History of Passport and VISA (International)

(source: www.info.viselio.com)

History of Passport and VISA:

During ancient times, passports and visas were practically the same things. You only needed one travel document and you could acquire it only if you were an emperor of some sort. Regular folk didn’t have this advantage. But there were naturally some exceptions.

First known reference to a travel document is found in the Hebrew Bible. Nehemiah, who was serving Persian King Artaxerxes I, wanted to travel to Judea. So, he asked the king to give him a permit. The king agreed to this and gave Nehemiah a letter which requested on King’s behalf that Nehemiah has safe passage across the river Euphrates, that is ‘the province beyond the river’.

During the medieval times of Islamic Caliphate, receipt for paid taxes served as a passport. With this document, called bara’a, citizens of Caliphate could travel all across the land.

It wasn’t until the reign of King Henry V of England that passports received their true form. Henry V is also usually mentioned as the creator of the first passport. What is more certain is the first mention of a passport, which is found in an Act of Parliament published in 1414.

King Louis XIV of France, the famous Sun King, liked to present his favourite people with a personally signed travel document, called “passe port”. This literally means “to pass through a port”. Back then, most of the travelling was done by ships, hence this name. Other sources mention that “portes” in French means city gates. Scholars are not sure which of these words actually inspired the passport’s name, but anyway travelling through ports or gates required a passport.

Due to trains’ popularity during the 19th century and a large number of travelers, European passport and visa system experienced a collapse. After the World War I, they became a requirement again since there were raised worries about the security. Conference on the topic of passports, held by the League of Nations in Paris in 1920, finally set some guidelines and rules about this travel document. Although it wasn’t until the ‘80 that the passport standardization was finally achieved.