A British passport

A passport is a formal document or certification issued by a national government that identifies the holder as a citizen of a particular country, and requests permission in the name of the sovereign or government of the issuing country for the bearer to be permitted to enter and pass through the country. Passports are connected with the right of legal protection abroad and the right to one's native country. Passports usually contain a passport photograph, a signature and sometimes other means of individual identification.

A passport is usually necessary for international travel, as it normally needs to be shown at a country's border. It may be stamped or sealed with visas issued by the host country authorizing entry.

Some governments try to control the movements of their own and other citizens. For example, many Muslim countries will not allow entry to people with evidence of a visit to Israel in their passport. (To help foreigners circumvent these restrictions, Israel does not require visitors to have their passports stamped upon entry, making it difficult for those countries to tell if a citizen or tourist went there.) It is also illegal for U.S. citizens to visit Cuba. In the Soviet Union, all citizens were issued propiski to control their movement around the country (A type of internal passport).

Sometimes countries have a reciprocal agreement that a visa is not needed under certain conditions, e.g. when the visit is for tourism and not for longer than three months. No visa is required for travelling between European Union countries, where citizens of EU member states have full freedom of movement and work.

A few countries have agreements allowing for cross-border travel without passports (but with identification). These include the European Union nations of the Schengen Group, the United States, Canada and Mexico, and the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.

In most countries, the passport is state property which may be withdrawn at any time. Passports may have to be temporarily surrendered by people on bail and awaiting trial if there is a risk that they might abscond. Prominent people with left-wing views, such as Paul Robeson, were once prevented from traveling abroad by this method by the US government. However, the U.S. Supreme Court held in the 1958 case Kent v. Dulles that international travel was an inherent right which could not be denied to American citizens.

As identifying documents, passports are frequent subjects of theft and forgery. See Sealand.

Countries which are known not to accept Israeli passports

• Algeria
• Bangladesh
• Iran
• Kuwait
• Lebanon
• Libya
• Malaysia, except with written permission from the Malaysian government
• Pakistan, unless the person is a Pakistani expatriate
• Qatar
• Saudi Arabia
• Sudan
• Syria
• United Arab Emirates (Sources conflict over whether or not passports with Israeli stamps are accepted)
• Yemen

External links

• Passports of the World (http://passports.national-anthems.net/passports/index.html) (with images)
• History of Canadian Passports (http://www.ppt.gc.ca/passport_office/history_e.asp)
• History of UK Passports (http://www.ukpa.gov.uk/history.asp) (UK Passport Service)