 years.

Many countries require a of a minimum of six months beyond the planned date of departure, as well as having at least two to four blank pages.

Value
One method to measure the 'value' of a passport is to calculate its 'visa-free score' (VFS), which is the number of countries that allow the holder of that passport entry for general tourism without requiring a visa. the strongest and weakest passports are as follows:

Types
A rough standardization exists in types of passports throughout the world, although passport types, number of pages, and definitions can vary by country.

Full passports

 * Passport (also called ordinary, regular, or tourist passport) – The most common form of passport, issued to individual citizens and other nationals (most nations stopped issuing family passports several decades ago due to logistical and security reasons).
 * Official passport (also called service passport) – Issued to government employees for work-related travel, and their accompanying dependants.
 * Diplomatic passport – Issued to diplomats of a country and their accompanying dependents for official international travel and residence. of certain grades may be granted  by a host country, but this is not automatically conferred by holding a diplomatic passport. Any diplomatic privileges apply in the country to which the diplomat is accredited; elsewhere diplomatic passport holders must adhere to the same regulations and travel procedures as are required of other nationals of their country. Holding a diplomatic passport in itself does not accord any specific privileges. At some airports, there are separate passport checkpoints for diplomatic passport holders.
 * Emergency passport (also called temporary passport) – Issued to persons whose passports were lost or stolen without time to obtain a replacement, e.g. someone abroad and needing to fly home within a few days. These passports are intended for very short time durations, e.g. one way travel back to home country, and will naturally have much shorter validity periods than regular passports. are also used for this purpose.
 * Collective passport – Issued to defined groups for travel together to particular destinations, such as a group of school children on a school trip.
 * Family passport – Issued to an entire family. There is one passport holder, who may travel alone or with other family members included in the passport. A family member who is not the passport holder cannot use the passport for travel without the passport holder. Few countries now issue family passports; for example, all the countries, Canada, and the United States, among numerous other countries, require each child to have their own passport.

Latvia and Estonia
Non-citizens in and Estonia are individuals, primarily of Russian or Ukrainian ethnicity, who are not citizens of Latvia or Estonia but whose families have resided in the area since the Soviet era, and thus have the right to a non-citizen passport issued by the Latvian government as well as other specific rights. Approximately two thirds of them are, followed by ethnic Belarusians, ethnic Ukrainians, ethnic Poles and ethnic Lithuanians.

Non-citizens in the two countries are issued special non-citizen passports as opposed to regular passports issued by the Estonian and Latvian authorities to citizens.

American Samoa
Although all U.S. citizens are also U.S. nationals, the reverse is not true. As specified in, a person whose only connection to the U.S. is through birth in an outlying possession (which is defined in as  and , the latter of which is administered as part of American Samoa), or through descent from a person so born, acquires U.S. nationality but not U.S. citizenship. This was formerly the case in a few other current or former, i.e. the and.

The U.S. passport issued to non-citizen nationals contains the endorsement code 9 which states: "THE BEARER IS A UNITED STATES NATIONAL AND NOT A UNITED STATES CITIZEN." on the annotations page.

Non-citizen U.S. nationals may reside and work in the United States without restrictions, and may apply for citizenship under the same rules as resident aliens. Like resident aliens, they are, although, as with resident aliens, there is no constitutional prohibition against their doing so.

United Kingdom
Due to the complexity of, the United Kingdom has six variants of British nationality. Out of these variants, however, only the status known as grants the right of abode in a particular country or territory (the United Kingdom) while others do not. Hence, the UK issues s to those who are British nationals but not s, which include s, s, s, and s.

Andorra
Children born in Andorra to foreign residents who have not yet resided in the country for a minimum of 10 years are provided a provisional passport. Once the child reaches 18 years old he or she must confirm their nationality to the Government.

