127-483: The Henley Passport Index is a global ranking of countries according to the travel freedom allowed by those countries' ordinary passports for their citizens. It was launched in 2005 as Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index and was updated to Henley Passport Index in January 2018. The index annually ranks 199 passports of the world by the number of countries that their holders can travel to without requiring
254-441: A British overseas territory are accorded British Overseas Territories citizenship and may hold passports issued by the governments of their respective territory. All overseas territory citizens are also now eligible for full British citizenship. Each territory maintains its own criteria for determining whom it grants right of abode. Consequently, individuals holding BOTC passports are not necessarily entitled to enter or reside in
381-711: A Japanese passport offered its holders visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to a total of 193 countries and territories, with South Korean and Singapore passports each offering 192 visa-free or visa-on-arrival countries and territories to their holders. An American passport offered its holders visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 186 countries and territories, with the British passport offering 187 visa-free or visa-on-arrival countries and territories to their holders. Canadian and Australian passports each offered their holders visa-free access to 185 countries and territories. An Afghan passport had once again been labelled by
508-415: A United Kingdom passport , United States Passport , New Zealand Passport (after 30 November 2015) or Australian passport . Passport booklets from almost all countries around the world display the national coat of arms 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 recognised requirement for
635-449: A rubber-stamped note confirming the change. If details and photograph of a man's wife and details of children were entered (this was not compulsory), the passport could be used by the bearer, wife, and children under 16, if together; separate passports were required for the wife or children to travel independently. Until 1972 the passport was valid for five years, renewable for another five, after which it had to be replaced. Renewal of
762-470: A 32-page booklet of 15.5 by 10.5 cm (6.1 by 4.1 in). The first four pages were reserved for detailing the bearer's physical characteristics, occupation and residence. The British government formed the Passport Office in the same year and in 1921 began issuing 32-page passports with a navy blue hardcover with an embossed coat of arms. "BRITISH PASSPORT" was the common identifier printed at
889-452: A 48-page version was made available with more space for stamps and visas. Two lines of machine-readable text were printed in ICAO format, and a section was included in which relevant terms ("surname", "date of issue", etc.) were translated into the official EU languages. Passports issued overseas did not all have a Machine Readable Zone, but these were introduced gradually as appropriate equipment
1016-629: A Serbian passport. However, these passports are not issued directly by the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs but by the Serbian Coordination Directorate for Kosovo and Metohija instead. These particular passports do not allow the holder to enter the Schengen Area without a visa. As of August 2023, Serbian citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 138 countries and territories, ranking
1143-538: A clothed cardboard cover. It included a description of the holder as well as a photograph, and had to be renewed after two years. In October 1920, the League of Nations held the Paris Conference on Passports & Customs Formalities and Through Tickets . British diplomats joined with 42 countries to draft passport guidelines and a general booklet design resulted from the conference. The League model specified
1270-559: A conference on passports, the Paris Conference on Passports & Customs Formalities and Through Tickets . Passport guidelines and a general booklet design resulted from the conference, which was followed up by conferences in 1926 and 1927. The League of Nations issued Nansen passports to stateless refugees from 1922 to 1938. While the United Nations held a travel conference in 1963, no passport guidelines resulted from it. Passport standardization came about in 1980, under
1397-529: A database of travel information worldwide and all destinations that are in the IATA database are considered by the index. However, because not all territories issue passports, there are far fewer passports ranked than destinations about which queries are made. To determine the score for each country or territory, its passport is checked against the IATA Timatic database in several steps: As of 16 July 2024,
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#17327830880441524-664: A decade before. While Liechtenstein dropped, the Czech Republic , Finland , Hungary , Malta , Slovakia , and South Korea all made it into the top 10. Taiwan , Albania , the United Arab Emirates , Bosnia and Herzegovina , and Serbia all moved up more than 20 places in the Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index over the period, while the biggest drops were experienced by Guinea (−32), Liberia (−33), Sierra Leone (−35), and Bolivia (−37). In
1651-622: A diplomatic or consular mission. Pursuant to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations , Vienna Convention on Consular Relations , and the immunity afforded to officials of a foreign state under customary international law , diplomats and other individuals travelling on government business are entitled to reduced scrutiny at border checkpoints when travelling overseas. Consequently, such individuals are typically issued special passports indicating their status. These passports come in three distinct varieties: Unlike most countries,
1778-656: A distinction. Notably, while Singapore does permit visa free entry to all categories of British passport holders, it reduces length of stay for British nationals without right of abode in the United Kingdom, but does not distinguish between ROC passport holders with and without household registration. Until 31 January 2021, holders of British National (Overseas) passports were able to use their UK passports for immigration clearance in Hong Kong and to seek consular protection from overseas Chinese diplomatic missions . This
