Every travel document number comes with a piece of written, printed, or electronic matter that provides information or evidence or that serves as an official record.
What Is A Travel Document?
According To Wikipedia, A travel document is an identity document issued by a government or international entity pursuant to international agreements to enable individuals to clear border control measures.
Travel documents usually assure other governments that the bearer may return to the issuing country, and are often issued in booklet form to allow other governments to place visas as well as entry and exit stamps into them.
The most common travel document is a passport, which usually gives the bearer more privileges like visa-free access to certain countries.
While passports issued by governments are the most common variety of travel document, many states and international organisations issue other varieties of travel documents that the holder to travel internationally to countries that recognise the documents.
For example, stateless persons are not normally issued a national passport, but may be able to obtain a refugee travel document or the earlier “Nansen passport” which enables them to travel to countries which recognise the document, and sometimes to return to the issuing country.
Who Requires Travel Document?
Border control policies typically require travellers to present valid travel documents in order to ascertain their identity, nationality or permanent residence status, and eligibility to enter a given jurisdiction.
The most common form of travel document is the passport, a booklet-form identity document issued by national authorities or the governments of certain subnational territories[a] containing an individual’s personal information as well as space for the authorities of other jurisdictions to affix stamps, visas, or other permits authorising the bearer to enter, reside, or travel within their territory.
Certain jurisdictions permit individuals to clear border controls using identity cards, which typically contain similar personal information.
Different countries impose varying travel document regulations and requirements as part of their border control policies and these may vary based on the traveller’s mode of transport.
For instance, whilst America does not subject passengers departing by land or most boats to any border control, it does require that passengers departing by air hold a valid passport (or certain specific passport-replacing documents).
Consequently, even though travellers departing America by air might not be required to have a passport to enter a certain country, they will be required to have a valid passport booklet to board their flight in order to satisfy American immigration authorities at departure.
Similarly, although several countries outside the European Economic Area accept national national identity cards issued by its member states for entry, Sweden and Finland do not permit their citizens to depart for countries outside the EEA using solely their identity cards.
Many countries normally allow entry to holders of passports of other countries, sometimes requiring a visa also to be obtained, but this is not an automatic right.
Many other additional conditions may apply, such as not being likely to become a public charge for financial or other reasons, and the holder not having been convicted of a crime.
Where a country does not recognise another, or is in dispute with it, it may prohibit the use of their passport for travel to that other country, or may prohibit entry to holders of that other country’s passports, and sometimes to others who have, for example, visited the other country. Some individuals are subject to sanctions which deny them entry into particular countries.
Travel documents may be requested in other circumstances to confirm identification such as checking into a hotel or when changing money to a local currency. Passports and other travel documents have an expiry date, after which it is no longer recognised, but it is recommended that a passport is valid for at least six months as many airlines deny boarding to passengers whose passport has a shorter expiry date, even if the destination country may not have such a requirement.
Travel Document Number?
A travel document number is a passport book number which is the only number you will see at the top right side of your passport booklet.
The travel document number is alphanumeric and generated specifically for any citizen of a country.
In some countries, a passport book number and a passport number might be a two different thing.
But the case is not so in Nigeria. Nigeria passport book number and that of a passbook number in Nigeria are the same, as there are no other numbers in the Nigerian passport.
Types Of Travel Document?
• Refugee Travel Document
A refugee travel document (also called a 1951 Convention travel document or Geneva passport) is a travel document issued to a refugee by the state in which they normally reside in allowing them to travel outside that state and to return there.
Refugees are unlikely to be able to obtain passports from their state of nationality (from which they have sought asylum) and therefore need travel documents so that they might engage in international travel.
Refugee travel documents are passport-like booklets. Their cover bears the words “Travel Document” in English and French (and often in the language of the issuing state), as well as the date of the convention: 28 July 1951.
The documents were originally grey, though some countries now issue them in other colours, with two diagonal lines in the upper left corner of the front cover. Bearers enjoy certain visa-free travel privileges extended by signatories to the convention.
However, as a refugee travel document is not a regular national passport, some problems may be encountered by the holder from time to time, at time due to non-familiarity of airline staff with such documents.
• Certificate Of Identity
A certificate of identity, sometimes called an alien’s passport, is a travel document issued by a country to non-citizens (also called aliens) residing within their borders who are stateless persons or otherwise unable to obtain a passport from their state of nationality (generally refugees).
