Passports of the European Economic Area

EU member states use a common passport booklet design, burgundy coloured with the name of the member state, its coat of arms and the title "European Union"

EEA and Switzerland

  EU member states

  EFTA member states

Passports issued by European Economic Area member states (the European Union, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway) or Switzerland can be used by citizens to exercise the right of free movement within the European Economic Area and Switzerland.^[1]

When going through border controls to enter an EEA country, EEA and Swiss citizens possessing valid biometric passports are sometimes able to use automated gates instead of immigration counters. For example, when entering the United Kingdom, at major airports, adult holders of EEA or Swiss biometric passports can use ePassport gates, whilst all other EEA citizens (such as those using a national identity card or a non-biometric passport) and non-EEA citizens must use an immigration counter. Anyone travelling with children must also use an immigration counter.^[2]

As an alternative to holding a passport, EEA or Swiss citizens can also use a valid national identity card to exercise their right of free movement within the EEA and Switzerland.^[3] Strictly speaking, it is not necessary for an EEA or Swiss citizen to possess a valid passport or national identity card to enter the EEA or Switzerland. In theory, if an EEA or Swiss citizen outside of both the EEA and Switzerland can prove his/her nationality by any other means (e.g. by presenting an expired passport or national identity card, or a citizenship certificate), he/she must be permitted to enter the EEA or Switzerland. An EEA or Swiss citizen who is unable to demonstrate his/her nationality satisfactorily must nonetheless be given 'every reasonable opportunity' to obtain the necessary documents or to have them delivered within a reasonable period of time.^[4][5][6]

Characteristics

Since the 1980s, member states of the European Union have started to harmonise aspects of the designs of their ordinary passports (but not other types of passports, such as diplomatic, service and emergency passports), as well as common security features and biometrics.

Most passports issued by EU member states have the common recommended lay out; burgundy in colour with the words “European Union” accompanied by the name of the issuing member state printed on the cover.^[7]

Overall format

• Paper size B7 (ISO/IEC 7810 ID-3, 88 mm × 125 mm)
• 32 pages (passports with more pages can be issued to frequent travellers)
• Colour of cover: burgundy red

Cover

Information on the cover, in this order, in the language(s) of the issuing state:

• The words "EUROPEAN UNION" (before 1997: "EUROPEAN COMMUNITY")
• Name of the issuing state (similar typeface as "EUROPEAN UNION")
• Emblem of the state
• The word "PASSPORT"
• The Biometric Passport symbol:

First page

Information on the first page, in one or more of the languages:

• The words "EUROPEAN UNION"
• Name of the issuing state (similar typeface to that of "European Union")
• The word "PASSPORT"
• Serial number (may also be repeated on the other pages)

Identification page

In passports issued by the EU member states, information on the (possibly laminated) identification page, in the languages of the issuing state plus English and French, are accompanied by numbers that refer to an index that lists the meaning of these fields in all official EU languages. Passports issued in the EFTA member states do not necessarily list such references.

1. Surname	2. Forename(s)
3. Nationality	4. Date of birth
5. Sex	6. Place of birth
7. Date of issue	8. Date of expiry
9. Authority	10. Signature of holder

On the top of the identification page there is the code "P" for passport, the code (ISO 3166-1 alpha-3) for the issuing country, and the passport number. On the left side there is the photo. On other places there might optionally be a national identification number, the height and security features. The layout of the biographical data page shall follow the specifications given in part 1 of ICAO Document 9303.^[8]

Machine-readable zone

Passports and travel document shall contain a machine-readable biographical data page, which shall comply with Part 1 (machine-readable passports) of ICAO Document 9303 and the way they are issued shall comply with the specifications for machine-readable passports set out therein.^[8] Newer EEA passports contain a Machine-readable zone, which contains the name, nationality and most other information from the identification page. It is designed in a way so that computers can fairly easily read the information, although it still human readable, since it contains only letters (A–Z), digits and "<" as space character, but no bar graph or similar. Apostrophes and similar have to be omitted, but hyphens and spaces should be replaced by an angle bracket. Diacritical marks are not permitted in the MRZ. Even though they may be useful to distinguish names, the use of diacritical marks in the MRZ could confuse machine-reading equipment.

Personal name spelling differences

Names containing non-English letters are usually spelled in the correct way in the non-machine-readable zone of the passport, but are mapped according to the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in the machine-readable zone. For example, the German umlauts (ä, ö, ü) and the letter ß are mapped as AE / OE / UE and SS, so Müller becomes MUELLER, Groß becomes GROSS, and Gößmann becomes GOESSMANN.