1905-579: A few days, someone whose passport expires abroad, or someone who urgently needs to travel abroad who does not have a passport with sufficient validity. These passports are intended for very short durations, e.g. to allow immediate one-way travel back to the home country. Laissez-passer are also used for this purpose. Uniquely, the United Kingdom issues emergency passports to citizens of certain Commonwealth states who lose their passports in non-Commonwealth countries where their home state does not maintain
2032-399: A foreign country, access local aid and protection, and obtain consular assistance from their government. In addition to facilitating travel, passports are a key mechanism for border security and regulating migration ; they may also serve as official identification for various domestic purposes. State-issued travel documents have existed in some form since antiquity; the modern passport
2159-546: A laminate which incorporates a holographic image of the kingfisher ; visa pages were numbered and printed with detailed backgrounds including drawings of other birds: a merlin , curlew , pied avocet , and red kite . An RFID chip and antenna were visible on the official observations page and held the same visual information as printed, including a digital copy of the photograph with biometric information for use with facial recognition systems . The Welsh and Scottish Gaelic languages were included in all British passports for
2286-405: 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
2413-521: A local variant, or from abroad. All these passports have the same cover, but the class of British nationality is specified on the personal information page. All common format British passports are issued by HM Passport Office in the UK. British nationals may apply for a passport online or by post, from any location. From 2011, British diplomatic missions only issue emergency passports. Local variants of British passports are issued to British citizens in
2540-466: A minimum of six months beyond the planned date of departure, as well as having at least two to four blank pages. It is recommended that a passport be valid for at least six months from the departure date as many airlines deny boarding to passengers whose passport has a shorter expiry date, even if the destination country does not have such a requirement for incoming visitors. There is an increasing trend for adult passports to be valid for ten years, such as
2667-404: A new standard for storing biometric data (e.g. photo, fingerprints, iris scan) on a chip embedded in a passport. The September 11 attacks involving the hijacking of commercial airliners led to the rapid incorporation of the group's technical report into ICAO Doc 9303. The Identity and Passport Service issued the first biometric British passport on 6 February 2006, known as Series A. This
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#17327830880442794-542: A page for renewals and, at the back, details of the amount of foreign exchange for travel expenses (a limited amount of sterling, typically £50 but increasing with inflation, could be taken out of the country). The bearer's sex was not explicitly stated, although the name was written in with title ("Mr John Smith"). Descriptive text was printed in both English and French (a practice which still continues), e.g., "Accompanied by his wife (Maiden name)/Accompagné de sa femme (Née)". Changed details were struck out and rewritten, with
2921-404: A passport from 2012 would have had their 10 fingerprints digitally scanned and stored on a database, although only two would have been recorded in the passport. Nobody in the UK is required to carry any form of ID. In everyday situations, most authorities, such as the police, do not make spot checks of identification for individuals, although they may do so in instances of arrest . Since 2004,
3048-454: A passport in that capacity. Countries with conscription or national service requirements may impose restrictions on passport applicants who have not yet completed their military obligations. For example, in Finland , male citizens aged 18–30 years must prove that they have completed, or are exempt from, their obligatory military service to be granted an unrestricted passport ; otherwise
3175-552: A passport in this era. However, the outbreak of World War I led to the introduction of modern border controls , including in the UK with passage of the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act 1914 . Thus, in 1915 the British government developed a new format of passport that could be mass-produced and used to quickly identify the bearer. The new passport consisted of a printed sheet folded into ten and affixed to
3302-407: 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 South Korea and Syria , have similar requirements, e.g. South Korean passport and Syrian passport . Passports have a limited validity, usually between 5 and 10 years. Many countries require passports to be valid for
3429-401: A passport required physical cancellation of the old passport, which was then returned to the bearer. The top-right corner of its front cover was cut off and "Cancelled" was stamped into one or both of the cut-outs in the front cover, which showed the passport number and the bearer's name, as well on the pages showing the bearer's details and the document's validity. For much of the 20th century,
3556-680: A passport varies by jurisdiction, although citizenship is a common prerequisite. However, a passport may be issued to individuals who do not have the status or full rights of citizenship, such as American or British nationals . Likewise, certain classes of individuals, such as diplomats and government officials, may be issued special passports that provide certain rights and privileges, such as immunity from arrest or prosecution . While passports are typically issued by national governments, certain subnational entities are authorised to issue passports to citizens residing within their borders. Additionally, other types of official documents may serve
3683-405: A passport. There are several groups of countries that have, by mutual agreement, adopted common designs for their passports: 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
3810-669: A person could enter or leave the countryside. Passports were an important part of the Chinese bureaucracy as early as the Western Han (202 BC – 9 AD), if not in the Qin dynasty . They required such details as age, height, and bodily features. These passports ( 傳 ; 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 may not have needed them. In
3937-505: A person whose only connection to the United States is through birth in an outlying possession (which is defined in 8 U.S.C. § 1101 as American Samoa and Swains Island , 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 the citizenship. This was formerly the case in a few other current or former U.S. overseas possessions , i.e.
