African Union Passport

African Union passport
The front cover of an African Union diplomatic passport
The picture page of an African Union diplomatic passport
Date first issued July 17th, 2016
Issued by  African Union
Type of document Passport
Purpose Identification
Eligibility requirements Citizen of an African Union member state

The African Union Passport is a common passport document that is set to replace existing nationally-issued African Union member state passports and exempt bearers from having to obtain any visas for all 55 states in Africa.[1][2][3] It was launched on July 17th, 2016 at the 27th Ordinary Session of the African Union that was held in Kigali in Rwanda by Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Chadian President Idriss Déby.[4][5][6] As of June 2018, the passport was planned to be rolled out and ready for use at borders worldwide by 2020[7].

Types

There are three types of African Union passport that will be issued:

Ordinary passport
These passports are issued to citizens and are intended for occasional travel, such as vacations and business trips. They contain 32 pages, and are valid for 5 years.
Official/Service passport
These passports are issued to officials attached to government institutions who have to travel on official business.
Diplomatic passport
Issued to diplomats and consuls for work-related travel, and to their accompanying dependents.

Design

The passport has inscriptions in five languages English, French, Arabic, Portuguese and Swahili.[8] The African Union anthem's lyrics are printed on the page immediately after the picture page.

References

  1. ↑ CNN, Kieron Monks, for. "African Union launches all-Africa passport". CNN. Retrieved 2016-07-17.
  2. ↑ "President Kenyatta arrives in Kigali for AU summit". rwandaeye.com. Archived from the original on 2016-07-17. Retrieved 2016-07-17.
  3. ↑ "Africa: The Common Passport and Africa's Identity". Retrieved 2016-07-17.
  4. ↑ "AU Heads of State to launch African Union Passport during Kigali Summit". 2016-07-15. Archived from the original on 2016-07-17. Retrieved 2016-07-17.
  5. ↑ "Rwanda Ready to Issue African Common Passport | KT PRESS". ktpress.rw. Retrieved 2016-07-17.
  6. ↑ Ghana, News (2016-07-12). "Kenyans welcomes AU's passport System introduction". Retrieved 2016-07-17.
  7. ↑ "African Union passports to be rolled out by 2020 - THE AFRICAN COURIER". The African Courier.
  8. ↑ AfricaNews (2016-07-17). "[Photos] The African passport with 5 language inscriptions | Africanews". africanews.channel. Retrieved 2016-07-18.
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