Other types of travel documents

 * – Issued by national governments or international organizations (such as the ) as emergency passports, travel on humanitarian grounds, or for official travel.
 * – Issued by to police officers for official travel, allowing them to bypass certain visa restrictions in certain member states when investigating transnational crime.
 * (also called alien's passport, or informally, a Travel Document) – Issued under certain circumstances, such as, to non-citizen residents. An example is the "" (pictured). Sometimes issued as an internal passport to non-residents.
 * – Issued to a refugee by the state in which she or he currently resides allowing them to travel outside that state and to return. Made necessary because refugees are unlikely to be able to obtain passports from their state of nationality.
 * Permits. Many types of travel permit exist around the world. Some, like the and, allow residents of those countries who are unable to obtain a permanent residence to travel outside the country and return.  Others, like the  Special Passport, the , and the Taibaozheng , are used for travel to and from specific countries or locations, for example to travel between  and , or between  and.
 * – Issued by the to Chinese citizens in lieu of a passport.
 * – a special passport used only for and  pilgrimage to  and,.

Intra-sovereign territory travel that requires passports
For some countries, passports are required for some types of travel between their sovereign territories. Three examples of this are:


 * Hong Kong and Macau, both Chinese special administrative regions (SARs), have their own immigration control systems different from each other and mainland China. Travelling between the three is technically not international, so residents of the three locations do not use passports to travel between the three places, instead using other documents, such as the (for the people of Hong Kong and Macau). Foreign visitors are required to present their passports with applicable visas at the immigration control points.
 * Malaysia, where an arrangement was agreed upon during the formation of the country, the n states of and  were allowed to retain their respective immigration control systems. Therefore, a passport is required for foreign visitors when travelling from  to East Malaysia, as well as moving between Sabah and Sarawak. For social/business visits not more than 3 months, Peninsular Malaysians are required to produce a  or, for children below 12 years a, and obtain a special immigration printout form to be kept until departure. However, one may present a  or a Restricted Travel Document and get an entry stamp on the travel document to avoid the hassle of keeping an extra sheet of paper. For other purposes, Peninsular Malaysians are required to have a long-term residence permit along with a passport or a Restricted Travel Document.
 * , one of, has its own immigration controls. Until 2018, Australian and New Zealand citizens travelling to the territory were required to carry a passport, or an , while people of other nationalities must also have a valid Australian visa and/or.

Internal passports
s are issued by some countries as an. An example is the or certain other post-Soviet countries dating back to imperial times. Some countries use internal passports for controlling migration within a country. In some countries, the international passport or passport for travel abroad is a second passport, in addition to the internal passport, required for a citizen to travel abroad within the country of residence. Separate passports for travel abroad existed or exist in the following countries:
 * see
 * see
 * In the, there were several types of international passport: an ordinary one, a civil service passport, a diplomatic passport, and a sailor's passport. See.
 * Countries of the had a system of internal/international passports similar to that of the Soviet Union.

International Civil Aviation Organization standards
The (ICAO) issues passport standards which are treated as recommendations to national governments. The size of passport booklets normally complies with the ID-3 standard, which specifies a size of 125 × 88 mm (4.921 × 3.465 in). This size is the format. Passport cards are issued to the ID-1 (credit card sized) standard.


 * A standard passport booklet format includes the cover, which contains the name of the issuing country, a national symbol, a description of the document (e.g., passport, diplomatic passport), and a symbol, if applicable. Inside, there is a title page, also naming the country. A data page follows, containing information about the bearer and the issuing authority. There are blank pages for visas, and to stamp for entries and exit. Passports have numerical or alphanumerical designators ("") assigned by the issuing authority.
 * standards have been issued by the ICAO, with an area set aside where most of the information written as text is also printed in a manner suitable for.
 * s (or e-passports) have an embedded in order to conform to ICAO standards. These chips contain data about the passport bearer, a photographic portrait in digital format, and data about the passport itself. Many countries now issue biometric passports, in order to speed up clearance through immigration and the prevention of identity fraud.  These reasons are disputed by privacy advocates.

Common designs
Passport booklets from almost all countries around the world display the of the issuing country on the front cover. The United Nations keeps a record of national coats of arms, but displaying a coat of arms is not an internationally recognized requirement for a passport.