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4064-456: A result of the legislation granting independence to those former British colonies. British Protected Person passports are issued to otherwise stateless people connected to a former British protectorate . British subject passports are issued to otherwise stateless individuals connected to British India or to certain categories of Irish citizens (though, in the latter case, they do convey right of abode). Additionally, individuals connected to
4191-399: A similar role to passports but are subject to different eligibility requirements, purposes, or restrictions. Etymological sources show that the term "passport" may derive from a document required by some medieval Italian states in order for an individual to pass through the physical harbor (Italian passa porto , "to pass the harbor") or gate (Italian passa porte , "to pass the gates") of
4318-783: A sovereign territory issue documents described as passports, most notably Iroquois League , the Aboriginal Provisional Government in Australia and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta . Such documents are not necessarily accepted for entry into a country. Each country sets its own conditions for the issue of passports. 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
4445-726: A standardised document issued solely to British nationals. Passports in England and Wales were issued by the Home Secretary, and in Scotland by the Lord Provost of Edinburgh or Glasgow. They were a simple single-sheet hand-drafted paper document. Some duplicate passports and passport records are available at the British Library ; for example IOR: L/P&J/11 contain a few surviving passports of travelling ayahs from
4572-531: A time when the Communities was looking to strengthen European civic identity. Between 1974 and 1975, the member states developed a common format. Member states agreed that passports should be burgundy in colour and feature the heading "European Community" in addition to the country name. Adoption by member states was voluntary. While most of the Community adopted the format by 1985, the UK continued to issue
4699-553: A variety of other types of passports by governments in specific circumstances. While individuals are typically only permitted to hold one passport, certain governments permit citizens to hold more than one ordinary passport. Individuals may also simultaneously hold an ordinary passport and an official or diplomatic passport. Emergency passports (also called temporary passports) are issued to persons with urgent need to travel who do not have passports, e.g. someone abroad whose passport has been lost or stolen who needs to travel home within
4826-647: A visa. The number of countries that a specific passport can access becomes its visa-free "score". The data is obtained from the International Air Transport Association (IATA)'s Timatic documentation requirements database. The Henley Passport index ranks passports according to the number of destinations that can be reached using a particular country's ordinary passport without the need of a prior visa ("visa-free"). The survey ranks 199 passports against 227 destination countries , territories , and micro-states . The IATA maintains
4953-525: A walled city or jurisdiction. Such documents were issued by local authorities to foreign travellers—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 seaports, which were considered open trading points , but documents were required to pass harbor controls and travel inland from seaports. The transition from private to state control over movement
5080-426: Is a condition of granting bail in lieu of imprisonment for a pending criminal trial due to the risk of the person leaving the country. 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
5207-658: Is found in a 1414 Act of Parliament . In 1540, granting travel documents in England became a role of the Privy Council of England , 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 Secretary of State . In the Holy Roman Empire , the 1548 Imperial Diet of Augsburg required the public to hold imperial documents for travel, at
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5334-613: Is found in the Safe Conducts Act 1414 . In 1540, granting travel documents in England became a role of the Privy Council of England , and it was around this time that the term "passport" was introduced. In Scotland, passports were issued by the Scottish Crown and could also be issued on the Crown's behalf by burghs , Lord Provosts of Edinburgh and Glasgow, senior churchmen and noblemen. Passports were still signed by
5461-429: Is in the name of the respective governor or lieutenant governor instead of the British monarch. Although variant passports are produced in the UK, applicants can only request them from the government of the respective dependency or territory. British nationals from these jurisdictions applying directly in the UK receive a common format passport. BOTCs who are also British citizens may hold both types of passports. In
5588-459: Is not associated with right of abode in any territory. BN(O)s who do not possess Chinese (or any other) nationality are required to use a Document of Identity for Visa Purposes for travel. This restriction disproportionally affects ease of travel for permanent residents of Indian, Pakistani, and Nepali ethnicity , who were not granted Chinese nationality in 1997. As an additional consequence, Hongkongers seeking early pre-retirement withdrawals from
5715-637: Is not required to be surrendered or invalidated (for example, if it contains an unexpired visa). Requirements for passport applicants vary significantly from country to country, with some states imposing stricter measures than others. For example, Pakistan requires applicants to be interviewed before a Pakistani passport will be granted. When applying for a passport or a national ID card, all Pakistanis are required to sign an oath declaring Mirza Ghulam Ahmad to be an impostor prophet and all Ahmadis to be non-Muslims. In contrast, individuals holding British National (Overseas) status are legally entitled to hold
5842-575: Is subject to immigration controls when clearing ROC border controls, does not have automatic residence rights, and cannot vote in Taiwanese elections . However, they are exempt from conscription . Most individuals with this status are children born overseas to ROC citizens who do hold household registration. Additionally, because the ROC observes the principle of jus sanguinis , members of the overseas Chinese community are also regarded as citizens. During
5969-607: The Austrian , Danish , , Luxembourgeois and British passports, each offering visa-free or visa-on-arrival travel to 189 countries and territories. An Afghan passport had once again been labelled by the index as the least powerful passport in the world, with its nationals only able to visit 27 destinations visa-free. This was followed by the Iraqi passport at 29 destinations and the Syrian passport at 30 destinations. As of 2022,
