Travel document
Encyclopedia
Identity document
An identity document is any document which may be used to verify aspects of a person's personal identity. If issued in the form of a small, mostly standard-sized card, it is usually called an identity card...
issued by a government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
or international treaty organization to facilitate the movement of individuals or small groups of persons across international boundaries
Border
Borders define geographic boundaries of political entities or legal jurisdictions, such as governments, sovereign states, federated states and other subnational entities. Some borders—such as a state's internal administrative borders, or inter-state borders within the Schengen Area—are open and...
. Travel
Travel
Travel is the movement of people or objects between relatively distant geographical locations. 'Travel' can also include relatively short stays between successive movements.-Etymology:...
documents usually assure other governments that the bearer may return to the issuing country, and are often issued in booklet form to allow other governments to place visas
Visa (document)
A visa is a document showing that a person is authorized to enter the territory for which it was issued, subject to permission of an immigration official at the time of actual entry. The authorization may be a document, but more commonly it is a stamp endorsed in the applicant's passport...
as well as entry and exit stamps
Passport stamp
A passport stamp is a rubber stamp inked impression received in one's passport upon entering or exiting a country. Passport stamps may occasionally take the form of sticker stamps, such as those received when entering Japan. Depending on nationality, a visitor may not receive a stamp , such as an...
into them. The most common travel document is a passport
Passport
A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....
, which usually identifies the bearer as a citizen of the issuing country. However, the term is sometimes used only for those documents which do not bear proof of nationality
Nationality
Nationality is membership of a nation or sovereign state, usually determined by their citizenship, but sometimes by ethnicity or place of residence, or based on their sense of national identity....
, such as the Refugee Travel Document.
Passport
In general, a passportPassport
A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....
is a travel document that also serves as proof of citizenship
Citizenship
Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...
from the issuing country. Although generally accepted by the majority of countries in the world, some issuing countries expressly exclude the validity of passports from nations that are not recognized
Diplomatic recognition
Diplomatic recognition in international law is a unilateral political act with domestic and international legal consequences, whereby a state acknowledges an act or status of another state or government in control of a state...
by their governments.
Laissez-passer and emergency passports
United Nations Laissez-Passer
A United Nations Laissez-Passer is a travel document issued by the United Nations under the provisions of Article VII of the 1946 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations in its offices in New York and Geneva, as well as by the International Labor Organization...
, European Union
European Union Laissez-Passer
A European Union Laissez-Passer is a travel document issued to civil servants and members of the Institutions of the European Union. It is proof of privileges and immunities the holders enjoy. The document is valid in all countries of the European Union as well as in over 100 other countries...
and the International Committee of the Red Cross
International Committee of the Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross is a private humanitarian institution based in Geneva, Switzerland. States parties to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 and 2005, have given the ICRC a mandate to protect the victims of international and...
(ICRC). A laissez-passer is often for one-way travel to the issuing country for humanitarian reasons only. Some national governments issue laissez-passers to their own nationals as emergency passport
Passport
A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....
s. Others issue them to people who are stateless
Statelessness
Statelessness is a legal concept describing the lack of any nationality. It is the absence of a recognized link between an individual and any state....
, or who are unable to obtain a passport from their own government, or whose government is not recognized by the issuing country.
Historically, laissez-passers were commonly issued during wartime and at other periods, literally acting as a pass to allow travel to specific areas, or out of war zones or countries for various officials, diplomatic agents, other representatives or citizens of third countries. In these contexts, a laissez-passer would frequently include quite specific and limited freedom of movement
Freedom of movement
Freedom of movement, mobility rights or the right to travel is a human right concept that the constitutions of numerous states respect...
. The form and issuing authority would be more or less standardized, depending on the circumstances.
An example is when in the early 1950s, the Iraqi government granted permission to its 120,000 Jewish citizens to leave (Operation Ezra and Nehemiah
Operation Ezra and Nehemiah
From 1950 to 1952, Operation Ezra and Nehemiah airlifted between 120,000 to 130,000 Iraqi Jews to Israel via Iran and Cyprus. The massive emigration of Iraqi Jews was among the most climactic events of Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries. By 1968 only 2,000 Jews remained in Iraq...
), conditional on their renouncement of their citizenship and leaving behind all their properties and assets. The travel document that was issued was the laissez-passer, since an Iraqi passport was no longer possible.
UN travel documents
The United NationsUnited Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
(and the International Labour Organization
International Labour Organization
The International Labour Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that deals with labour issues pertaining to international labour standards. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland. Its secretariat — the people who are employed by it throughout the world — is known as the...