The ICAO mapping is mostly used for computer-generated and internationally used documents such as air tickets, but sometimes (like in US visas) also simple letters are used (MULLER, GOSSMANN). German credit cards use in their non-machine-readable zone either the correct or the mapped spelling.

Some German names are always spelled with "old" spelling, such as the poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe or the Third-Reich politician Paul Joseph Goebbels; however, in the name of the German football player Ulrich Hoeneß, the umlaut is spelled "old", but the letter ß is not (the spelling in the machine-readable passport zone is HOENESS, the ß being mapped here).

The three possible spelling variants of the same name (e.g. Müller / Mueller / Muller) in different documents sometimes lead to confusion, and the use of two different spellings within the same document (like in the passports of German-speaking countries) may give people who are unfamiliar with the foreign orthography the impression that the document is a forgery.

The Austrian passport can (but does not always) contain a note in German, English, and French that AE / OE / UE / SS are the common mappings of Ä / Ö / Ü / ß.

Names originally written in a non-Latin writing system may pose another problem if there are various internationally recognized transcription standards. For example, the Russian surname Горбачёв is transcribed

• "Gorbachev" in English,
• "Gorbatschow" in German,
• "Gorbatchev" in French,
• "Gorbachov" in Spanish,
• "Gorbaczow" in Polish, and so on.

The machine-readable zone contains the name transliterated in a standardized (English-based) way, defined by the standard for machine readable travel documents (ICAO 9303). Горбачёв would be written GORBACHEV. There are also tables for the transliteration of names written using Cyrillic and Arabic scripts.

Section 6 of the ICAO document 9303 part 3 specifies transliteration of letters outside the A–Z range. It recommends that diacritical marks on Latin letters A-Z are simply omitted (ç → C, ð → D, ê → E, etc.), but it allows the following transliterations:
å → AA
ä → AE
ð → DH
ij (Dutch letter; capital form: IJ, the J as part of the ligature being capitalized, too)→ IJ
ö → OE
ü → UE (German) or UXX (Spanish)
ñ → NXX

The following transliterations are mandatory:
æ → AE
ø, œ → OE
ß → SS
þ → TH

It is recommended to use the spelling used in the machine-readable passport zone for visas, airline tickets, etc., and to refer to that zone if being questioned. The same thing applies if the name is too long to fit in the airline's ticket system, otherwise problems can arise.^[9] (The machine-readable has room for 39 letters for the name while the visual zone can contain as many as will fit)

Following page

Optional information on the following page:

11. Residence	12. Height
13. Colour of eyes	14. Extension of the passport
15. Name at birth (if now using married name or have legally changed names)

Remaining pages

• The following page is reserved for:
  • Details concerning the spouse of the holder of the passport (where a family passport is issued)
  • Details concerning children accompanying the holder (name, first name, date of birth, sex)
  • Photographs of the faces of spouse and children
• The following page is reserved for use by the issuing authorities
• The following page carries the index that translates the field numbers into the official languages of the EU
• The remaining pages are reserved for visa
• The inside back cover is reserved for additional information or recommendations by the issuing state in its own official language(s)

Security features

Passports and travel documents issued by member states shall comply with the minimum security standards, and passports must incorporate a storage medium (a chip) that contains the holder's facial image and fingerprints. This obligation does not apply to identity cards or to temporary passports and travel documents with a validity of one year or less. The United Kingdom and Ireland are not bound by the rules, whereas Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Lichtenstein are.^[8]