6096-472: The Belgian , Danish , New Zealand , Norwegian , Swiss , and British passports, each offering visa-free or visa-on-arrival travel to 190 countries and territories. The 2024 Henley Passport Index shows a worldwide improvement in the access to visa-free travel. Also the gap between the top and the bottom ranked countries has widened. Asian countries like Japan and Singapore have dominated the top position in
6223-547: The Cold War , both the ROC and PRC governments actively sought the support of overseas Chinese communities in their attempts to secure the position as the legitimate sole government of China. The ROC also encouraged overseas Chinese businessmen to settle in Taiwan to facilitate economic development and regulations concerning evidence of ROC nationality by descent were particularly lax during the period, allowing many overseas Chinese
6350-606: The Crown Dependencies of Guernsey , Isle of Man and Jersey , and to British Overseas Territories citizens (BOTCs) in Anguilla , Bermuda , British Virgin Islands , Cayman Islands , Gibraltar , Montserrat , Saint Helena and Turks and Caicos Islands . These passports display the name of the dependency or territory on the cover, on page 1 and on the personal information page, and the greeting inside their cover
6477-613: The Danish Realm have a common nationality. Denmark proper is a member of the European Union , but Greenland and Faroe Islands are not. Danish citizens residing in Greenland or Faroe Islands can choose between holding a Danish EU passport and a Greenlandic or Faroese non-EU Danish passport. As of 21 September 2022, Danish citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 188 countries and territories, thus ranking
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#17327830880446604-626: The International Civil Aviation Organization standard 9303. At this time, the passport colour was also changed to burgundy red, to bring it into line with the European Community passports of the other member states . The previous blue hardback passport continued to be issued in tandem with the new design until stocks were exhausted in 1992. Pre-Brexit, the contract for printing British passports had been held by British company De La Rue . In 2018,
6731-900: The Mandatory Provident Fund pension scheme may not use BN(O) passports for identity verification. Similarly, non-citizens in Latvia and in 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 special non-citizen passport issued by the government as well as some other specific rights. Approximately two thirds of them are ethnic Russians , followed by ethnic Belarusians, ethnic Ukrainians, ethnic Poles and ethnic Lithuanians. This form of legal discrimination has been labelled as xenophobic by
6858-533: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China launched a trial issuance of e-passports for individuals conducting public affairs work overseas on behalf of the Chinese government. The face, fingerprints, and other biometric features of the passport holder is digitized and stored in pre-installed contactless smart chip , along with "the passport owner's name, sex and personal photo as well as
6985-690: The Panama Canal Zone and Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands . The 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 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 not presently allowed by any U.S. state to vote in federal or state elections . Several entities without
7112-645: The Singaporean passport offers holders visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to a total of 195 countries and territories, followed by the Japanese , French , German , Italian , and Spanish passports offer holders visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to a total of 192 countries followed by the Austrian , Finnish , Irish , Luxembourgish , Dutch , South Korean and Swedish passports, each offering 191 visa-free or visa-on-arrival countries and territories to its holders. These rankings were subsequently followed by
7239-595: The Somali passport is the weakest passport according to the index. As of 8 December 2023, the Singaporean passport offered holders visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to a total of 195 countries and territories, followed by the Japanese with 193 and the Finnish , French , German , Italian , South Korean , Spanish and Swedish passports, each offering 190 visa-free or visa-on-arrival countries and territories to its holders. These rankings were subsequently followed by
7366-638: The UN Special Rapporteur . Per Russian visa policy , holders of the Estonian alien's passport or the Latvian non-citizen passport are entitled to visa free entry to Russia, in contrast to Estonian and Latvian citizens who must obtain an electronic visa. The People's Republic of China (PRC) authorises its Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau to issue passports to their permanent residents with Chinese nationality under
7493-595: The United States announced the US Visa Waiver Program . The concept allowed for passport holders of certain countries to enter the US for business or tourism without applying for a visitor visa. The UK was the first country to join the scheme in 1988; however, a requirement was that the traveller hold a machine-readable passport. Thus, the British government was, after nearly 70 years, forced to retire
7620-475: The " one country, two systems " 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 Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passport (HKSAR passport) and Macau Special Administrative Region passport (MSAR passport) gain visa-free access to many more countries than ordinary PRC passports . On 1 July 2011,
7747-538: The 1930s. A passport issued on 18 June 1641 and signed by King Charles I still exists. Starting in the late 19th century, an increasing number of Britons began travelling abroad due to the advent of railways and travel services such as the Thomas Cook Continental Timetable . The speed of trains, as well as the number of passengers that crossed multiple borders, made enforcement of passport laws difficult, and many travellers did not carry
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#17327830880447874-577: The British Visitor's Passport, was introduced in 1961. It was a single sheet of cardboard, folded in three so as to consist of six pages the same size as those of a regular passport, and was valid for one year. It was obtainable for many years from Employment Exchanges , as agents of the Passport Office, and later from a Post Office . It was accepted for travel by most west European countries (excluding surface travel to West Berlin ), but
8001-429: The British passport was due for an update in 2020, as the existing De La Rue passport contract was expiring. On 2 April 2017, Michael Fabricant MP said that De La Rue had stated that the coat of arms would "contrast better on navy blue than it currently does on the maroon passports" as part of their pre-tender discussions with the government. In December 2017, then Immigration Minister Brandon Lewis announced that
