Internal passport

For the Canadian segregationist policy, seePass system (Canadian history).For the documentary film, seeThe Pass System.

Aninternalordomestic passportis anidentity document.Uses for internal passports have included restricting citizens of a subdivided state to employment in their own area (preventing their migration to richer cities or regions), clearly recording the ethnicity of citizens to enforcesegregationor preventpassing,and controlling access to sensitive sites orclosed cities.

Whenpassportsfirst emerged, there was no clear distinction between internal and international ones. Later, some countries developed sophisticated systems of passports for various purposes and various groups of population.

Summary

Countries that currently have internal passports in the strict sense (to controlinternal migration) include:

• China(Hukou),
• Vietnam(Hộ khẩu),
• North Korea(hoju)

The following countries issue internal passports as main identity documents for travel and identification purposes (analogous toidentity cardsin other countries):

• Russian Federation(Russian internal passport)
• Turkmenistan(Turkmen internal passport, "raýatlyk pasporty ")

Internal passports are known to have been issued and used previously by:

• Russian Empireand its successor states,
• France,until 1862
• Confederate States of America
• United States(for African-Americans inslave statesprior to theCivil War)
• Soviet Union(seeSoviet Union internal passport),
• Ottoman Empire,
• Italy(passaporto per l'interno)
• Lithuania,between 1919 and 1940, not intended for traveling; but rather acting as personal identification documents entitling the user to Lithuanian citizenship.
• South Africa,duringapartheid
• South Korea( until 2008)
• Iraq(until 2016, replaced byNational Card)
• Nazi Germany(from 1938 until 1943)
• Sweden(until 1860)
• Ukraine(until 2020; new document occasionally called"passport card"but carries no restrictions on internal migration)

Terminology

In many countries, the word "passport" is only used in modern language to denote a document issued for the purpose of international travel, which is subject to discretionary permission. However, in some post-Soviet countries, the word "passport" is implied to merely mean a primary identification document, especially if has the form of a booklet. Nevertheless, it is also extended by analogy to other forms of identification documents. For example,Ukrainian identity cardsthat are replacing old-fashioned internal passport booklets are still called паспорт (pasport,"passport" ).

Types

Canada

Main article:Pass system (Canadian history)

In 1885 the "pass system"was introduced inCanada,to restrict and control the movement ofFirst Nationspeople within Canada. Instituted at the time of theNorth-West Rebellion,it remained in force for 60 years despite having no basis in law.Any First Nation person caught outside his Indian reserve without a pass issued by an Indian agent was returned to the reserve or incarcerated.

France

InFrance,in the past, one had to show an internal passport to changecity.Former convicts who had servedforced labour,even after having served their sentence, had ayellow passport,which made them outcasts. A famous holder of the yellow passport is the formerbagnardJean Valjeanthe hero of the novelLes MisérablesbyVictor Hugo.

Adécretissued 2 October 1795 (10Vendémiaireyear IV in theFrench Republican Calendar) required all persons traveling outside the limits of theircantonto possess either an internal passport (for voyages within France) or external passport (for travel outside France). In 1815 an internal passport cost 2francsand was delivered by the mayor of the commune to the residence of the passport requester.Internal passports were significantly easier to obtain than passports for foreign travel, which cost 10 francs in 1815. In the early 19th century, many emigrants obtained cheaper and easier-to-obtain internal passports to travel to the port of Le Havre, from which most ships to the United States departed.As control of the issuance of internal passports, which required a certificate of good behavior, was in the hands of the mayors of communes, there was some degree of favoritism in the issuance/denial of internal passports in the 18th century.

Internal passports were finally abolished in France in 1862.

Booklet and notebook of circulation of travellers

InFrance,the "livret de circulation" (booklet of circulation) and its variant the "carnet de circulation" (notebook of circulation) provided to those ofno fixed abodewere particularly constraining anddiscriminatoryobligations imposed onitinerants.

At the end of 2012, when examining apriority question of constitutionality,theConstitutional Councilended the notebook of circulation, considering that it harmed disproportionately thefreedom of movement.

South Africa

InSouth Africa,thepass laws(notably the Pass Laws Act 1952, which applied until 1986) were a component of theapartheidsystem. The laws regulated where, when and for how long persons could remain outside their "homeland" —which, for many people, was not their homeland, so thousands of indigenous peoplewere forced to change region.These laws also made it compulsory for all black South Africans over the age of 15 to carry apass bookat all times. However, the legislation also required that citizens of all races have on their person an ID book, which closely approximates a passport.