There are several groups of countries that have, by mutual agreement, adopted common designs for their passports:
 * The European Union. The design and layout of passports of the member states of the European Union are a result of consensus and recommendation, rather than of directive. Passports are issued by member states and may consist of either the usual passport booklet or the newer passport card format. The covers of ordinary passport booklets are burgundy-red (except for Croatia which has a blue cover), with "European Union" written in the national language or languages. Below that are the name of the country, the national coat of arms, the word or words for "passport", and, at the bottom, the symbol for a biometric passport. The data page can be at the front or at the back of a passport booklet and there are significant design differences throughout to indicate which member state is the issuer. Member states that participate in the  have agreed that their e-passports should contain fingerprint information in the chip.
 * In 2006, the members of the Treaty (,, , and ) adopted a common-design passport, called the , following a design already in use by Nicaragua and El Salvador since the mid-1990s. It features a navy-blue cover with the words "América Central" and a map of Central America, and with the territory of the issuing country highlighted in gold (in place of the individual nations' coats of arms). At the bottom of the cover are the name of the issuing country and the passport type.
 * The members of the (,, , and ) began to issue commonly designed passports in 2005. Specifications for the common passport format were outlined in an Andean Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in 2002.  Previously-issued national passports will be valid until their expiry dates. Andean passports are bordeaux (burgundy-red), with words in gold. Centered above the national seal of the issuing country is the name of the regional body in Spanish (Comunidad Andina). Below the seal is the official name of the member country. At the bottom of the cover is the Spanish word "pasaporte" along with the English "passport". Venezuela had issued Andean passports, but has subsequently left the Andean Community, so they will no longer issue Andean passports.
 * The signaled an intention to establish a common passport design, but it appears that implementation will take many years.


 * The member states of the (CARICOM) recently began issuing passports with a . It features the CARICOM symbol along with the national coat of arms and name of the member state, rendered in a CARICOM official language (English,, Dutch). The member states which use the common design are , , , , , , , , , , , and .  There was a movement by the  (OECS) to issue a common designed passport, but the implementation of the CARICOM passport made that redundant, and it was abandoned.

Request page
Passports sometimes contain a message, usually near the front, requesting that the passport's bearer be allowed to pass freely, and further requesting that, in the event of need, the bearer be granted assistance. The message is sometimes made in the name of the government or the head of state, and may be written in more than one language, depending on the language policies of the issuing authority.

Languages
In 1920, an international conference on passports and through tickets held by the recommended that passports be issued in the, historically the language of diplomacy, and one other language. Currently, the recommends that passports be issued in English and French, or in the national language of the issuing country and in either English or French. Many European countries use their national language, along with English and French.

Some unusual language combinations are:
 * National passports of the European Union bear all of the official languages of the EU. Two or three languages are printed at the relevant points, followed by reference numbers which point to the passport page where translations into the remaining languages appear. In addition to the official EU languages, British passports bear and . Irish passports likewise bear.
 * Canadian passports are written in both English and French, though French is included in this case due to its position as an official language of Canada.
 * The and the  are tri-lingual: English, French and Spanish. United States passports were traditionally English and French, but began being printed with a Spanish message and labels during the late 1990s, in recognition of 's Spanish-speaking status. Only the message and labels are in multiple languages, the cover and instructions pages are printed solely in English.
 * In Belgium, all three official languages (Dutch, French, German) appear on the cover, in addition to English on the main page. The order of the official languages depends on the official residence of the holder.
 * Passports of Bosnia and Herzegovina are in the three official languages of Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian in addition to English.
 * s contain four languages: Portuguese, the official country language, Spanish, because of bordering nations, English and French.
 * s are in Greek, Turkish and English.
 * The first page of a is in Arabic only. The last page (first page from a western viewpoint) has an English equivalent of the information on the Arabic first page (western last page). Similar arrangements are found in the passports of some other Arab countries.
 * are in English and.
 * s are in Arabic, Kurdish and English.
 * s are in three languages: Chinese, Portuguese and English.
 * s are in English and.
 * s are in the two forms of the Norwegian language, and, and in English.
 * s are in, and English.
 * s are in five languages: German, French, Italian, and English.
 * are in three languages: Arabic, English, and French.
 * s are in Arabic, English, and French.

Immigration stamps
For immigration control, officials of many countries use entry and exit stamps. Depending on the country, a stamp can serve different purposes. For example, in the United Kingdom, an immigration stamp in a passport includes the formal granted to a person subject to entry control. In other countries, a stamp activates or acknowledges the continuing leave conferred in the passport bearer's.

Under the Schengen system, a foreign passport is stamped with a date stamp which does not indicate any duration of stay. This means that the person is deemed to have permission to remain either for three months or for the period shown on his visa if specified otherwise.