8128-1040: The Danish passport fifth in the world (tied with the passports of Austria , the Netherlands , and Sweden ) according to the Henley Passport Index . According to the World Tourism Organization 2016 report, the Danish passport is first in the world (tied with Finland, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Singapore, and the United Kingdom) in terms of travel freedom, with the mobility index of 160 (out of 215 with no visa weighted by 1, visa on arrival weighted by 0.7, eVisa by 0.5 and traditional visa weighted by 0). Under Serbian law, people born or otherwise legally settled in Kosovo are considered Serbian nationals and as such they are entitled to
8255-476: The EU. The premature change was controversial given the uncertainty and division in the UK during 2019. The introduction of the burgundy machine-readable passport between 1988 and 1993 had been met with significant resistance. The burgundy passports attracted criticism for their perceived flimsiness, mass-produced nature and sudden deviation from the traditional design. There was speculation regarding re-introduction of
8382-509: The Index for the last five years. The Afghan passport has once again been labelled by the index as the least powerful passport in the world, with its nationals only able to visit 28 destinations visa-free. This was followed by the Syrian passport at 29 destinations, the Iraqi passport at 31 destinations and the Pakistani and Yemini passports at 34 destinations. Among African countries,
8509-462: The Serbian passport 38th overall in terms of travel freedom according to the Henley Passport Index . Serbian passport is one of the 5 passports with the most improved rating globally since 2006 in terms of number of countries that its holders may visit without a visa. Although all U.S. citizens are also U.S. nationals, the reverse is not true. As specified in 8 U.S.C. § 1408 ,
8636-524: The UK. On 10 March 2020, the new Series C blue British passport officially began to be issued. Series B passports would also be issued while the Home Office used up old stock. On 25 September 2020, HMPO announced all British passports issued would now be blue. Series C introduces a polycarbonate laser-engraved bio-data page with an embedded RFID chip. Also embedded in the data page is a decoding lens which optically unscrambles information hidden on
8763-454: The UK. Ordnance Survey maps were also printed inside featuring places related to the imagery. A portrait of William Shakespeare was embedded in each page as a watermark. The Series B passport was initially issued to British citizens with "European Union" printed on the cover. However, new stocks of the Series B from March 2019 onwards removed the reference in anticipation of withdrawal from
8890-455: The United Kingdom and the Republic of China issue various categories of passports to individuals without the right of abode in their territory. In the United Kingdom's case, these passports are typically issued to individuals connected with a former British colony while, in the ROC's case, these passports are the result of the legal distinction between ROC nationals with and without residence in
9017-523: The United Kingdom as an imperial power has resulted in several types of British nationality, and different types of British passport exist as a result. Furthermore, each of the Crown dependencies and certain Overseas territories issue their own variants of British passports to those with links to their jurisdictions, which have small differences from the UK-variant passport. All British passports enable
9144-642: The United Kingdom has participated in the Five Nations Passport Group , an international forum for cooperation between the passport issuing authorities in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States to "share best practices and discuss innovations related to the development of passport policies, products and practices". There are many types of British passports, for the different classes of British nationality , variants for certain territories, as well as diplomatic, official, collective and emergency passports. The following table shows
9271-469: The area it administers. In both cases, holders of such passports are able to obtain residence on an equal footing with foreigners by applying for indefinite leave to remain (UK) or a resident certificate (ROC). A Republic of China citizen who does not have household registration ( Chinese : 戶籍 ; pinyin : hùjí ) in the area administered by the ROC is classified as a National Without Household Registration (NWOHR; Chinese : 無戶籍國民 ) and
9398-479: The auspices of the ICAO . ICAO standards include those for machine-readable passports . 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 optical character recognition . This enables border controllers and other law enforcement agents to process these passports more quickly, without having to input
9525-515: The back cover. The National Registration Act established a National Register which began operating on 29 September 1939 (National Registration Day). This introduced a system of identity cards , and a requirement that they must be produced on demand or presented to a police station within 48 hours. Identity cards had to be carried by every man, woman, and child at all times. They included information such as name, age, address, and occupation. Prior to National Registration Day, 65,000 enumerators across
9652-510: The back cover. A new typeface for the cover ( Times New Roman ) was adopted as well. At the time of its introduction, no other passport offered visa free access to more countries than the UK's Series B British passport. The theme of the Series B passport was 'Creative United Kingdom', and HMPO described the Series B artwork as the most intricate ever featured in a British passport. Each double-spread page set featured artwork celebrating 500 years of achievements in art, architecture and innovation in
9779-506: The bearer to request consular assistance from British embassies and from certain Commonwealth embassies in some cases. British citizens can use their passport as evidence of right of abode in the United Kingdom . Between 1920 and 1992, the standard design of British passports was a navy blue hardcover booklet featuring the royal coat of arms emblazoned in gold. From 1988, the UK adopted machine readable passports in accordance with
9906-739: The blue passport would "return" after exit from the EU. Following open tender under EU public procurement rules in 2018, the Franco-Dutch security firm Gemalto was selected over British banknote and travel document printer De La Rue . The result of the tender proved highly controversial, as it saw the production of British passport blanks moved from Gateshead in the UK to Tczew , Poland . Most passports are produced in Poland, due to it being more cost efficient. However, urgent, fast-tracked or premium-service passports, which are 34 or 50 pages, are locally produced at application-processing centres in