Soviet Union and its successors

Main articles:Passport system in the Soviet UnionandPropiska in the Soviet Union

Pages of internal passport, issued in 1910 inImperial Russia

The internal passport system of theRussian Empirewas abandoned after theOctober Revolutionin 1917, lifting most limitations upon internal movements of members of labouring classes in Soviet Russia.Labour bookletsbecame the principal means of personal identification.

In 1932, the "passport regime" was reintroduced, its declared purpose to improve the registration of population and "relieve" major industrial cities and other sensitive localities of "hiding kulaks and dangerous political elements" and those "not engaged in labor of social usefulness". The "passportization" process developed gradually involving factories, large, medium, and small cities, settlements, and rural areas, and finally became universal by the mid-1970s.

Internal passports were used in theSoviet Unionfor identification of persons for various purposes. In particular, passports were used to control and monitor the place of residence by means of thepropiska,a regulation designed to control the population's internal movement by binding a person to his or her permanent place of residence. For example, a validpropiskawas necessary to receive higher education or medical treatment, although these services were not limited to the location registered. Besides marriage to a resident of another area, university education was the most popular way of circumventing one'spropiskaand residing elsewhere. Also, since only a minority of dwellings were privately owned, having apropiskaat a certain address meant that one had the right to live there.

All residents were required bylawto record their address in the document and to report any relevant changes to a local office of theMinistry of Internal Affairs.For example, citizens needed to submit photographs of themselves for their passport, taken when they were issued the document at age 16, and again at ages 25 and 45.

Formally, passports were not necessary for traveling per se in late Soviet Union. Bus, train, and air tickets were sold without names, and identification documents were not necessary for boarding buses and trains (and only became necessary to board a plane in the mid-1970s) except when traveling to/from border-adjacent areas and controlled cities. Nevertheless, passports were necessary for temporary propiska in a number of situations such as checking in a hotel or renting a private dwelling (no marks were placed in the document).

Moreover, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Soviet internal passports, accompanied with a special leaflet, were valid for traveling to mostComeconcountries andYugoslaviaas a member of a touristic group. The leaflet functioned as an equivalent of exit visa stamped in international passports; destination countries did not require entry visas at that time.

The Russian Federation

Main article:Internal passport of Russia

In 1992, passports, or other photo identification documents, became necessary to board a train. Train tickets started to bear passenger names, allegedly as an effort to combat speculative reselling of the tickets.

The dissolution of the Soviet Union invoked the need to distinguish Russian citizens among the citizens of the former Soviet Union.

On 9 December 1992, special leaves were introduced which were affixed in Soviet passports, certifying that the bearer of the passport was a citizen of Russia. These leaves were optional unless travelling to the other former Soviet republics which continued to accept Soviet passports; for other occasions, other proofs of citizenship were accepted as well. Issuance of the leaves continued until the end of 2002.

On 8 July 1997, the current design of the Russian internal passport was introduced. Unlike the Soviet passports, which had three photo pages, the new passports have one. A passport is first issued at the age of 14 and then replaced upon at the ages of 20 and 45. The text in the passports is inRussian.Passports issued in autonomous entities may, on the bearer's request, contain an additional leaf duplicating all data in one of the official local languages.

A passport exchange was begun; the deadline was initially set at end of 2001 but then prolonged several times and finally set at 30 June 2004. The government had first regulated that having failed to exchange one's passport would constitute a punishable violation. However, the Supreme Court ruled to the effect that citizens cannot be obliged to exchange their passports. The Soviet passports ceased to be valid as means of personal identification since mid-2004, but it is still legal (though barely practicable) to have one.

Thepropiskawas formally abandoned soon after adoption of the currentConstitutionin 1993, and replaced with "residency registration" which, in principle, was simply notification of one's place of residence.

Nevertheless, under the new regulations, permanent registration records are stamped in citizens' internal passports just as werepropiskas. That has led to the widespread misconception that registration was just a new name for thepropiska;many continue to call it a "propiska".The misconception is partly reinforced by the fact that the existing rules for registration make it an onerous process, dependent on the consent of landlords, which effectively prevents tenants of flats from registering.

Unlike with thepropiska,it is not an offense not to have registration unless one resides in a particular dwelling for more than 90 days. From a practical point of view, the long deadline makes it difficult to prove avoidance of residency registration and so to prosecute.De factocitizens have no restriction on where they reside (with the exception ofclosed citiesor near borders). Still, many civil rights are dependent on registration, such as the right to vote.