Visas often take the form of an inked stamp, although some countries use adhesive stickers that incorporate security features to discourage forgery.

Member states of the European Union are not permitted to place a stamp in the passport of a person who is not subject to immigration control. Stamping is prohibited because it is an imposition of a control that the person is not subject to.

Countries usually have different styles of stamps for entries and exits, to make it easier to identify the movements of people. Ink colour might be used to designate mode of transportation (air, land or sea), such as in Hong Kong prior to 1997; while border styles did the same thing in Macau. Other variations include changing the size of the stamp to indicate length of stay, as in Singapore.

Immigration stamps are a useful reminder of travels. Some travellers "collect" immigration stamps in passports, and will choose to enter or exit countries via different means (for example, land, sea or air) in order to have different stamps in their passports. Some countries, such as Liechtenstein, that do not stamp passports may provide a passport stamp on request for such "memory" purposes. Monaco (at its tourist office) and Andorra (at its border) do this as well. These are official stamps issued by government offices. However, some private enterprises may for a price stamp passports at historic sites and these have no legal standing. It is possible that such memorial stamps can preclude the passport bearer from travelling to certain countries. For example, Finland consistently rejects what they call 'falsified passports', where passport bearers have been refused visas or entry due to memorial stamps and are required to renew their passports.

Limitations on use
A passport is merely an identity document that is widely recognised for international travel purposes, and the possession of a passport does not in itself entitle a traveller to enter any country other than the country that issued it, and sometimes not even then. Many countries normally require visitors to obtain a visa. Each country has different requirements or conditions for the grant of visas, such as for the visitor not being likely to become a public charge for financial, health, family, or other reasons, and the holder not having been convicted of a crime or considered likely to commit one.

Where a country does not recognise another, or is in dispute with it, entry may be prohibited to holders of passports of the other party to the dispute, and sometimes to others who have, for example, visited the other country; examples are listed below. A country that issues a passport may also restrict its validity or use in specified circumstances, such as use for travel to certain countries for political, security, or health reasons.

Asia

 * Bangladesh – a is valid for travel to all countries except Israel.
 * and Taiwan – Nationals of Taiwan (ROC) use a special travel permit issued by China's (PRC)  to enter mainland China. Nationals of Mainland China entering Taiwan must also use a special travel permit  issued by the ROC's immigration department. Depending on where they're coming from, they also need either a Chinese passport when departing from outside Mainland China, or a passport-like travel document, known as Taiwan Travel Permit for Mainland Residents, when departing from Mainland China (along with a special visa-like exit endorsement issued by PRC immigration authorities affixed to the permit). Chinese nationals who are Hong Kong and Macau permanent residents can apply for the ROC Exit and Entry Permit online or on arrival and must travel with their, , or.
 * Hong Kong and Macau – A '' is required for Chinese citizens domiciled in Hong Kong and Macau to enter and exit mainland China. The and the  cannot be used for travel to mainland China. Also, s cannot be used by Chinese citizens who reside in Hong Kong as the PRC does not recognize dual nationality.  Mainland China residents visiting Hong Kong or Macau are required to hold an  (往来港澳通行证 or 双程证) issued by Mainland authorities, along with an endorsement (签注), on the Exit-entry Permit which needs to be applied each time (similar to a ) when visiting the SARs (except residents with  in  can apply for a multi-entry endorsement).  Non-permanent residents of Macau who are not eligible for a passport may travel to Hong Kong on the Visit Permit to Hong Kong (澳門居民往來香港特別行政區旅行證) valid for 7 years, which allows holders to travel only to Hong Kong SAR during its validity.
 * Israel – Until 1952, s were normally not valid for travel to the then-West Germany, as in the aftermath of  it was considered improper for Israelis to visit West Germany on any business but official state affairs. Some Muslim and African countries do not permit entry to anyone using an Israeli passport. In addition, Iran, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen do not allow entry to people with evidence of travel to Israel, or whose passports have either a used or an unused Israeli visa. For this reason, Israel no longer stamps visa stamps directly on passports, but on a slip of paper that serves as a substitute for a stamp on a travel document. Some countries do not permit their passports to be used for travel to Israel.
 * Lebanon - a is valid to travel  to all countries except Israel.
 * Malaysia – a is valid to travel to all countries except Israel.
 * Brunei - a is valid to travel to all countries except Israel.
 * Pakistan – a is valid for travel to all countries except Israel.
 * Philippines – between 2004 and mid-2011, s could not be used for travel to Iraq due to the security threats in that country.
 * South Korea – the South Korean government has banned travel to, , , , and for safety reasons.  South Korea does not consider travel within the  (between South Korean and North Korean administrations) to be international travel, as South Korea's constitution regards the entire Korean peninsula as its territory. South Koreans going to the  in North Korea pass through the  Highway Transit Office at , , where they present a plastic Visit Certificate (방문증명서) card issued by the South Korean , and an immigration-stamped Passage Certificate (개성공업지구 출입증) issued by the  Industrial District Management Committee (개성공업지구 관리위원회).  Until 2008, South Koreans moving to tourist areas in the North such as  needed to carry a South Korean ID card for security reasons.