10033-541: The contract for printing post-Brexit was awarded to Franco-Dutch company Gemalto , which in 2019 became Thales DIS, part of the multinational Thales Group . The passport booklets will be printed more cheaply in Poland, with a controversial loss of printer jobs at De La Rue, but the passports will be personalised in the UK across two sites. All passports are now issued with the blue design and they are made by Thales DIS in Poland. British citizens have visa-free or visa on arrival access to 192 countries and territories;
10160-468: The country delivered forms which householders were required to record their details on. On the following Sunday and Monday the enumerators visited every household, checked the form before issuing a completed identity card for each of the residents. All cards at this time were the same brown/buff colour. Three main reasons for their introduction: On 21 February 1952, it no longer became necessary to carry an identity card. The National Registration Act of 1939
10287-532: The end of 1993. As with many contemporary travel documents worldwide, details were handwritten into the passport and (as of 1955) included: number, holder's name, "accompanied by his wife" and her maiden name, "and" (number) "children", national status. For both bearer and wife: profession, place and date of birth, country of residence, height, eye and hair colour, special peculiarities, signature and photograph. Names, birth dates, and sexes of children, list of countries for which valid, issue place and date, expiry date,
10414-499: The first time, and appeared on the titles page replacing the official languages of the EU, although the EU languages still appeared faintly as part of the background design. Welsh and Scottish Gaelic preceded the official EU languages in the translations section. In 2010, Her Majesty's Passport Office signed a ten-year, £400 million contract with De La Rue to produce British passports. This resulted in Series A, version 2, which introduced minor security enhancements. The biometric chip
10541-561: The head of state, and may be written in more than one language, depending on the language policies of the issuing authority. In 1920, an international conference on passports and through tickets held by the League of Nations recommended that passports be issued in the French language , historically the language of diplomacy, and one other language. Currently, the ICAO recommends that passports be issued in English, French, and Spanish; or in
10668-604: The holder's identity and right to travel, with pages available for inserting entry and exit stamps and travel visas —endorsements that allow the individual to enter and temporarily reside in a country for a period of time and under certain conditions. Since 1998, many countries have transitioned to biometric passports , which contain an embedded microchip to facilitate authentication and safeguard against counterfeiting . As of July 2024, over 150 jurisdictions issue such "e-passports"; previously issued non-biometric passports usually remain valid until expiration. Eligibility for
10795-447: The index as the least powerful passport in the world, with its nationals only able to visit 27 destinations visa-free. A number of Asian and European countries are notable for their stability over the past decade, and Belgium , France , Italy , Luxembourg , Japan , Singapore , Spain , and Sweden all remain in exactly the same position as 10 years before. The 'Top 10s' were almost identical, with 30 countries in 2015, compared to 26
10922-428: 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 biometric passports . These contain biometrics to authenticate the identity of travellers. The passport's critical information is stored on a tiny RFID computer chip, much like information stored on smartcards . Like some smartcards,
11049-471: The international access available to British citizens ranks third in the world according to the 2024 Visa Restrictions Index . Since the introduction of biometric passports in 2006, a new design has been introduced every five years. King Henry V of England 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
11176-549: The international law applicable to all countries now render those historical tenets both obsolete and unlawful. Governments around the world issue a variety of passports for different purposes. The most common variety are ordinary passports issued to individual citizens and other nationals . In the past, certain countries issued collective passports or family passports. Today, passports are typically issued to individual travellers rather than groups. Aside from ordinary passports issued to citizens by national governments, there are
11303-502: 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. The ancient Indian political text Arthashastra (third century BCE) mentions passes issued at the rate of one masha per pass to enter and exit the country, and describes the duties of the Mudrādhyakṣa ( lit. ' Superintendent of Seals ' ) who must issue sealed passes before
11430-511: 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
11557-456: The machine-readable zone of BOTC variant passports, the field of the issuing state used to be three-letter ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 code of the territory, which allowed automatic distinction between BOTCs of different territories. However, after HM Passport Office in the UK assumed the responsibility for the production of BOTC variant passports in 2015, the code of the issuing state changed to GBR for all territories, thus making it impossible to identify
11684-520: The medieval Islamic Caliphate , a form of passport was the bara'a , a receipt for taxes paid. Only people who paid their zakah (for Muslims ) or jizya (for dhimmis ) taxes were permitted to travel to different regions of the Caliphate; thus, the bara'a receipt was a "basic passport". In the 12th century , the Republic of Genoa issued a document called Bulletta , which was issued to
11811-401: 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 World War I . 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
11938-556: The monarch until 1685, when the Secretary of State could sign them instead. The Secretary of State signed all passports in place of the monarch from 1794 onwards, at which time formal records started to be kept; all of these records still exist. Passports were written in Latin or English until 1772, then in French until 1858. Since that time, they have been written in English, with some sections translated into French. In 1855, passports became
12065-651: The national language of the issuing country and in either English, French, or Spanish. Many European countries use their national language, along with English and French. British passport The British passport is a travel document issued by the United Kingdom or other British dependencies and territories to individuals holding any form of British nationality . It grants the bearer international passage in accordance with visa requirements and serves as proof of UK citizenship. It also facilitates access to consular assistance from British embassies around
