Why are passports so important?
It has probably happened to you at least once (I know it has to me) that on your way to the airport you thought you had packed your passport, but then your start getting more and more nervous as you check your bags and coat pockets. “I know it’s here somewhere” you say out loud as you’re checking empty pockets, your nerves already on the edge, the first drops of sweat slowly forming on your forehead as you squint at your cluttered hand bag. “Here it is!” You shout victoriously (if you are lucky) and realise that you had been holding your breath all along. The trip can resume, the Earth continues to revolve around the Sun.
This scenario took place at the backseat of millions of yellow cars around the world, but have you ever stopped to think how such a small booklet holds so much power? Naturally, we all know what passports are, but there is plenty information about the most important travel document that you perhaps did not know.
For instance, we all know that travelling without a passport is virtually impossible, right? But what if we told you that in case you forget your passport, you can easily get a new one at the airport? Namely, some countries have mini “perso-centres” at their airports (small places for personalising, i.e. embedding personal information into an empty passport and chip). The United Arab Emirates are one of the countries that offer the possibility to get a new passport to their special citizens (e.g. members of their royal family). Fine, this piece of information does not apply to you, but you have to admit it is a truly fun fact.

Double (and then triple) check the validity of your passport
The key thing to keep in mind is the validity of your passport. One of the more common scenarios is passport control sending the passenger back from the airport, even though the expiration date is not so close (it happens to the best of us). A passport’s expiration date does not indicate until when you can use the passport, quite the contrary. The passport needs to be valid for at least six months after the anticipated date of leaving/exiting the country.
It is recommended that you begin the passport renewal process (or getting a new one) at least 3-5 months prior to your trip, unless you want to go through the above mentioned scenario. If you go by this rule, we guarantee you will not have any issues before your trip (at least passport-wise).
Not all passports are equal (but all people are)
“For some people, a passport is a portal to the world. For others it is an obstacle to the carefree travel they seek.”
We have already established that passports are documents crucial for international travel, but not all passports have an equal status. That is to say, every passport allows you to leave the country, but where you can go and how long you can stay depends on where your passport was issued – different passports enable different access and different freedom of travel. On which basis do you estimate how “powerful” a passport is? And how do you measure it?
Henlei passport index is the most stringent and most sophisticated unit of measure with global access. It’s more than a simple passport “ranking” in order to show you in detail your travel freedom. This includes which countries you can enter with what type of visa, how your passport has changed over the past 14 years, where your passport stands in comparison with other ones, why your passport has a particular level of access and which additional passports could improve your mobility.
The first place on the list of the most wanted passports in 2020 went to Singapore with free access (without a visa) to 191 countries. Serbian people, according to the Henlei passport index, can travel without a visa to 133 countries. Serbia shares 39th place with El Salvador and Honduras.
Many passports have hidden traits (which are very cool!)
Some passports have amazing characteristics that make them unique. Passports in Scandinavian countries share a little secret: if you put the passport pages under an ultraviolet light, you will see the Northern lights in the form of iridescent lines on the passport paper – you have to admit that this is a cool feature! Irish passports are sown in using green, white and orange threads to showcase the country’s flag colours. Meanwhile, the Finnish have created the most original passport there is!
Unlike passports from other countries, which show coats of arms and different symbols of that country on the passport pages, Finnish passports showcase a moose in motion. Namely, at the lower right corner of each page of a Finnish passport, there is a photo of a moose. By flipping through the pages quickly, you can see the moose moving, while on the left-hand pages, there are photos of the most common animals of Finland.
Have you looked at your own passport carefully?
If you change your identity, you will need a new passport
If you want to change your name or surname, or if you decided to significantly alter your appearance (that doesn’t refer to growing your beard or changing the colour or length of your hair), you have to get a new passport (so you’ll be turning a new leaf both literally and figuratively).
You will be required to get a new travel document not only if you had facial surgery, but also if you had any tattoos or piercings done on a (larger) part of your face, if you changed your gender or lost a significant amount of weight. If you were planning to lose a few pounds before your holiday be careful not to go overboard and be detained at the airport!
Jokes aside, most airports in the world have advanced face recognition technologies that record and compare a passenger’s biometric and passport data. The system operates using a highly accurate camera for retina-scanning and facial recognition and processes the collected date in a record-breaking time of 12 to 14 seconds!
Very cool isn’t it? Our company has been working on developing this technology for years now. Apart from electronic identification, we also deal with eGovernment and specialised systems for secured communication. Yes, as you might have concluded, we care a lot about security, so you can read more about biometric passports and eGates in our next article.
A visa is valid even when a passport isn’t
It is important to know that when you get a visa for a certain period of time and your passport is due to expire by that time, most countries will still accept it. Usually, a visa can still be used even in an expired passport, as long as you have with you a valid passport issued in the same country.
It is important to keep your passport in good shape
Just to be clear, we’re not saying your passport should be in the same, intact state as the day it got issued, the quality of the document itself as well as your travel frequency will affect on the physical state of the passport. However, you should know that in some countries, travel access can be denied if your passport is damaged to a degree, for instance when:
- The laminate sheet has been detached enough to enable the photo to be changed
- The page with biological data has changed colour
- There are chemical or ink spills on any of the pages
- There are missing or ripped pages
- The chip has been found damaged after close inspection