Visiting other countries can be a great experience. Whether you are traveling for work or pleasure, solo or with your family, staying just for a few days or several years, your Passport will be the most important item to take with you!
We have prepared 15 Fun Facts about passport that probably you didn’t know:
1- If you do a Face tattoo or face surgery you will need to do a new passport:
When someone undergoes radical facial surgery, it extensively alters their appearance. Such people are supposed to change their passport pictures.
If you had a plain face when applying for the passport and you choose to have a facial tattoo a few years down the line, you will be required to change the picture on the passport. The same case applies to someone that has facial piercings that have either been introduced or surgically removed.
2- You can’t wear a uniform in your passport photo, Wearing hats, caps, sunglasses, and hair which is covering part of your face are not allowed
You cannot be photographed for your passport in any kind of uniform, including military or law enforcement uniforms. One exception is commercial employees who wear their uniforms during travel, like pilots or flight attendants, may get approval.
3. You may get banned from boarding if your passport doesn’t have enough blank pages and You cannot use a valid passport to travel to many foreign countries if it expires within 3 or 6 months
As a general rule, passports should have at least six months of validity when traveling internationally. Most countries will not permit a traveler to enter their country unless the passport is set to expire at least six months after the final day of travel.
4. The first passport was named in the Bible
The earliest reference to a travel document is in the Book of Nehemiah, when a Persian official was issued a letter from King Artaxerxes I of Persia requesting “the governors beyond the river” to grant him safe passage on his travels through Judea.
Artaxerxes I of Persia was the sixth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, from 465-424 BC. He was the third son of Xerxes I.
5. It is possible to get a World Passport
They are issued from the World Service Authority, a DC-based non-profit that promotes “World Citizenship”. These have been accepted as travel documents by a small number of countries across the world. These countries include Burkina Faso, Ecuador, Mauritania, Tanzania, Togo, and Zambia.
6. Most of the world’s passports have a red cover
There are different shades of red, but still, the red color is more common for passports, other common colors are blue and green (Muslim countries such as Morocco, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, where their passports are different shades of green.) or black.
Interestingly, the UK passport is nicknamed the ‘red book’, while the US passport is often referred to as the ‘blue book’
7. Citizens of the Vatican state in Italy (the smallest country in the world!) have their own country’s passports
But there are no immigration control or border posts around the Vatican, (you cant get your passport stamped) which is located inside the city of Rome in Italy, and Pope Francis holds Vatican passport number one.
8. There are millions of ‘stateless persons’ around the world
Non-state territories can also result in statelessness people. Only states can have citizens, and thus is territory is not recognized as a state, the residents there cannot be citizens. They aren’t considered a national by any country. It is extremely difficult for them to travel because of their lack of a normal passport
9. When the mummy of Ramses II was sent to France in the mid-1970s, it was actually issued a legal Egyptian passport
A mock-up for the only mummy with a passport. Ramesses II
Ramesses II was issued a passport by the Egyptian government and was the first (and probably the last) mummy to receive one. Apart from having a photo of Ramesses II’s face, the passport is also notable for listing the occupation of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh as ‘King (deceased)’. The mummy of Ramesses II left Egypt in 1976, and when it arrived in France, it was received at the Paris–Le Bourget Airport with the full military honors befitting a king.
10. There was an Iranian man who lived in an airport for 17 years due to failing to present a passport to French immigration officials.
His story was the inspiration for the 2004 Steven Spielberg film The Terminal
Tom Hanks’ character speaks Bulgarian language as its native Krakozhian. Hanks based his characterization of Viktor Navorsky on his father-in-law Allan Wilson, who was a Bulgarian immigrant.
11. The only person in the world who does not need to carry a passport when traveling abroad is the Queen Elizabeth II.
The British passport is issued by ‘Her Majesty’, the Queen. Therefore the Queen does not need to carry a passport as otherwise, she would have to issue a passport to herself! All other members of the Royal Family, however, have passports.
12. Photographs were once not required.
But later when the photos became widely available also the asking for pictures started, and on the first ones joint family photos were allowed on the contrary to today’s precise requirements, the rules around passport photographs in the early years were rather lax
13. The exiled royals of the Austrian Hapsburg Monarchy were issued Austrian passports labeled: “valid for travel of all countries of the world except Austria.”
Felix Habsburg-Lorraine was 3 years old in 1919 when the fledgling republic banished his father, Charles, the last Austrian emperor, and other family members.
Mr. Habsburg can travel to any country in the world on an Austrian passport, except his own. The passport, issued by the Austrian Embassy in Mexico City, contains the mention, “entrance and transit in Austria not permitted.”
14. The Schengen Area is the area comprising 26 European countries that have abolished passport and any other type of border control at their common borders, essentially functioning as one country as far as travel
15. Singapore and Japan take the top spot in the Henley Passport Index, offering its citizens visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to a record total of 190 destinations.
The Henley Passport Index (HPI) is a global ranking of countries according to the travel freedom for their citizens. The site provides a ranking of the 199 passports of the world according to the number of countries their holders can travel to visa-free.
A passport is a travel document, usually issued by a country’s government to its citizens, that certifies the identity and nationality of its holder primarily for the purpose of international travel. Standard passports may contain information such as the holder’s name, place and date of birth, photograph, signature, and other relevant identifying information.
