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 other countries. Passports are connected with the right of legal protection abroad and the right to enter one's country of citizenship. Passports usually contain the holder's photograph, signature, date of birth, nationality, and sometimes other means of individual identification. Many countries are in the process of developing biometric properties for their passports in order to further confirm that the person presenting the passport is the legitimate holder.
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. In the Soviet Union, all citizens were issued propiski to control their movement around the country (A type of internal passport). 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.) Because of US treasury restrictions on US citizens who visit Cuba, that country will similarly not stamp a passport, if requested.
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 a relatively short period. 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In most countries, the passport is state property which may be withdrawn at any time.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