) issue a laissez-passer to officials and members of the UN and other specialized agencies as well as to several international organizations. The laissez-passer is also issued to their families for official use. The United Nations Laissez-Passer
United Nations Laissez-Passer
A United Nations Laissez-Passer is a travel document issued by the United Nations under the provisions of Article VII of the 1946 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations in its offices in New York and Geneva, as well as by the International Labor Organization...
is similar to a passport, and is generally recognized worldwide, although some countries will not accept the document as sufficient to gain entry. It does not generally confer diplomatic immunity
Diplomatic immunity
Diplomatic immunity is a form of legal immunity and a policy held between governments that ensures that diplomats are given safe passage and are considered not susceptible to lawsuit or prosecution under the host country's laws...
, but may confer limited immunities and privileges.
Between 2000 and 2010, the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo
United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo
The United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo or UNMIK is the interim civilian administration in Kosovo, under the authority of the United Nations. The mission was established on 10 June 1999 by Security Council Resolution 1244...
(UNMIK) issued travel documents
UNMIK Travel Document
An UNMIK Travel Document was a passport-sized document used to foreign travel for residents of Kosovo, who were not able to obtain a passport from Yugoslavia. The document was issued by the UNMIK from 2000 till 2008. After the government of Kosovo started to issue their own passports, the UNMIK...
to residents of Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
as they were often not able to obtain a passport through other channels.
Aliens and refugees
- Refugee travel document (formally: 1951 Convention travel document) are passport-like booklets issued by national governments to refugees under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.
- 1954 Convention travel documents1954 Convention Travel DocumentA 1954 Convention travel document is a travel document issued to a stateless person by a signatory to the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons...
are similar documents issued to stateless personStatelessnessStatelessness is a legal concept describing the lack of any nationality. It is the absence of a recognized link between an individual and any state....
s under the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. The document is the successor of the (now defunct) League of NationsLeague of NationsThe League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
' Nansen passportNansen passportNansen passports were internationally recognized identity cards first issued by the League of Nations to stateless refugees.-Origins:Designed in 1921 by Fridtjof Nansen, in 1942 they were honored by governments in 52 countries and were the first refugee travel documents...
. - Alien's passportCertificate of identityA certificate of identity, sometimes called an alien's passport, is a travel document issued by states to stateless persons residing within their borders and foreign nationals who are unable to obtain a passport from their state of nationality. Some states also issue certificates of identity to...
s and certificates of identityCertificate of identityA certificate of identity, sometimes called an alien's passport, is a travel document issued by states to stateless persons residing within their borders and foreign nationals who are unable to obtain a passport from their state of nationality. Some states also issue certificates of identity to...
are passport-like booklets issued by national governments to resident foreigners, other than those issued under the 1951 and 1954 conventions mentioned above. However, some governments issue certificates of identity to their own nationals as emergency passports.
Other documents as travel documents
Several other groups of documents issued for a different purpose officially serve as travel documents, generally for a limited set of countries. Such documents (when allowing full border crossing -exiting one country, and entering another- only) are discussed below:National Identity Card
Identity cards are generally issued as a means of identification within a country, but can often also be used as a travel document. For example, complying National Identity Cards of the European UnionEuropean Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
can be used unrestricted in at least 30 countries (the 27 member states of the European Union plus the three non-EU Schengen
Schengen Area
The Schengen Area comprises the territories of twenty-five European countries that have implemented the Schengen Agreement signed in the town of Schengen, Luxembourg, in 1985...
states Norway, Switzerland, and Iceland)and also for entering to Turkey which is a candidate state for the EU. Also the U.S. passport card
Passport card
The passport card is an alternative to a passport produced in the United States to meet the documentary requirements of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. The U.S. Passport Card is a wallet-size travel document, issued to U.S...
can be regarded an identity card fit for international travel, particularly in North America.
Driver's licence
Driver's licenses are generally not considered travel documents, since they bear no information on nationality and conditions which would lead to refusal of a travel document have generally not been tested. However, in several provinces of CanadaProvinces and territories of Canada
The provinces and territories of Canada combine to make up the world's second-largest country by area. There are ten provinces and three territories...
and U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
s, nationals/citizens can -upon payment of an extra fee and additional information regarding- receive an Enhanced Drivers License which enables border crossing between Canada and the U.S. by land and sea.
De facto travel documents
De facto travel documents are documents which in practice will be sufficient to cross borders legally, but with no legal status as a travel document.Within the Border Controls in the Common Travel Area, travel between Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, the British Crown Dependencies, Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
and Channel Islands
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...
, no travel documents are required by British or Irish citizens. As this requirement does not hold for others, these citizens have to establish the presumption of having this nationality, which requires in practice some form of identification. The documents used for this purpose (most notably: driving licence) are thus de facto travel documents.
See also
- Immigration lawImmigration lawImmigration law refers to national government policies which control the phenomenon of immigration to their country.Immigraton law, regarding foreign citizens, is related to nationality law, which governs the legal status of people, in matters such as citizenship...
- PRADO – Public Register of Travel and Identity Documents Online - for European travel documents