Overview of passports

Member state	Passport cover	Biodata page	Cost	Validity	Issuing authority	Latest version
Austria			€75.90	10 years (aged 12 or over) 5 years (aged 2–11) 2 years (aged 0–2)		16 June 2006
Belgium			€71 (adults; 32 pages; in Belgium) €41 (children; 32 pages; in Belgium) €240 (adults; 64 pages; in Belgium) €210 (children; 64 pages; in Belgium) €79 (adults; 32 pages; overseas) €35 (children; 32 pages; overseas) €240 (adults; 64 pages; overseas) €210 (children; 64 pages; overseas)[10]	5 years	Communes (in Belgium) Belgian embassies and consulates (overseas)	1 February 2008
Bulgaria			BGN40 / €20 (adults aged 14–58; 32 pages) BGN40 / €10 (adults under 14; 32 pages)	5 years	Ministry of Interior Affairs	29 March 2010
Croatia1			390 HRK	10 years (adults aged 21 or over) 5 years (adults aged under 21)	Ministry of the Interior Affairs of the Republic of Croatia	3 August 2015
Cyprus			(€70; 32 pages)	10 years	Civil Registry and Migration Department, Ministry of the Interior; Embassies and High Commissions of the Republic of Cyprus	13 December 2010
Czech Republic[11]			CZK 600 (adults aged 15 or over) CZK 100 (children under 15)	10 years (adults aged 15 or over) 5 years (children under 15)	the town hall of the applicant's place of permanent residence abroad: consulates of the Czech Republic (except honorary consulates)	1 September 2006
Denmark			DKK 625 (adults aged 18 or over; 32 pages) DKK 140 (children aged under 18; 32 pages)	10 years (adults) 5 years (children under 18)		1 August 2006
Estonia			€28.76	5 years		1 June 2014[12]
Finland			€48[13] €24 for veterans of Finnish wars €48 temporary passport €65 fast-track passport €83 express passport €80 emergency passport €48 alien passport	5 years[14]		1 January 2017
Åland Islands				5 years		21 August 2012
France			€86 (adults in metropolitan France and french overseas territory) €89 (adults outside France) €17 (children from 0 to 14, everywhere) €42 (teenager from 15 to 17, everywhere)	10 years (adults) 5 years (children under 18)	Préfecture offices (but forms can be addressed to any city hall) French consulates (abroad)	28 October 2008
Germany			€37.50 (applicants under 24; 32 pages) €60 (applicants aged 24 or over; 32 pages) €59.50 (applicants under 24; 48 pages) €82 (applicants aged 24 or over; 48 pages) €26 temporary passport €92 express passport	10 years (applicants aged 24 or over) 6 years (applicants under 24)	Municipal registration office	1 March 2017
Greece			€84.40 (adults) €73.60 (children)	5 years (applicants aged 15 or over) 2 years (children under 15)	National Passport Centre ("Διεύθυνση Διαβατηρίων/Αρχηγείο Ελληνικής Αστυνομίας")	28 August 2006
Hungary			7500 HUF (5 years) 14000 HUF (10 years)	5 years 10 years	Registration Office (Nyilvántartó Hivatal)	1 March 2012
Iceland				10 years (adults)
Ireland				10 years (adults) 3 or 5 years (children)	Consular and Passport Division of the Department of Foreign Affairs
Italy			€116 [15]	10 years (adults aged 18 or over) 5 years (applicants aged 3–17) 3 years (children under 3)[16]	Minister of Foreign Affairs through Local quaestor (in Italy) Consulates and embassies (abroad)[17]	20 May 2010
Latvia			€28.46 (adults) €14.23 (pensioners, disabled and aged under 20)[18]	10 years (adults aged 60 or over) 5 years (applicants aged 5–59) 2 years (children under 5)		29 January 2015[19]
Liechtenstein
Lithuania			1LTL150/€48 (adults; 32 pages;) LTL75/€24 (children; 32 pages;) LTL200/€65 (adults; 32 pages; issued in five working days) LTL250/€79 (adults; 32 pages; issued in 24 hours)	10 years (adults aged 16 or over) 5 years (children aged 5–15) 2 years (children under 5)		27 January 2011
Luxembourg			€30 (5 year passports) €20 (2 year passports)	5 years (applicants aged 4 or over) 2 years (applicants under 4)	Passport Office, Luxembourg	1 July 2011
Malta						29 September 2008
The Netherlands			€64.40 (maximum, all ages 34-page passport; individual municipalities determine the rate[20]) €99.05 (adults; 34 pages; overseas[21])	10 years for adults 5 years for minors[22]	Gemeente (Municipality)	9 March 2014
Norway			NOK 270 (children under 16) NOK 450 (adults aged 16 or older)	2 years (aged 0–4) 3 years (aged 5–9) 5 years (aged 10–15) 10 years (aged 16 and older)	Norwegian Police Service	1 April 2011
Poland			Application made within Poland: 140 zł (for applicants aged between 13 and 70) 30 zł (for applicants aged under 13) Application made through a Polish consulate: €106 (applicants aged between 13 and 70) €36 (applicants aged under 13) In both cases: free for applicants aged 70 and over certain classes of applicants qualify for a 50% discount of a relevant fee	10 years (applicants aged 13 and over) 5 years (applicants aged under 13)	Governor of a province (voivodeship) Consul	1 January 2007
Portugal			€65[23]	5 years (applicants aged 5 or over) 2 years (children under 5)		25 May 2009
Romania			RON276 / €59 (5 years passports) RON116 / €25 (1 year passports)	5 years (applicants aged 6 or over) 3 years (applicants under 6) 1 year (temporary passport)	Ministry of Administration and Interior (General Directorate for Passports)	26 April 2006
Slovakia			€33/66/99 (16 or older up to 30/10/2 days processing time) €13/26/39 (6-16 year olds up to 30/10/2 days) €8/16/24 (6 or younger up to 30/12/2 days) 50% discount exists for seriously ill applicants; 10% discount exists for applicants whose fingerprints cannot be taken and who obtain a passport valid for 1 year.	10 years (adults aged 16 or over) 5 years (children aged 5–15) 2 years (children under 5)		15 January 2008
Slovenia						28 August 2006
Spain			€25	No expiry (adults over 70) 10 years (adults aged 30–70) 5 years (applicants under 30)	National Police Corps of Spain	2 January 2015
Sweden			350 SEK (in Sweden) 1400 SEK (abroad, paid in local currency)	5 years	Swedish Police Authority (in Sweden) Swedish embassies and consulates (abroad)	2 January 2012
Switzerland2			CHF 60 (children) CHF 140 (adults)	10 years (aged 18 or over) 5 years (aged 0–17)		1 March 2010
United Kingdom			£72.50 (adults; 32 pages) £85.50 (adults; 48 pages) £46 (children)	10 years (adults aged 16 or over) 5 years (children under 16)	HM Passport Office	December 2015
Gibraltar			£42.00 (adults) £25.00 (children)	10 years (adults aged 16 or over) 5 years (children under 16)	Civil Status and Registration Office, Gibraltar

