French passport

French passport
The data page of a contemporary French biometric passport.
Date first issued	12 April 2006 (biometric passport) 28 October 2008 (current version)
Issued by	France
Type of document	Passport
Purpose	Identification
Eligibility requirements	French citizenship
Expiration	5 years after issuance for citizens under the age of 18; 10 years for adults
Cost	86 € (adult) / 42 € (15-17) / 17 € (14 and under)^[1]

French passport (in French: Passeport français) is an identity document issued to French citizens. Besides enabling the bearer to travel internationally and serving as indication of French citizenship (but not proof; the possession of a French passport only establishes the presumption of French citizenship according to French law), the passport facilitates the process of securing assistance from French consular officials abroad or other European Union member states in case a French consular is absent, if needed.

According to the 2014 Visa Restrictions Index, French citizens can visit 172 countries without a visa or with a visa granted on arrival. French citizens can live and work in any country within the EU as a result of the right of free movement and residence granted in Article 21 of the EU Treaty.^[2]

Every French citizen is also a citizen of the European Union. The passport, along with the national identity card allows for free rights of movement and residence in any of the states of the European Union and European Economic Area.

History

History of French passport can be traced to 19th century documents.

Types

Diplomatic passport, in biometric version
(passeport diplomatique)
Official passport, in electronic version
(passeport de service)
Emergency passport, in optical version
(passeport d'urgence)

Passports are valid for 10 years for applicants aged 18 or over and 5 years for applicants under the age of 18. Optical passports (older) have no sign under the word "Passeport" on the front page. Electronic passport contains an embedded chip and have the chip logo under the word "Passeport". Biometric passeports are the most recent ones and are decorated as the electronic passports but the word "Passeport" is underligned. The 3 types of passport are shown above.

Physical appearance

Front cover

Unlike those from most other EU countries which are burgundy, ordinary passports have a Bordeaux-red front cover, with the French Coat of arms emblazoned in the center of the front cover. The word "PASSEPORT" (English: Passport) is inscribed below the coat of arms and "Union européenne" (English: European Union), "République française" (English: French Republic) above. The “e-passport” cover has a microchip symbol at the bottom. On biometric variant of e-passports, the word "PASSEPORT" is underlined. French passports use the standard EU design, with the standard passport containing 32 pages.

Identity information page

Cover of a French biometric diplomatic passport
Cover of a French biometric diplomatic passport
Biodata page of a French non-biometric passport
Biodata page of a French biometric diplomatic passport
First page of a French non-biometric passport

The biodata page includes the following data:

Photo of Passport Holder
Type (P)
Code (FRA)
Passport No. 22244
Surname JOHN
Given Names CHRISTIAN
Nationality (Française) (3)
Date of Birth 01/10/1970
Sex M
Place of Birth FRANCE
Date of Issue (7)
Date of Expiry (8)
Authority (9)
Holder's Signature (10)
Height (12)
Colour of Eyes (13)
Residence (15) - Page 36

The information page ends with the Machine Readable Zone starting with P<FRA.

Languages

The data page is printed in French and English with translation of the fields on the bearer's page in the other languages of the European Union elsewhere in the document.

Visa free travel

Main article: Visa requirements for French citizens

Visa requirements for French citizens

Visa requirements for French citizens are administrative entry restrictions by the authorities of other states placed on citizens of France. In 2014, French citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 172 countries and territories, ranking the French passport 3rd in the world according to the Visa Restricitions Index.

References

↑ Passeport
↑ Treaty on the Function of the European Union (consolidated version)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Passports of France.