In November 2010, theFederal Migration Serviceannounced the possible cancellation of internal passports, which, if it were implemented, would be replaced by plastic ID cards ordrivers' licenses.In 2013, a plastic ID card,Universal electronic cardwas introduced, and any citizen had the right to reject it and retain an old-style internal passport. This card system was abandoned in January 2017.

Belarus

Main article:Belarusian passport

In Belarus, internal passports and passports for travelling abroad were merged into one kind of document in 1991. Passports are the primary means of identification for citizens of Belarus both in homeland and abroad. Belarusian citizens must have a passport after they have reached the age of 14; passports can also be issued to younger children for travelling abroad. Passports are valid for 10 years regardless of age.

Apart from visa pages, a considerable number of pages in Belarusian passports are designated for "internal" records, such as place of residence and marriage. Citizens had to obtain special stamp enabling the passport bearer to cross the border of theUnion Statebefore 2005 when the Constitutional Court ruled the practice not conforming to the Constitution.

Combination of primary identification document with international passport causes significant inconvenience to bearers who cannot certify their identity while their passports are processed for visas in embassies and consulates. A passport can also be easily invalidated by a careless foreign passport control official by placing a stamp in a reserved page.

China and neighbors

The internal passport system in China and some neighbors evolved from an ancienthujisystem offamily register.The system has evolved to manage internal movement, distribution of welfare, and other rights.

People's Republic of China

Main pages:Hukou system,Custody and repatriation,andTemplate:China and China-related Identity and Travel Documents

ThePeople's Republic of China(PRC) maintains a system of residency registration inmainland Chinaknown ashukou,by which government permission is needed to formally change one's place of residence. It is enforced withidentity cards.This system effectively controlled internal migration before the 1980s, but subsequent market reforms caused it to collapse as a means of migration control. An estimated 150 to 200 million people are part of the "blind flow"and have unofficially migrated, generally from poor, rural areas to wealthy, urban ones. However, unofficial residents are often denied official services such as education and medical care and are sometimes subject to both social and politicaldiscrimination.

Korea

Main article:hoju

Vietnam

Main article:hộ khẩu

Germany

TheKennkartewas the basic identity document in use inside Germany (including occupied incorporated territories) during theThird Reichera. They were first introduced in July 1938. Due to legal arguments, the first cards were not issued until June 1941. They were normally obtained through a police precinct and bore the stamps of the corresponding issuing office and official. Every male German citizen aged 18 and older, and every Jewish citizen (both male and female) was issued one and was expected to produce it when confronted by officials. German authorities continued to issue them until 1943.

Sweden

Internal passports were abolished in Sweden in 1860.

United States of America

Throughout theThirteen Coloniesbefore theRevolutionary War,slavesconfined to homes oragricultural plantations,or whose movements were limited by curfews, could be required to furnish written evidence their owner had granted an exemption to permit their free movement. For example theNew Hampshire Assemblyin 1714 passed "An Act To Prevent Disorders In The Night":

Whereas great disorders, insolencies and burglaries are oft times raised and committed in the night time by Indian, Negro, and Molatto Servants and Slaves to the Disquiet and hurt of her Majesty, No Indian, Negro, or Molatto is to be from Home after 9 o'clock.

Notices emphasizing the curfew were published inThe New Hampshire Gazettein 1764 and 1771.

Internal passports were required for African Americans in the southernslave statesbefore the American Civil War, for example, an authenticated internal passport dated 1815 was presented to Massachusetts citizen George Barker to allow him to freely travel as a free black man to visit relatives in slave states.After many of these states seceded, forming theConfederate States of America,the central Confederate government not only systematized this systembut required internal passports for whites as well.

Such an internalized passport in the U.S. today would be unconstitutional under thePrivileges and Immunities Clause.

See also

• 101st kilometre
• Closed city
• Hukou system
• International passport
• Propiska
• Wolf ticket (Russia)
• Real ID Act
• Internally displaced person
• Internal colonialism
• Internal migration
• Statute of Cambridge 1388
• Subnational citizenship

References

Sources

• Report on Ukraine's Constitutional Court striking down internal passport laws, from Ukrainian Weeklyat theWayback Machine(archived September 27, 2004)
• Tim Lott writing on British “internal passports”
• About CAPPS IIat theWayback Machine(archived October 5, 2003)