passport

passport, a formal document or certification issued by a national government identifying a traveler as a citizen or national with a right to protection while abroad and a right to return to the country of citizenship.

Passports, letters of transit, and similar documents were used for centuries to allow individuals to travel safely in foreign lands, but the adoption of the passport by all countries is a development of the 19th and 20th centuries. A passport is a small booklet containing a description of the bearer and an accompanying photograph that can be used for purposes of identification. Many countries require travelers entering their borders to obtain a visa—i.e., an endorsement made on a passport by the proper authorities denoting that it has been examined and that the bearer may proceed. The visa permits the traveler to remain in a country for a specified period of time. By the late 20th century the demands of tourism had prompted several countries in western Europe to relax their travel regulations so that travelers could move between them without visas or, in some cases, even without passports. (This arrangement has since expanded to include most countries within the European Union.) At the same time, many countries around the world, to prevent fraud, have added to their passports security features such as holograms, digital watermarks, and embedded microchips that store biometric data.

In the United States, passports are issued to U.S. citizens by the Department of State. Applications are accepted by a number of regional passport agencies in various cities, by the clerks of certain federal and state courts, by certain designated post offices, libraries, and other government facilities, and by U.S. consular authorities abroad. The passport is required for both departure and reentry to the United States. It is valid for 10 years for adults but for only 5 years for persons aged 15 or younger. A U.S. passport must be completely replaced when it expires, either by renewing it in advance or by submitting a new application. In 2008 the United States also began producing a passport card, which, for less than the cost of a traditional passport book, allows citizens to enter the United States by land or by sea from Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, and the islands of the Caribbean.

In the United Kingdom, Her Majesty’s Passport Office within the Home Office issues passports through offices in several cities around the country. Passports are issued to citizens of the United Kingdom and its colonies but not to citizens of Commonwealth countries. As with U.S. passports, British passports are valid for 10 years for adults and for 5 years for persons under age 16, and they must be replaced upon their expiration.