What is a Passport?

A passport is a travel document issued by a national government that usually identifies the bearer as a national of the issuing state and requests that the bearer be permitted to enter and pass through other countries.

Passports are connected with the right of legal protection abroad and the right to enter one's country of nationality. Passports usually contain the holder's photograph, signature, date of birth, nationality, and sometimes other means of individual identification. Many countries are in the process of developing biometric properties for their passports in order to further confirm that the person presenting the passport is the legitimate holder.

Ordinary passports are the normal passports issued to most citizens and have no special connotations.

Diplomatic passports are issued to diplomats and diplomatic representatives and other state employees according to the rules of a particular country. Having a diplomatic passport does not necessarily accord the bearer diplomatic immunity. Some countries' visa requirements may have different requirements for diplomatic and non-diplomatic passports.

Official or Service passports are issued to employees (or "Technical and Administrative Staff Members") of a government travelling for work related reasons who either do not qualify as diplomats or are not entitled to diplomatic status under the Vienna Convention.

Special passports are issued to high-ranking state officers and their dependents as a means of officially guaranteeing their exemption from visa requirements.

Alien's passports are documents issued by some countries to non-citizen residents.

A Collective passport may be issued, for example, for a school trip. All children on the trip would be covered by the group passport for the duration of the trip.

Internal passports have been issued by some countries, as a means of controlling the movement of the population. Examples include the iqama in Saudi Arabia, the Soviet internal passport system, and the hukou residency registration system used in the People's Republic of China.

Emergency or Temporary passports are issued to persons whose original passport has been lost or stolen and who need to urgently travel.

Business passports are passports with extra pages issued to frequent travellers.

Laissez-passer are documents issued by organisations such as the United Nations for their officials.

Family passports are passports that are issued to family units - parent(s) and child(ren).