Europe

 * As a result of the between  and, Azerbaijan refuses entry to holders of s, as well as passport-holders of any other country if they are of . It also strictly refuses entry to foreigners in general whose passport shows evidence of entry into the self-proclaimed , immediately declaring them permanent .  Conversely, Armenia does allow visa-free entry for holders of s.
 * The (TRNC) issues passports, but only Turkey recognises its statehood. s are not accepted for entry into the  via airports or sea ports, but are accepted at the designated green line crossing points. However, all  are entitled by law to the issue of a, and since the opening of the border between the two sides, Cypriot and EU citizens can travel freely between them.  The United Kingdom, United States, France, Australia, Pakistan, and Syria currently officially accept TRNC passports with the relevant visas.
 * Spain does not accept United Kingdom, alleging that the is not a competent authority for issuing .  The word "Gibraltar" now appears beneath the words "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" on the covers of British passports issued in Gibraltar.
 * s may be issued to people holding any of the various forms of, with holders identified as: s (GBR), s (GBD), s (GBO), s (GBS), s (GBP), and  (GBN or BN(O)). Holders other than British citizens may not have the , and other countries may apply restrictions that do not apply to GBR holders.

Oceania

 * Some countries do not accept s, 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 or stateless persons for some other reason.

South America

 * For countries that do not maintain diplomatic relations with, such as , , and , diplomatic, official, and work passports are not accepted, and visas are only granted to tourist or business visitors. In addition, except for Kosovo and Taiwan, these visas must be issued on a Brazilian "laissez-passer", not on the country's passport.

International travel without passports
International travel is possible without passports in some circumstances. Nonetheless, a document stating citizenship, such as a or an, is usually required.

Africa

 * Members of the East African Community (composed of, , , and ) may issue an . East African passports are recognised by only the five members, and are only 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 (ECOWAS) do not require passports for their citizens when moving within the community. National ID cards are sufficient. The member states are, , , , , , , , , , , , , , and.

Asia

 * Passports are not needed by citizens of India and Nepal to travel to each other's country, but some identification is required for border crossings.
 * Citizens of Lebanon and Jordan do not require passports when travelling in either country if they are carrying ID cards.
 * Travel between Russia and some former Soviet republics, designated by membership in the, may be accomplished with a national identity document (e.g. an ) or passport. However, according to a statement made by President Putin in December 2012, Russia has plans to restrict travel without a passport only to citizens of the member states of the  by 2015. After that date, citizens of other CIS states will need passports (although not visas) to visit Russia.
 * Citizens of the countries need only national ID cards (also referred to as civil ID cards) to cross the borders of council countries. This also applies to anyone that has a residence permit in any of the GCC countries. As of 2017 though, Qatar has been removed from the list.
 * The 20 countries of the issue the, which allows visa-free entry into all participating countries.

