The World Passport is a document issued by the World Service Authority, a
non-profit organization founded by Garry Davis in 1954, citing Article 13,
Section 2, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Appearance and issuance fees The World Passport is similar in
appearance to a national passport or other travel document. Indeed, the
appearance is so close that in 1974 a criminal case was lodged against Garry
Davis in France regarding his issuance of World Passports. In 1979, the World
Passport was a 42-page document, with a dark blue cover, and text in English,
French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Chinese, and Esperanto. It contained a
five-page section for medical history and a six-page section for listing
organisational affiliation. The fee charged at that time was $32 and postage
for a three-year passport with the possibility of two years' extension of
validity. The latest edition of the World Passport
was issued January 2007. It has an embedded "ghost" photo for security,
covered with a plastic film. Its data page imitates the format of a
machine-readable passport, with an alphanumeric code bar in the
machine-readable zone enabling it to be scanned by an optical reader. However,
in place of a valid ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 code in the MRZ "issuer" and
"nationality" fields, it uses the non-standard acronym "WSA". According to
the WSA, the latest version of the World Passport was filed with the
International Civil Aviation Organization. According to the WSA
website, the application fee is $45 for a three-year document, $75 for a
five-year document, and $100 for an eight-year document. A "World Donor
Passport" valid for fifteen years with a special cover is issued for a donation
of at least $400 which, according to the WSA, is used to issue free documents to
refugees and stateless persons. The applicant for World Passport needs
to provide as proof of his or her identity along with the application for
the World Passport either a notarized certification of the details on the
form, a copy of his or her national identity papers or a fingerprint of the
right index finger. There are known cases in which people have been able to
obtain World Passports in names other than their legal names; see the section
on fraudulent issuance below. As a travel document
= Notable acceptances = According to the World Service Authority
website, some World Passports have reportedly been accepted on a
case-by-case basis by over 180 countries, and several countries have
accorded the document legal recognition. Success in crossing a border using a
World Passport is generally attributable to the whim or ignorance of individual
immigration officers, not official recognition of the document. The World
Service Authority website has scans of letters from six countries according
legal recognition to the World Passports. These letters of recognition
are several decades old and reasonable doubt exists about today's effective
acceptance. The World Passport came under increased
international scrutiny in 1996, after the hijacking of the MS Achille Lauro.
In the aftermath of the incident, one of the captured hijackers, Youssef Majed
al-Molqi, escaped imprisonment in Italy and used a World Passport he acquired in
1988 to leave the country and travel to Spain before he was recaptured.
= Notable rejections = Many countries and territories have
stated that they do not recognize the World Passport because it is not issued
by a competent government authority, and thus does not meet the definition of a
passport. As a result, travelling on a World Passport has never been easy. By
1975, Garry Davis had already been imprisoned 20 times for his attempts to
cross international borders with nothing but a World Passport.
Commonwealth of Independent States The Russian government states that it
does not recognise the World Passport. In a 1995 interview with Kommersant, a
spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Department of Consular
Services stated that the World Passport is not an acceptable document for
proving identity or citizenship status at Russian border crossings; only a
diplomatic passport, official passport, seaman's passport, or general civil
passport are accepted. However, one Russian media report claims that some
members of the House of Romanov, travelling to Saint Petersburg for the
reburial of the remains of one of their ancestors, were permitted by Russian
authorities to obtain visas in their World Passports, in light of the special
situation. In December 2008, a man claiming to be a
Russian citizen attempted to cross the border from Latvia into Belarus at the
Urbany checkpoint using a World Passport; he stated he lost his Russian
documents while in Sweden. He was arrested by the Belarusian border
guards. A spokesman for Belarus' State Border Committee in an interview with a
local newspaper stated that Belarus does not accept the World Passport at border
crossings. He also claimed it was the first known case of its kind in the
country. United States
The United States Department of State's official position on the World Passport
is that it is just a booklet issued by a private organisation upon payment of a
fee, and not a passport. As early as 1991, the US Air Transport Association
specifically included the World Passport in a training film as an example of
unacceptable travel papers. In 2012, a Belizean man attempted to enter the U.S.
through the Veterans International Bridge at Los Tomates using a World
Passport. The man in question had prior felony convictions for drug trafficking
and immigration offences, and had previously been deported from the United
States multiple times. He claimed that he wanted to speak with President Obama
about genocide in Belize. In a bench trial, Judge Andrew S. Hanen found the
man guilty of felony attempted re-entry after deportation.
