Australian Passport - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Australian passports are issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australia)

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is a department of the government of Australia charged with advancing the interests of Australia and its citizens internationally...

, both in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

and overseas. Since 1984, Australian passport

Passport

A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....

s are issued only to citizens of Australia.

History

The 'X' series passport issued in 1917 is one of the earliest passports. It was during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

that monitoring and identifying those crossing international borders became critical to the security of Australia and its allies;
The War Precautions Act 1914–1915 required that all persons over 16 years of age, on leaving the Commonwealth, possess a passport.
The words Australian Passport replaced British Passport on the cover of the Australian passport in 1949. Two types of passport were issued:
1. B Series passports were issued (within Australia only) to British subject
  British subject
  In British nationality law, the term British subject has at different times had different meanings. The current definition of the term British subject is contained in the British Nationality Act 1981.- Prior to 1949 :...
  
  s who were not Australian citizens. The term "British subject" had a particular meaning in the context of Australian nationality law. The term encompassed all citizens of countries included in the list contained in the Australian Citizenship Act 1948. The list of countries was based on, but was not identical with, those countries (and their colonies) which were members of the Commonwealth from time to time. The list was amended from time to time as various former colonies became independent countries, but the list in the Act was not necessarily up-to-date as far as to constitute exactly a list of countries in the Commonwealth at any given time. This definition of "British subject" meant that, for the purposes of Australian nationality law, citizens of countries which had become republics, such as India, were grouped as "British subjects". This legal category was abolished in 1984 by the Australian Citizenship Amendment Act of that year.
2. C Series passports were issued only to Australian citizens.
In 1967 the word "British" was removed from passports. "British subjects" under Australian nationality law continued to be eligible to be issued Australian passports.
Before 1983, a married woman's passport application had to be authorised by her husband.
In 1983, the Department partnered with Australia Post
Australia Post
Australia Post is the trading name of the Australian Government-owned Australian Postal Corporation .-History:...

to allow the issuance of Australian passports at most Australia Post outlets.
In 1984, Australian passports included machine readable lines and were the first to have a laminate built into the document. The same year Australian passports begun to be issued exclusively to Australian citizens.
In 1986, the introduction of Single Identity passports meant children could no longer be included on their parent's passport.
Until 1988, a woman could apply for and receive a passport in her married name, before she was actually married.
The 'L' series passport personal data pages initially included a photograph and a cut out piece of paper with the holders signature under a sheet of adhesive laminate
From approximately 1998, the personal data page for 'L' series passports was colour laser printed and under a sheet of adhesive laminate
The 'M' series passport was issued from 27 November 2003, which included enhanced security features. The personal data page of these passports is printed by ink-jet onto the adhesive surface of the security laminate, the laminate itself containing a holographic design.
From October 2005, the 'M' series was issued as a biometric or e-passport
Biometric passport
A biometric passport, also known as an e-passport or ePassport, is a combined paper and electronic passport that contains biometric information that can be used to authenticate the identity of travelers...

. An electronic passport logo was printed under the passport number on the personal data page.
Since May 2009 the 'N' series has been issued as a biometric or e-passport. The passport is black instead of blue and has a slight font and case change to the word 'Passport'. Additional fraud counter-measures have been included in the passport including a 'Ghost Image' and 'Retro-Reflective Floating Image' on the laminated page. Each page features images of Australia printed throughout the document making every visa page unique and more difficult to reproduce.

Types of passports

Standard Passport (Black
Black
Black is the color of objects that do not emit or reflect light in any part of the visible spectrum; they absorb all such frequencies of light...

Cover) – Issued for ordinary travel, such as vacations and business trips, it has 37 visa pages with 10 years validity for Adults and 5 years validity for Children's passports (Series M and prior). Passports issued prior to the new series N passport had a blue
Blue
Blue is a colour, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 440–490 nm. It is considered one of the additive primary colours. On the HSV Colour Wheel, the complement of blue is yellow; that is, a colour corresponding to an equal...

cover.
- Frequent Traveller Passport – These are issued to frequent travellers, such as business people (69 pages). These cost slightly more than a standard passport.
- Senior's Passport – Issued for Australian citizens aged 75 years and over for half the cost of a standard passport, it has 37 visa pages with 5 years validity.
- Senior's Frequent Traveller Passport – Issued for Australian citizens aged 75 years and over for half the cost of a Frequent Traveller Passport, it has 69 visa pages
Diplomatic Passport (Red
Red
Red is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of light discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 630–740 nm. Longer wavelengths than this are called infrared , and cannot be seen by the naked eye...

Cover) – Issued to Australian diplomats, top ranking government officials and diplomatic couriers. (37 pages)
Official Passport (Grey-asparagus Cover) – Issued to individuals representing the Australian government on official business. (37 pages)

Physical appearance

Australian passports have the Australian coat of arms

Coat of arms of Australia

The coat of arms of Australia is the official symbol of Australia. The initial coat of arms was granted by King Edward VII on 7 May 1908, and the current version was granted by King George V on 19 September 1912, although the 1908 version continued to be used in some contexts, notably appearing on...

emblazoned in the centre of the front cover. The word "Passport" is inscribed at the bottom of the cover just above a standard biometric symbol. The coat of arms is featured in the centre of the cover. The standard passport contains 37 (pps 17 & 18 unusable as they contain the contactless IC) visa pages, but it can be issued in a 69 page format upon request for an additional fee.