¹ EU member state Croatia finished negotiating their accession to the EEA in November 2013, and is since 12 April 2014 provisionally applying the agreement pending its ratification by all EEA countries.

² EFTA member state Switzerland is not a part of the EEA, but is through a bilateral series of agreements a part of the area in a practical sense.

Visa requirements

Visa requirements for European Economic Area (EEA) and Swiss nationals are administrative entry restrictions by the authorities of other states placed on citizens of the EEA and Switzerland. EEA and Swiss nationals enjoy freedom of movement in the European Economic Area and Switzerland. EEA/Swiss citizens and are not only visa-exempt but are legally entitled to enter and reside in each other's countries. The Citizens’ Rights Directive 2004/38/EC (also sometimes called the "Free Movement Directive") defines the right of free movement for citizens of the EEA, which includes the member states of the EU and the three EFTA members Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein. Switzerland, which is a member of EFTA but not of the EEA, is not bound by the Directive but rather has a separate bilateral agreement on free movement with the EU.

Passport rankings

Passport rankings by the number of countries and territories their holders could visit without a visa or by obtaining visa on arrival in 2017 were as follows (sourced from Henley visa restrictions index):^[24]

By country

For details, click on the name of the country:

• Austria: 173, Belgium: 173, Bulgaria: 154, Croatia: 153, Cyprus: 158
• Czech Republic: 168, Denmark: 174, Estonia: 164, Finland: 174, France: 173
• Germany: 176, Greece: 171, Hungary: 167, Iceland: 169, Ireland: 172
• Italy: 174, Latvia: 165, Liechtenstein: 165, Lithuania: 166, Luxembourg: 173
• Malta: 167, Netherlands: 173, Norway: 173, Poland: 162, Portugal: 171, Romania: 153
• Slovakia: 165, Slovenia: 165, Spain: 174, Sweden: 175, Switzerland: 171, United Kingdom (British Citizen Passport): 173

By rank

Multiple simultaneous passports

Same country

Some EEA countries, such as Germany, Ireland, Malta, Norway and the UK, allow their citizens to have more than one passport at once to circumvent certain travel restrictions. This can be useful if wanting to travel while a passport remains at a consulate while a visa application is processed, or wanting to apply for further visas while already in a foreign country. It can also be needed to circumvent the fact that visitors whose passports show evidence of a visit to Israel are not allowed to enter Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Saudi Arabia, the Sudan, Syria and Yemen (It is, however, possible to get the Israeli entry and exit stamp on a separate piece of paper).

Multiple citizenship

Each EEA member state can make its own citizenship laws, so some countries allow dual or multiple citizenship without any restrictions (e.g. Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom), some regulate/restrict it (e.g. Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland), and others allow it only in exceptional cases (e.g. Lithuania, Norway) or only for citizens by descent (e.g. Croatia, Estonia, Liechtenstein).

A citizen of an the EEA or Switzerland can live and work in all other EEA countries or Switzerland, (but not necessarily vote or work in sensitive fields, such as government, police, military where citizenship is often required). Non-citizens may not have the same rights to welfare and unemployment benefits like citizens.

See also

• European Economic Area
• European Free Trade Association
• National identity cards in the European Economic Area
• Passports of the European Union
• Schengen Area
• Visa policy of the Schengen Area
• Visa requirements for European Union citizens

References

External links

• European Passports in PRADO (The Council of the European Union Public Register of Authentic Travel and Identity Documents Online)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to European Free Trade Association.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to European passports.