Other countries Peace activist Kenneth O'Keefe tried to
travel to Iraq using a World Passport in 2003, but was rejected transit rights by
Turkey, and had to apply for an American passport to continue his journey. In
2004, two men from China on board Cathay Pacific Flight 302 from Hong Kong to
Guangzhou attempted to pass through immigration at Guangzhou Baiyun
International Airport using World Passports. The officers at the airport
arrested them for illegal entry. Also, though Garry Davis himself travelled to
India some decades ago using his World Passport and gave one personally to
Jawaharlal Nehru, in May 2007 an Indian citizen was arrested for attempting to
leave India at Begumpet Airport using his World Passport. The man had intended
to travel to the United States. His travel agency and Air India staff both
accepted his World Passport, but Indian immigration did not. The Council of the
European Union states that the World Passport is not an acceptable proof of
identity, and lists it as a fantasy passport. In February 2013, both Panama
and Costa Rica rejected the use of the World Passport by Sage Million, a
fugitive from Hawaii. The passport is considered by the State Border Service
of Ukraine as a souvenir. = Use by refugees and stateless persons
The World Service Authority issues World Passports to refugees and other people
who are unable to obtain valid, usable travel documents. According to the WSA,
refugees in camps are issued free World Passports. WSA reports that it "has
issued more than 10,000 free World Passports to refugees residing in camps
throughout the world" and that it "has documentary evidence that the issuance
of such passports may permit refugees to leave such camps to seek asylum
elsewhere or to claim other rights often denied to refugees". However, many of
those refugees, after getting their hopes up, have found World Passports to
be useless. According to statements by Garry Davis in the mid-1970s, major
users of World Passports at the time included persons in Southeast Asia
fleeing from the wars there, as well as holders of Rhodesian passports who were
otherwise unable to travel internationally as no other country
accepted their documents besides South Africa. Will Reed, a former U.S. Army
soldier who renounced his U.S. citizenship in protest against the
Vietnam War, was held in jail in Thailand until he attained release after
getting a World Passport. By 1991 the WSA claims to have issued
"hundreds of thousands" of World Passports to refugees. Many East African
refugees arriving in Nordic countries in the early 1990s had World Passports. In
July 2011, a Georgian citizen attempted to pass through Latvian border control
with a World Passport, though he also had a valid Georgian passport in his
possession; after presenting his World Passport, he requested asylum in Latvia.
Individuals held in arrest due to lack of valid identity papers were sometimes
released after receiving World Passports, according to reports by the
WSA. Another category of users of World
Passports are stowaways on ships. Vessel owners are legally responsible for the
stowaways until they can find a country to let them ashore, but countries are
often reluctant due to questions over the validity of the stowaways'
documents. Lawyers working for maritime insurers sometimes turn to the WSA when
all other options are exhausted. From 1992 to 2006 the WSA issued five such
documents. As an identity document
The World Service Authority promotes the World Passport not just as a document
for international travel, but a "neutral, apolitical document of
identity". Investor Doug Casey, himself a World Passport holder, has suggested
that a World Passport is useful at hotels and other non-governmental
institutions where security is uncertain; if one is asked to hand over
one's passport in such situations, one can provide the World Passport instead
of a national passport. Governmental authorities do not share this
assessment. In the United Kingdom, the Criminal
Records Bureau of the United Kingdom's Home Office states that registered
bodies should not accept the World Passport as a proof of identity, warning
that "a fake ‘World Passport’ can be purchased online by members of the
public and should not be confused with a genuine passport". The Isle of Man's
Financial Supervision Commission, which regulates the isle's banks and company
formation agents, states that the World Passport is not an acceptable document
to prove either the nationality or identity of the bearer. Specifically, it
classifies it as a spurious or fantasy passport, a term which it defines to
mean as documents which "have the appearance of a passport, but are issued
by organisations with no authority and to which no official recognition has
been given". With regard to the United States, the
Social Security Administration will also not accept any World Service Authority
document as evidence of identity, age, citizenship, alien status, or marital
status for either claims or enumeration purposes. The Virginia Department of
Social Services explicitly classifies all World Service Authority documents as
"unacceptable documents" for verification of identity. The United
States Department of State instructs all U.S. embassies and consulates not to
provide any notarial, apostille, or other authentication services in respect
of World Passports, whether regarding the World Passport itself or documents
relating to an application for a World Passport. They warn that such documents
could be used for fraudulent or criminal purposes. In 1996, an Indiana man was
able to obtain a World Passport in a name other than his own legal name, but
was detected after repeated attempts to use it to prove his identity when
opening business accounts at various area banks. He was convicted of fraud on
a financial institution, and his conviction was upheld on appeal.