Identity Information Page

The Australia Passport includes the following data:

Photo of Passport Holder
Type (P for passport)
Code of Issuing State (AUS)
DOCUMENT No.
Name
Nationality (AUSTRALIAN)
Date of Birth
Sex (male, female and indeterminate); Since September 2011, intersex people can choose 'X' in their choice when supported by a doctor's statement, and transgender individuals may report their identified gender without having had surgical intervention.
Place of Birth (Only the city or town is listed, even if born outside Australia)
Date of issue
Holder's signature
Date of expiry
Authority (AUSTRALIA if issued in Australia, or the name of the issuing diplomatic mission if issued overseas – e.g. LONDON)

The information page ends with the Machine Readable Zone

Machine-readable passport

A Machine Readable Passport is a travel document where the data on the identity page is encoded in optical character recognition format. Many countries began to issue machine readable travel documents in the 1980s....

Passport note

The passports contain a note from the issuing state that is addressed to the authorities of all other states, identifying the bearer as a citizen of that state and requesting that he or she be allowed to pass and be treated according to international norms. The note inside Australian passports states:

The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia

Governor-General of Australia

The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia is the representative in Australia at federal/national level of the Australian monarch . He or she exercises the supreme executive power of the Commonwealth...

, being the representative in Australia of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second

Monarchy in Australia

The Monarchy of Australia is a form of government in which a hereditary monarch is the sovereign of Australia. The monarchy is a constitutional one modelled on the Westminster style of parliamentary government, incorporating features unique to the Constitution of Australia.The present monarch is...

, requests all those whom it may concern to allow the bearer, an Australian Citizen, to pass freely without let or hindrance and to afford him or her every assistance and protection of which he or she may stand in need.

Languages

The passport is printed in English. French translation is found on the identity information, observations, chip centre and notice pages.

Features

Microprinting – for example, horizontal lines on the notice/bearer's information pages are made up of microprinted words.
- In L-series passports, the first verse of Advance Australia Fair
  Advance Australia Fair
  "Advance Australia Fair" is the official national anthem of Australia. Created by the Scottish-born composer, Peter Dodds McCormick, the song was first performed in 1878, but did not gain its status as the official anthem until 1984. Until then, the song was sung in Australia as a patriotic song...
  
  is used.
- In M-series passports, the words are from Waltzing Matilda
  Waltzing Matilda
  "Waltzing Matilda" is Australia's most widely known bush ballad. A country folk song, the song has been referred to as "the unofficial national anthem of Australia"....
  
  .
- In N-series passports, the lines are made up of the word "Australia" repeated.
- N-series passports also feature microprinted words from Clancy of the Overflow
  Clancy of the Overflow
  "Clancy of The Overflow" is a poem by Banjo Paterson, first published in The Bulletin, an Australian news magazine, on 21 December 1889. The poem is typical of Paterson, offering a romantic view of rural life, and is one of his best-known works.-History:...
  
  on the visa pages.
The laminate of the identity information page on M-series and later passports contains retro-reflective floating images of kangaroos.

Technology

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australia)

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is a department of the government of Australia charged with advancing the interests of Australia and its citizens internationally...

introduced the biometric 'ePassport'

Biometric passport

A biometric passport, also known as an e-passport or ePassport, is a combined paper and electronic passport that contains biometric information that can be used to authenticate the identity of travelers...

on 24 October 2005.

The ePassport is very similar to the previous 'M' series Australian passport, differing only in having an embedded RFID microchip

Integrated circuit

An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...

in the centre page and a gold international ePassport symbol on the front cover.

The chip embedded in the centre pages stores the holder's digitised photograph, name, gender, date of birth, nationality, passport number, and the passport expiry date. This is the same information that appears on the printed information page of every passport.

Facial recognition technology

Facial recognition system

A facial recognition system is a computer application for automatically identifying or verifying a person from a digital image or a video frame from a video source...

is being introduced to coincide with the release of the ePassport. This technology will be used to improve identity verification and reduce identity-related fraud

Identity theft

Identity theft is a form of stealing another person's identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person's identity, typically in order to access resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person's name...

Refusal to issue passport

Under the Australian Passports Act 2005, the Minister for Foreign Affairs has the power to refuse a passport, on grounds such as national security or health.

External links

Gateway to the IATA Timatic Web database from Qantas website
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT): Australian Passports website
smarttraveller.gov.au – travel advisories and bulletins provided by DFAT including:
- United States-New Entry Requirements
- Europe: Entry Requirements : Schengen Convention
Portrait of an Australian – a virtual artists' book in the form of an Australian passport created by Jonathan Tse; digitised and held by the Australian Library of Art, State Library of Queensland
http://www.silicon.com/publicsector/0,3800010403,39161215,00.htm

Sources

http://www.dfat.gov.au/dept/passports/
http://www.dfat.gov.au/publications/passports/Policy/TravelDocuments/index.htm
http://www.foreignminister.gov.au/releases/2005/fa132_05.html
http://www.foreignminister.gov.au/releases/2006/fa045_06.html
http://www.stlucia.gov.lc/faq/do_i_need_a_visa_to_enter_saint_lucia.htm#Do_Not_Require_Visas

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.