Passport is an official document that enables a person to travel from one country to another. It is used in all the countries of the world and has been in practice for many years.
Literally the word ‘passport’ means ‘permission to leave a port’ or to sail into it. Later the meaning was extended to include a general permission of exit and entry.
Though the passport permits us to leave our own country, yet it does not permit to live in another country. For this we need visa. Visa is a mark or stamp put on a passport by the authorities of a country to show that the bearer may travel in that country for a specified period of time. Only on the basis of the visa, we are permitted to stay in another country. Passport or visa is an essential document to go abroad. Passport is in the form of a small booklet. This booklet contains different types of information regarding the passport holder such as his name, address and other details. It also contains a photograph of the passport holder attested by a competent authority. The names of those countries are also mentioned in it for which the permission of going has been granted. In a foreign country a man is identified by his passport only and given protection on its basis.