see this article by: By Tom Geoghegan of the BBC News Magazine, Washington
Fugitive Edward Snowden is hoping to get to
Ecuador, despite not having a valid passport. So when can you legally travel
without one?
The US state department has revoked Snowden's
passport and asked other countries to prevent him from travelling.
Wanted on espionage charges, the American flew
from Hong Kong to Moscow on 23 June - using his US passport, according to one
of his lawyers - and has applied for asylum in Ecuador.
On Monday, a seat was booked in his name on a
flight to Cuba, but he was not seen on board.
A passport is usually a condition of
international travel, so under what circumstances can one travel without one?
According to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange,
Snowden has a "special refugee travel document" issued by Ecuador.
Millions of refugees cross borders without
passports as they flee persecution or fighting.
In 2012, more than seven million people became
refugees, according to the United Nations.
Without passports, people would be expected to
present some other form of identification, says Larry Yungk, a UNHCR
resettlement officer. Some refugees can be registered at a border with no
identification at all.
The answer
- Refugees
cross borders with other forms of identification or none at all
- The
US issues 60,000 I-94 documents a year to refugees without passports
- Consulates
provide papers for people who have lost passports abroad
- National
ID cards are acceptable for travel between certain countries
- The
British Queen has no passport
"It's really up to the receiving country
whether they wish to accept someone into their country without a
passport," says Lavinia Limon, president and chief executive officer of
the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.
The US admits about 60,000 refugees a year
from all over the world, she says, and only a handful have passports.
They are each interviewed overseas
face-to-face by officials from the Department of Homeland Security to establish
whether they are genuine refugees and meet admission criteria.
A document called an I-94 is issued in lieu of
a passport and travel to the US is arranged for each one.
"Let's say we're taking people from
Malaysia and they have to stop in Hong Kong before they can get to LA,"
she says. "Hong Kong recognises these are US travel documents and lets
them through."
Other countries such as the UK and Canada
issue similar documents, as does the International Red Cross.
If a particular state wants to allow someone
to travel on a state-owned airline, they have the right to do that without even
issuing papers, says extradition lawyer Douglas McNabb, if the receiving
country agrees.
You can also travel without a passport if it
is stolen or lost while abroad.
"You can hang around for days waiting for
a new passport," says Simon Calder, travel editor of the Independent
newspaper. "Or you can get on a plane with something from your consulate
that says 'this person is OK, let him or her take a one-way flight to their
destination.'
"But it's rare and any kind of document
like that is a get-out-of-jail-free card - go straight to your destination and
don't mess around."
There are also special relationships between
countries that entitle their citizens to travel between them without a
passport.
For example, US citizens can travel to US
territories like Puerto Rico and Guam with approved photo ID.
Beyond that, Americans always need a passport
to travel by air, although US and Canadian citizens can visit each other's
countries with pre-approved Nexus cards.
There are some exceptions to the mandatory
passport rule if American citizens are visiting other North American countries
by land or sea, according to the US State Department website.
So if they are going to the Caribbean or
Bermuda, for example, then a passport card, rather than the passport book, will
be accepted. And an enhanced driving licence or military identification can
also be sufficient.
The UK and the Republic of Ireland have formed
the Common Travel Area, in which photo ID is usually sufficient for citizens of
both countries. Immigration officers can ask for proof of nationality, so
government advice is to carry one.
In 1995, 26 European countries formed the
Schengen area of free travel without border controls. But passenger carriers
such as airlines can still impose identity checks that may include a passport.
National identity cards are also accepted in
place of passports for member countries of some regional alliances.
These include the Economic Community of West
African States, the European Union and some neighbouring countries, the
Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, and Mercosur in South
America.
Not that Queen Elizabeth II has ever to worry
about carrying one. As the person who officially issues them, she is the only
Briton who is exempt.
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