Passports

Africa

Central

CEMAC	Cameroon Central African Republic Chad Congo, Republic of the Equatorial Guinea Gabon

Angola Congo, Democratic Republic of the São Tomé and Príncipe

Eastern

Northern

Southern

Western

Mauritania Saint Helena¹

ECOWAS	Benin Burkina Faso Cape Verde Côte d'Ivoire Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Liberia Mali Niger Nigeria Senegal Sierra Leone Togo

Americas

Caribbean

Anguilla¹ British Virgin Islands¹ Cayman Islands¹ Cuba Dominican Republic Montserrat¹ Turks and Caicos Islands¹

CARICOM	Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Barbados Dominica Grenada Haiti Jamaica Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Trinidad and Tobago

Central

Costa Rica Panama

CARICOM	Belize

Central America-4	El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Nicaragua

North

South

Chile

Andean	Bolivia Colombia Ecuador Peru

CARICOM	Guyana Suriname

Mercosur	Argentina Brazil Paraguay Uruguay Venezuela

Asia

Central & North	Afghanistan Kazakhstan⁶ Kyrgyzstan Russia³ Tajikistan Turkmenistan Uzbekistan

East	People's Republic of China Hong Kong¹¹ Macao¹¹ Japan Korea, North Korea, South Mongolia Republic of China (Taiwan)⁸

South	Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka

Southeast	Brunei Burma Cambodia East Timor Indonesia Laos Malaysia Philippines Singapore Thailand Vietnam

West	Abkhazia⁵ ⁹ Armenia⁷ Azerbaijan⁵ Bahrain Cyprus⁷ Egypt⁸ Georgia⁵ Iran Iraq Israel Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Nagorno-Karabakh⁷ ⁹ Northern Cyprus⁷ ⁹ Oman Palestinian Authority Qatar Saudi Arabia South Ossetia⁵ ⁹ Syria Turkey⁴ United Arab Emirates Yemen

Europe

Other Europe

European Union

Oceania

Australia Fiji Kiribati Marshall Islands Micronesia, Federated States of Nauru New Zealand Palau Papua New Guinea Pitcairn Islands¹ Samoa Solomon Islands Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu

International organizations
Defunct passports
Passport types

International organizations	European Union laissez-passer International Committee of the Red Cross Interpol United Nations laissez-passer

Defunct	British Indian Empire¹ Czechoslovakia East Germany Korean Empire League of Nations refugee Mandatory Palestine Rhodesia Soviet Union¹² UNMIK Travel Document Yugoslavia

Types	Biometric Camouflage Diplomatic Fake Hajj Horse Internal International Machine-readable Pet Travel document alien refugee stateless person World

¹ A) Includes Crown Dependencies, British Overseas Territories, and former British plantations, crown colonies, colonies, protectorates, protected states, mandates, trust territories and other British possessions.
B) The Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey are not part of the European Union, but Manxmen and Channel Islanders are citizens of the European Union; the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey, and Manxmen and Channel Islanders themselves (unless they qualify and apply for recognition of a change in status), are however excluded from the benefits of the Four Freedoms of the European Union.
C) The Government of the United Kingdom also issue passports to British nationals who are not British citizens with the right of abode in the United Kingdom and who are also not otherwise citizens of the European Union.

² Open border with Schengen Area.

³ Russia is a transcontinental country in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. The vast majority of its population (80%) lives in European Russia, therefore Russia as a whole is included as a European country here.

⁴ Turkey is a transcontinental country in the Middle East and Southeast Europe. Turkey has a small part of its territory (3%) in Southeast Europe called Turkish Thrace.

⁵ Azerbaijan and Georgia (Abkhazia; South Ossetia) are transcontinental countries. Both have a small part of their territories in the European part of the Caucasus.

⁶ Kazakhstan is a transcontinental country. Kazakhstan has a small part of its territories located west of the Urals in Eastern Europe.

⁷ Armenia (Nagorno-Karabakh) and Cyprus (Northern Cyprus) are entirely in Southwest Asia but having socio-political connections with Europe.

⁸ Egypt is a transcontinental country in North Africa and Western Asia. Egypt has a small part of its territory in Western Asia called Sinai peninsula.

⁹ Partially recognized.

¹⁰ Not recognized by any other state.

¹¹ Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China

¹² The Soviet Union was a transcontinental country located in Eurasia

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