A passport is a document of circulation delivered by the government of a state to its citizens, also being able to be used as document in proof of identity. It generally contains the name, photography, the signature and the birth date of the holder, and other factors helping with its identification. The obligation of biometric information is in the course of installation.

History

One of the oldest references to the passport was done in 450 av. JC. Nehemy, a officel serving king Artaxerxes of the Persian antique, asked for the permission of travel to Judaea. The king, who was of agreement, gave him an addressed letter " with the governors of the province across the rivière" their asking to let it pass through their territories. The term passport comes doubtless not from the marine ports, but from the necessary medieval document to pass the doors of the strengthened cities.

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Restriction inside a country

A passport is generally used to circulate outside its country of origin or at least to pass the borders between states. However certain countries could make compulsory the passport or an equivalent document to limit or control the circulation of the people on her territory.

Most famous Soviet Union taken again partly by the Russia was the which with the propiska puts conditions of displacement on its territory. A Russian citizen must for example be able to justify his presence in Moscow using an official document. The fraud is massive, because of the attraction of the capital.

European passport

The European passport is in general valid 10 years.

Electronic passport

The electronic passport is recognizable with the small logo which is in bottom on the cover (see image higher).

By decree of December 30th, 2005, France set up an electronic passport, which was put in circulation as from May 2006.

The international level, the electronic part of the document answers the specification defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in the specification DOC9303, Partie 1, Volume 2 . The data to be stored in the document are typically of a size ranging between 32 and 64 kilo bytes. The basic mechanism which makes it possible to improve safety of the document via the support of electronics is the Passive Authentification, schematically making it possible to sign the data associated with the carrier of the passport (given textual Prénom, Sexe, Numéro of document, etc…., facial image, digital fingerprints). Other mechanisms are also available optionnellement, the such Basic Access control which makes it possible to prevent the espionage of the connection reader without-contact <-> passport and the access to the passport the knowledge of the carrier or the Active Authentification which makes it possible to prevent the cloning of the document.

By 2009, within the framework of the arrival of the storage of the digital fingerprints in the passports, it is expected that the Européens passports integrate a new mechanism of safety, more powerful, called the Wide Access control.

Other types of passport

  • the Passeport of service is delivered with the French nationals who, not being entitled to the diplomatic passport, achieve missions or are abroad affected on behalf of the French government.
  • the animalist passport. Since October 1st, 2004, the pets (dogs, cats, pipe cleaners…) must be provided with the animalist passport to travel freely within the European Union.

Aimed

Several countries require a visa to allow the entry on their territory.

Others

  • the term “passport” is very old: it goes back to the 15th century and comes from “master key” and “port”. It applied at the time with the goods. Its use for the travellers started only at the 16th century.

Gallery

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