Europe

 * Travel with minimal travel documents is possible between the United Kingdom, the, the , and the Republic of Ireland, which together form the.
 * The countries that apply the (, a subset of the ) do not implement passport controls between each other, unless exceptional circumstances occur. It is, however, mandatory to carry a passport, compliant national identity card, alien's resident permit or some other photo ID.
 * A citizen of one of the 28 member states of the European Union or of Liechtenstein, Andorra, Monaco, Norway, San Marino, Iceland and Switzerland may travel in and between these countries using a standard compliant rather than a passport. Not all EU/EEA member states issue standard compliant national identity cards, notably Denmark, Norway, Iceland, the Republic of Ireland (though the  is accepted), and the United Kingdom.
 * The allows Nordic citizens—citizens from Denmark (including the Faroe Islands), Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden to visit any of these countries without being in possession of identity documents (Greenland and Svalbard are excluded). This is an extension of the principle that Nordic citizens need no identity document in their own country. A means to prove identity when requested is recommended (e.g. using a driver's license, which does not state citizenship), even in one's own country. Joining the Schengen Area in 1997 has not changed these rules.
 * accepts national ID cards or passports for entry from nationals of the EU, EFTA, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, San Marino and Singapore.
 * accepts national ID cards or passports for entry from citizens of the EU, EFTA, Montenegro, Monaco, San Marino and Serbia.
 * accepts national ID cards or passports for entry from nationals of the EU, EFTA, Albania, Montenegro and Serbia.
 * accepts national ID cards or passports for entry from nationals of the EU, EFTA, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Monaco, North Macedonia, San Marino and Serbia.
 * accepts national ID cards or passports for entry from nationals of the EU, EFTA (except Liechtenstein), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and North Macedonia.
 * Citizens of Belgium, France,, Germany, Greece, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxemburg, Malta, the Netherlands, the , Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and Ukraine are allowed to enter with a valid national ID card.
 * EU and Turkish citizens are allowed to enter the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus with a valid ID card.
 * EU and Turkish citizens are allowed to enter Georgia with a valid ID card.

North America

 * countries issue a to their citizens, and as of June 2009, eligible nationals in participating countries will be permitted to use the CARICOM travel card which provides for intra-community travel without a passport.
 * There are several cards available to certain North American residents which allow passport free travel; generally only for land and sea border crossings:


 * The U.S. Passport card is an alternative to an ordinary U.S. passport booklet for land and sea travel within North America (Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Bermuda). Like the passport book, the passport card is issued only to U.S. citizens and non-citizen nationals.
 * The allows border crossing between the U.S. and Canada for U.S. nationals and Canadian citizens. It can also be used for air travel as the only means of identification for U.S. nationals and Canadian citizens. The card can also be used for entering the U.S. from Mexico but not vice versa.
 * The allows passport-free entry into the U.S. from Mexico and Canada (but not vice versa) for U.S. citizens and nationals as well as Canadian citizens.
 * The can be used for crossing between U.S. and Canada, as well as entering U.S. from Mexico for U.S. and Canadian citizens.
 * U.S. nationals may further enter the U.S. and Canada using an issued by the States of, ,  and  (which qualify as  compliant). Other documents that can be used to enter the U.S. include: enhanced tribal cards; U.S. military ID cards plus military travel orders; U.S. s, when travelling on maritime business;  tribal ID cards; Form I-872 American Indian card.
 * Canadian citizens may enter the U.S. and Canada via land or sea using an enhanced WHTI-compliant driver's license. These are currently issued by, , and . If Canadians wish to enter the U.S. via air, they must use a passport book or a NEXUS card.
 * Canadian citizens may return to Canada using any proof of citizenship and identity, however those without an acceptable document will be questioned by a Border Services officer until their identity is established.
 * For travel to the French islands of directly from Canada, Canadians and foreign nationals holding Canadian identification documents are exempted from passport and visa requirements for stays of maximum duration of 3 months within a period of 6 months. Accepted documents include a driver's licence, citizenship card, permanent resident card and others. Those without Canadian identifications are not exempt and must carry a passport.

Oceania

 * Residents of nine coastal villages in are permitted to enter the 'Protected Zone' of the   (part of, ) for traditional purposes. This exemption from passport control is part of a treaty between Australia and Papua New Guinea negotiated when PNG became independent from Australia in 1975. Vessels from other parts of Papua New Guinea and other countries attempting to cross into Australia or Australian waters are stopped by  or the.

South America

 * Many Central American and South American nationals can travel within their respective regional economic zones, such as and the, 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. In some cases this travel must be done overland rather than by air. There are plans to extend these rights to all of South America under a , and it already extends them (since 2006) to every South American country except Guyana and Suriname.