Some states also issue certificates of identity to their own citizens as a form of emergency passport or otherwise in lieu of a passport.
The visa requirements of certificates of identity may be different from those of regular passports.
• A Travel Visa
A visa (from the Latin charta visa, meaning “paper that has to be seen”) is a conditional authorization granted by a polity to a foreigner that allows them to enter, remain within, or to leave its territory.
Visas typically include limits on the duration of the foreigner’s stay, areas within the country they may enter, the dates they may enter, the number of permitted visits, or if the individual has the ability to work in the country in question.
Visas are associated with the request for permission to enter a territory and thus are, in most countries, distinct from actual formal permission for an alien to enter and remain in the country.
In each instance, a visa is subject to entry permission by an immigration official at the time of actual entry and can be revoked at any time.
Visa evidence most commonly takes the form of a sticker endorsed in the applicant’s passport or other travel document but may also exist electronically.
Some countries no longer issue physical visa evidence, instead recording details only in immigration databases.
• A Passport
A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that contains a given person’s identity.
It enables its holder travel to and from foreign countries and to access consular assistance while overseas.
These travel document certifies the personal identity and nationality of its holder. Standard passports contain the full name, photograph, place and date of birth, signature, and the expiration date of the passport.
While passports are typically issued by national governments, certain subnational governments are authorised to issue passports to citizens residing within their borders.
Many nations issue (or plan to issue) biometric passports that contain an embedded microchip, making them machine-readable and difficult to counterfeit.
As of January 2019, there were over 150 jurisdictions issuing e-passports. Previously issued non-biometric machine-readable passports usually remain valid until their respective expiration dates.
• The United States Passports
United States passport card is an optional national identity card and a travel document issued by the United States federal government in the size of a credit card.
Like a U.S. passport book, the passport card is only issued to U.S. nationals exclusively by the U.S. Department of State, compliant to the standards for identity documents set by the REAL ID Act, and can be used as proof of U.S. citizenship and identity.
The passport card allows its holders to travel by domestic air flights within the United States, and to travel by land and sea within North America. However, the passport card cannot be used for international air travel.
The passport card (previously known as the People Access Security Service Card, or PASS Card) was created as a result of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), which imposed more stringent documentary requirements on travelers. Applications have been accepted since February 1, 2008; production of the cards began July 14, 2008. By the end of 2016, more than 12 million passport cards had been issued to U.S. citizens. The card is manufactured by L-1 Identity Solutions.
National identity cards with similar utility are common inside the European Union and EFTA countries for both national and international use, with the difference that such cards are often mandatory to carry in several of these countries. In contrast, no U.S. state generally requires people to carry identification.
• Border Crossing Card
A Border Crossing Card (BCC) is an identity document used by nationals of Mexico to enter the United States.
As a standalone document, the BCC allows its holder to visit the border areas of the United States when entering by land or sea directly from Mexico for up to 30 days.
The document also functions as a B1/B2 visa when presented with a valid Mexican passport, for entry to any part of the United States by any means of transportation.
Travel Document USCIS
Depending on your immigration status (including lawful permanent residents) or if you have an application for an immigration benefit pending, you may need to carry different types of travel documents if you wish to return to the United States lawfully after traveling abroad. In certain cases, you should apply for these documents before you leave the United States.
USCIS issues four types of travel documents:
• Advance parole;
Advance parole allows you to travel back to the United States without applying for a visa. A transportation company (airlines) can accept an advance parole document instead of a visa as proof that you are authorized to travel to the United States.
• Refugee travel document;
USCIS issues refugee travel documents to people with refugee or asylum status and to lawful permanent residents who obtained their Green Cards based on their refugee or asylee status.
• Re-entry permit; and
Permanent or conditional residents should apply for a re-entry permit if they will be outside the United States for one year or more. While it is valid, a re-entry permit allows you to apply for admission to the U.S. without having to obtain a returning resident visa from a U.S. Embassy or Consulate.
• Carrier documentation.
Carrier documentation allows an airline or other transportation carrier to board permanent residents who have temporarily been outside the United States and whose Green Card or re-entry permit has been lost, stolen or destroyed.
The above list of travel documents can be used for travelling around the world.