As a political statement Regardless of its acceptance or lack
thereof, a traveler may also obtain a World Passport as a moral statement of
his or her belief in the inalienable right to travel under the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. A number of Russian citizens have obtained the World
Passport as a form of protest against the "red tape" imposed by the Russian
government on their own citizens aiming to travel abroad. In 1977, two mayors of
West Bank towns applied for World Passports during a visit by Garry Davis.
Counterfeits and fraudulent issuance Despite its limited acceptance among the
countries of the world, the World Passport is so popular that criminals
have even taken to producing fake ones. The Isle of Man's Financial Supervision
Commission reports that they have identified counterfeit World Passports.
Also, the first cross-jurisdictional fake passport case ever found in
Guangzhou, Guangdong, China involved counterfeit World Passports as well. In
February 1981, the local Public Security Bureau identified some Hong Kong
criminals who were charging would-be World Passport holders more than ¥18,000
in processing fees, and misrepresenting to them that World Passport holders
could settle in any country in the world.
As mentioned above, Russia does not accept World Passports, but in the
1990s, many company formation agents in Russia sold the World Passport together
in a package-deal with the setup of an offshore company, and falsely claimed
that all countries of the world accept it as an identity document. In some
cases such companies charged up to US$1,000 for the passport alone.
In Malaysia in 1994, a Nigerian man was arrested at the Central Market, Kuala
Lumpur by tourist police during an identity check, after he showed a World
Passport. A search of his belongings showed that he carried a total of five
World Passports, as well as a Nigerian passport that had been used by another
person to travel to Malaysia and Hong Kong. Authorities suspected he might
have been trying to sell the passports to other foreign nationals lacking valid
travel documents. List of World Passport holders
This is a list of notable people who have been issued with World Passports.
Some may have made applications for World Passports of their own volition,
while others were unilaterally issued with World Passports on the initiative
of the WSA. Triston Jay Amero, American man charged
with hotel bombings in Bolivia Doug Casey, American investor; received
his World Passport from Garry Davis in the 1970s, and claims to have used it to
travel to Iceland, French Polynesia, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Peru
Garry Davis, WSA founder; holds World Passport No. 1, originally issued in
1954 Shani Davis, world- and Olympic-champion
American speedskater Youssef Majed al-Molqi, one of the
hijackers of the MS Achille Lauro in 1985; acquired his World Passport in
1988 when he was in jail but never used it for travel
Jawaharlal Nehru, Indian prime minister; Garry Davis presented him with a World
Passport in 1956 Kenneth O'Keefe, American peace
activist; unsuccessfully attempted to use a World Passport to travel to Iraq
in 2003 Joel Slater, Iowa man who renounced U.S.
citizenship in Australia in 1987 and became stateless
William Worthy, American journalist; issued with a World Passport in 1957
while in China Yehudi Menuhin, world renown violinist
and conductor; was holder of a World Passport since 1954, received honorary
World Passport from Garry Davis in 1984 Vytautas Landsbergis, first post-Soviet
leader of Lithuania, received World Passport from Garry Davis in 1990
Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th US president, was the first person to receive an
honorary World Passport, and the second person after Garry Davis to be issued
one. Garry Davis sent him an honorary World Passport in 1954
Václav Havel, last president of Czechoslovakia and first president of
the Czech Republic, playwright; received a World Passport from Garry Davis in
1990, during the later's tour of post communist Eastern Europe
Edward Snowden, NSA whistleblower who leaked details of several top-secret
U.S. and British government mass surveillance programs to the press; was
issued a World Passport by the WSA while being stuck in the Moscow International
Airport Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks,
was sent an honorary World Passport by Garry Davis while in the Ecuadorian
embassy in London in 2012 Buckminster Fuller, architect, systems
theorist, futurist and designer of the geodesic dome, received a World Passport
from Garry Davis during a lecture in Philapdelphia in 1956
See also Camouflage passport
References External links
Asylum seekers try their luck with 'world passport', article by Matthew
Vella in Malta Today The World Passport on the World Service
Authority website UNHCR document written by the Refugee
and Immigration Board of Canada Mark Charles Thomas' case: Rominger
Legal. "99-1334 -- U.S. v. Thomas". Rominger Legal.