12192-467: The nationals of the Republic who were traveling to the ports of the emporiums and the ports of the Genoese colonies overseas, as well as to foreigners who entered them. King Henry V of England is credited with having invented what some consider the first British 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
12319-429: The number of valid British passports on the last day of 2023 for each nationality class: Common format British passports are issued to British citizens (except those applying in the Crown Dependencies ), British Nationals (Overseas), British subjects, British Overseas citizens and British protected persons. They are also issued to British Overseas Territories citizens applying in the UK, in a territory that does not have
12446-478: The official observations page and inner front cover. The reverse of the polycarbonate data page serves as the title page and features a portrait-orientation photo of the bearer, reminiscent of pre-1988 passports. Series C features very little artwork, with a compass rose being the only printed art. The passport has the national flowers of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales ( Tudor Rose , Shamrock , Scotch Thistle and Daffodil , respectively) embossed on
12573-488: The old-style passport following the UK's withdrawal from the European Union. but the government denied any immediate plans. Such a change was supported by some due to its symbolic value, including Brexit Secretary David Davis , while others thought the undue weight put on such a trivial change raised the question of whether the government was able to prioritise its order of business ahead of Brexit . Nevertheless,
12700-644: The other categories of nationality do not grant bearers right of abode in the United Kingdom itself. British National (Overseas) passports are issued to individuals connected to Hong Kong prior to its return to China. British Overseas Citizen passports are primarily issued to individuals who did not acquire the citizenship of the colony they were connected to when it obtained independence (or their stateless descendants). British Overseas Citizen passports are also issued to certain categories of Malaysian nationals in Penang and Malacca, and individuals connected to Cyprus as
12827-407: The passport booklet design calls for an embedded contactless chip that is able to hold digital signature data to ensure the integrity of the passport and the biometric data. Historically, legal authority to issue passports is founded on the exercise of each country's executive discretion. Certain legal tenets follow, namely: first, passports are issued in the name of the state; second, no person has
12954-562: The passport had a printed list of countries for which it was valid, which was added to manually as validity increased. A passport issued in 1955 was valid for the British Commonwealth, USA, and all countries in Europe "including the USSR , Turkey, Algeria, Azores, Canary Islands, Iceland, and Madeira"; during its period of validity restrictions eased and it was endorsed "and for all other foreign countries". A new simplified type,
13081-408: The passport's term of validity and [the] digital certificate of the chip". Ordinary biometric passports were introduced by the Ministry of Public Security on 15 May 2012. As of January 2015, all new passports issued by China are biometric e-passports, and non-biometric passports are no longer issued. In 2012, over 38 million Chinese citizens held ordinary passports, comprising only 2.86 percent of
13208-482: The right to settle in Taiwan. About 60,000 NWOHRs currently hold Taiwanese passports with this status. The United Kingdom issues several similar but distinct passports which correspond to the country's several categories of nationality. Full British citizens are issued a standard British passport . British citizens resident in the Crown Dependencies may hold variants of the British passport which confirm their Isle of Man , Jersey , or Guernsey identity. Many of
13335-563: The risk of permanent exile. In 1791, Louis XVI masqueraded as a valet during his Flight to Varennes as passports for the nobility typically included a number of persons listed by their function but without further description. A Pass-Card Treaty of October 18, 1850 among German states standardized information including issuing state, name, status, residence, and description of bearer. Tramping journeymen and jobseekers of all kinds were not to receive pass-cards. A rapid expansion of railway infrastructure and wealth in Europe beginning in
13462-726: The substantial erosion of civil liberties under the Labour Government and roll back state intrusion". The Identity Cards Act 2006 would have required any person applying for a passport to have their details entered into a centralised computer database, the National Identity Register, part of the National Identity Scheme associated with identity cards and passports. Once registered, they would also have been obliged to update any change to their address and personal details. The identity card
13589-427: The table below, the "access" columns denote the number of visa-free destinations for holders of that passport. Unless indicated otherwise, the data in this table is taken from these sources. Passports A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that certifies a person's identity and nationality for international travel. A passport allows its bearer to enter and temporarily reside in
13716-572: The territory that issued their passport. Most countries distinguish between BOTC and other classes of British nationality for border control purposes. For instance, only Bermudian passport holders with an endorsement stating that they possess right of abode or belonger status in Bermuda are entitled to enter America without an electronic travel authorisation. Border control policies in many jurisdictions distinguish between holders of passports with and without right of abode, including NWOHRs and holders of
13843-417: The top of all booklets, while the name of the issuing government was printed below the coat of arms (e.g. United Kingdom, New Zealand, Hong Kong). Cut-outs in the cover allowed the bearer's name and the passport number to be displayed. This format would remain the standard for most British passports until the introduction of machine-readable passports in 1988. It continued to be issued in the United Kingdom until
13970-442: The total population at the time. In 2014, China issued 16 million passports, ranking first in the world, surpassing the United States (14 million) and India (10 million). The number of ordinary passports in circulation rose to 120 million by October 2016, which was approximately 8.7 percent of the population. As of April 2017 to date, China had issued over 100 million biometric ordinary passports. The three constituent countries of
14097-417: The traditional blue booklet. Rapid growth of air travel and technological change led to the International Civil Aviation Organization defining a new international standard for machine-readable passport , ICAO Doc 9303, in 1980. An ICAO standard machine-readable passport was a significant departure from the traditional British passport layout, and the British government did not immediately adopt it. In 1986,
