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Articles on Passports

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Muslim pilgrims go through passport control in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on June 5, 2022, prior to the annual Hajj pilgrimage in the holy city of Mecca. Amer Hilabi/AFP via Getty Images

New passport rankings show that the world is opening up – but not for everyone

A passport from the United Arab Emirates will get you into far more destinations than one from Afghanistan. Gaps like this have big implications for people’s ability to travel, reside and work.
These days neither the public nor governments consider passports as a serious obstacle to freedom of movement. Yohmi/Flickr

When world leaders thought you shouldn’t need passports or visas

In the 20th century, governments considered the “total abolition” of passports as an important goal and discussed the issue in several international conferences.
Passport officers had to decide if a person facing them was the same as the one pictured in the identity card. In this case, yes. David White

Passport staff miss one in seven fake ID checks

Staff responsible for issuing passports are no better than the average person at identifying if someone is holding a fake passport photo, my colleagues and I report in a study published in PLOS ONE today…
Security authorities face a huge challenge to detect whether documents used by air passengers are genuine. Diana Parkhouse/Flickr

The global passport security loophole: how serious is it?

The search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared close to a week ago, is yet to find any conclusive trace of the missing aircaft. But the revelation that two Iranian passengers on the flight…
Interpol says one billion passengers travel without proper identity checks. EPA/Barbara Walton

Flight MH370 and the desperate demand for false passports

It has emerged that two of the passengers on the missing flight MH370 were travelling on stolen passports. Initially this was thought to suggest that terrorism might be involved in the disappearance, but…

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