Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
World Passport
The World Passport is a fantasy travel document sold by the World Service Authority, a non-profit organization founded by Garry Davis in 1954.
The World Passport is similar in appearance to a genuine national passport or other such authentic travel document. In 1979 the World Passport was a 42-page document, with a dark blue cover, and text in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish, 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 US$32 plus postage for a three-year World Passport that could be renewed for a further two years.
The version of the World Passport current as of 2017[update] was produced in January 2007. It has an embedded "ghost" photo for security, covered with a plastic film. Its data page is in the format of a machine-readable passport, with an alphanumeric code bar in the machine-readable zone (MRZ) 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 code "WSA".
According to the WSA website, the fee is $75 for a three-year World Passport, $100 for five years, and $125 for ten years. A "World Donor Passport" valid for fifteen years with a special cover is issued gratis to donors of at least $500 which, according to the WSA, is used to provide free documents to refugees and stateless persons. In addition, the customer can choose between two World Passport covers: "World Passport" or "World Government Passport". The WSA recommends their customers purchase the second option.
A potential customer must provide as proof of identity a notarized certification of the details on the form, a copy of their national identity papers, or a fingerprint from their right index finger. People have been known to obtain World Passports in names other than their legal names; see the relevant section below.
The appearance is so similar to a genuine passport that in 1974 a criminal case was lodged against Garry Davis in France regarding his sale of World Passports.
According to the WSA, the version of the document introduced in 2007 was filed as a Machine Readable Travel Document (MRTD) with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). However, ICAO documents on MRTDs cite the World Service Authority and its World Passport as an example of "Fantasy Documents".
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 dating from many decades ago from six countries (Burkina Faso, Ecuador, Mauritania, Tanzania, Togo, and Zambia) which the WSA claims is legal recognition of the World Passports. These letters of recognition are several decades old (1954 for Ecuador, 1972 for Burkina Faso, 1975 for Mauritania, 1995 for Tanzania, 1983 for Togo, 1973 for Zambia).[needs update]
Hub AI
World Passport AI simulator
(@World Passport_simulator)
World Passport
The World Passport is a fantasy travel document sold by the World Service Authority, a non-profit organization founded by Garry Davis in 1954.
The World Passport is similar in appearance to a genuine national passport or other such authentic travel document. In 1979 the World Passport was a 42-page document, with a dark blue cover, and text in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish, 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 US$32 plus postage for a three-year World Passport that could be renewed for a further two years.
The version of the World Passport current as of 2017[update] was produced in January 2007. It has an embedded "ghost" photo for security, covered with a plastic film. Its data page is in the format of a machine-readable passport, with an alphanumeric code bar in the machine-readable zone (MRZ) 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 code "WSA".
According to the WSA website, the fee is $75 for a three-year World Passport, $100 for five years, and $125 for ten years. A "World Donor Passport" valid for fifteen years with a special cover is issued gratis to donors of at least $500 which, according to the WSA, is used to provide free documents to refugees and stateless persons. In addition, the customer can choose between two World Passport covers: "World Passport" or "World Government Passport". The WSA recommends their customers purchase the second option.
A potential customer must provide as proof of identity a notarized certification of the details on the form, a copy of their national identity papers, or a fingerprint from their right index finger. People have been known to obtain World Passports in names other than their legal names; see the relevant section below.
The appearance is so similar to a genuine passport that in 1974 a criminal case was lodged against Garry Davis in France regarding his sale of World Passports.
According to the WSA, the version of the document introduced in 2007 was filed as a Machine Readable Travel Document (MRTD) with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). However, ICAO documents on MRTDs cite the World Service Authority and its World Passport as an example of "Fantasy Documents".
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 dating from many decades ago from six countries (Burkina Faso, Ecuador, Mauritania, Tanzania, Togo, and Zambia) which the WSA claims is legal recognition of the World Passports. These letters of recognition are several decades old (1954 for Ecuador, 1972 for Burkina Faso, 1975 for Mauritania, 1995 for Tanzania, 1983 for Togo, 1973 for Zambia).[needs update]