14224-538: The traditional navy blue League of Nations format passport. With the move to machine-readable passports, the UK decided to adopt the European Community format. On 15 August 1988, the Glasgow passport office became the first to issue burgundy-coloured machine-readable passports. They had the words 'European Community' on the cover, later changed to ' European Union ' in 1997. The passport had 32 pages; while
14351-605: The various British passports the do not confer right of abode upon the bearer. Certain jurisdictions may additionally distinguish between holders of such British passports with and without indefinite leave to remain in the United Kingdom. NWOHRs do not, for instance, have access to the Visa Waiver Program , or to visa free access to the Schengen Area or Japan. Other countries, such as India which allows all Chinese nationals to apply for eVisas , do not make such
14478-425: 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 dehumanisation". 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 League of Nations held
14605-490: The world. Passports are issued using royal prerogative, which is exercised by His Majesty's Government ; this means that the grant of a passport is a privilege, not a right, and may be withdrawn in some circumstances. British citizen passports have been issued in the UK by His Majesty's Passport Office , an agency of the Home Office , since 2014. All passports issued in the UK since 2006 have been biometric. The legacy of
14732-413: Was a unique arrangement as it involved a passport issued by one state conferring right of abode (or, more precisely right to land ) in and consular protection from another state. Since that date, the Chinese and Hong Kong governments have prohibited the use of BN(O) passports as travel documents or proof of identity and it; much like British Overseas Citizen, British Protected Person, or ROC NWOHR passports;
14859-547: Was an essential aspect of the transition from feudalism to capitalism . Communal obligations to provide poor relief were an important source of the desire for controls on movement. One of the earliest known references to paperwork that served an analogous role to a passport is found in the Hebrew Bible . Nehemiah 2:7–9, dating from approximately 450 BC, states that Nehemiah , an official serving King Artaxerxes I of Persia , asked permission to travel to Judea ;
14986-479: Was dropped in 1995 since it did not meet new security standards. A cancelled passport, which was returned to the bearer, had its top-right corner cut off, which had the effect of removing a corner from every page. After the passport standardisation efforts of the 1920s, further effort to update international passport guidance was limited. The United Kingdom joined the European Communities in 1973, at
15113-549: Was expected to cost up to £60 (with £30 going to the Government, and the remainder charged as processing fees by the companies that would be collecting the fingerprints and photographs). In May 2005 the Government said that the cost for a combined identity card and passport would be £93 plus processing fees. The next generation of biometric passports, which would have contained chips holding facial images and fingerprints, were to have been issued from 2012. Everyone applying for
15240-481: Was made available overseas. While other British territories such as Hong Kong and the Cayman Islands were not part of the European Community, they also adopted the same European format, although "British Passport" remained at the top rather than "European Community". In 1998 the first digital image passport was introduced with photographs being replaced with images printed directly on the data page which
15367-428: Was moved from the cover to an inside page to reduce the ease of fraud. These documents were all issued with machine-readable zones and had a hologram over the photograph, which was the first time that British passports had been protected by an optically variable safeguard. These documents were issued until 2006 when the biometric passport was introduced. In the late 1990s, ICAO's Technical Advisory Group began developing
15494-486: Was released in October 2015 as the Series B passport. The cover design remained the same as Series A, with minor changes to the cover material. The number of pages of a standard passport was increased from 32 to 34, and the 50-page 'jumbo' passport replaced the previous 48-page business passport. New security features included rich three-dimensional UV imagery, cross-page printing and a single-sheet bio-data page joined with
15621-420: Was relocated from the official observations page to inside the cover, and the observations page itself was moved from the back of the passport to immediately after the data page. All new art was produced for version 2, this time with a coastal theme. Data and visa pages featured coastal scenes, wildlife and meteorological symbols. Renewal of the passport required physical cancellation of the old passport, which
15748-684: Was repealed on 22 May 1952. There had been plans, under the Identity Cards Act 2006 , to link passports to the Identity Cards scheme. However, in the Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition Agreement that followed the 2010 General Election , the new government announced that they planned to scrap the ID card scheme, the National Identity Register, and the next generation of biometric passports, as part of their measures "to reverse
15875-494: Was the first British passport to feature artwork. Series A, version 1 was produced between 2006 and 2010, while an updated version 2 with technical changes and refreshed artwork was produced between 2010 and 2015. Version 1 showcased birds native to the British Isles . The bio-data page was printed with a finely detailed background including a drawing of a red grouse , and the entire page was protected from modification by
16002-443: Was then returned to the bearer. The top-right corners of its front and back covers were cut off, as well as the top-right corner of the final pair of pages, which had been bound in plastic with the bearer's details and a digital chip; a white bar-coded form stating "Renewal" and the bearer's personal details was stuck onto the back cover. HMPO's contract with De La Rue involved the design of a new generation of biometric passport, which
16129-484: Was universally adopted and standardized in 1920. The passport takes the form of a booklet bearing the official name and emblem of the issuing government and containing the biographical information of the individual, including their full name, photograph, place and date of birth, and signature. A passport does not create any rights in the country being visited nor impose any obligation on the issuing country; rather, it provides certification to foreign government officials of
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