Bhutanese passport
| Bhutanese passport | |
|---|---|
The front cover of an ordinary (blue) Bhutanese passport | |
| Type | Passport |
| Issued by | Bhutan |
| First issued | app. 2006[1] (current version) |
| Purpose | Identification |
| Eligibility | Bhutanese citizenship |
| Expiration | Ten years |
A Bhutanese passport is a document which authorizes and facilitates travel and other activities in Bhutan or by Bhutanese citizens. Foreign travel passports are issued to citizens of Bhutan for international travel by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is valid for all countries unless otherwise endorsed.[2]
History
In the Kingdom of Bumthang, which constitutes a part of modern-day Bhutan, feudal passbooks or dzeng (Dzongkha: ཛེང) were issued to court messengers in order to travel from kingdom to kingdom.[2] Diplomacy and mediating were crucially important measures in pre-modern Bhutan chiefdoms.[3]
Foreign travel passports are issued to citizens of Bhutan for international travel. New Bhutanese passports are issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In 1988, Bhutanese passport holders abroad were ordered to surrender their passports upon their return to Bhutan.[4]
The current version of the Bhutanese passports were first issued around 2006.
Languages
The passport contains text in English and Dzongkha.[5]
Types of passport
| Type of passport | Color | Image |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary passport (Dzongkha: ་དགེ་འདུན་, romanized: Shinthron) | Blue | |
| Official passport (Dzongkha: དབྱངས།་, romanized: Pawchang) | Green | |
| Diplomatic passport (Dzongkha: ཞག་དང་རྣ, romanized: Denzhen) | Red |
Visa requirements
As of 2024, Bhutanese citizens have visa-free or visa on arrival access to 52 countries and territories, ranking the Bhutanese passport 92nd in the world according to the Henley Passport Index, together with Chad and Comoros.
In popular culture
In 2013, a Wikipedia user claiming to be Bhutanese and a native speaker of Dzongkha added a spoken article audio file to the Bhutanese passport article on the English Wikipedia.[6] It was considered humorous by internet commentators, spawning an internet meme. The audio file was deleted in 2015 following debate on the article's talk page.[7][8]
See also
- List of passports
- Visa policy of Bhutan
- Visa requirements for Bhutanese citizens
- Bhutanese Citizenship Act 1985
References
- ^ "Council of the European Union – PRADO – BTN-AO-01001". www.consilium.europa.eu. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
- ^ a b http://www.nab.gov.bt/downloads/82NA%20resolution.doc
- ^ ༄༅།༅།ཆ༅ས༌ས༅ད་བར༅་གསར༌ར༅༅ང་ག༅༌ར༅མ༌གཞག༌ས༅༅ང༌ར༅༅འ༅་བ༅མ་པ། (PDF) (in Dzongkha). ISBN 978-99936-15-07-1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
- ^ "Circular MFA/PD/14.19". Kuensel. 15 January 1988.
- ^ James Minahan (1 December 2009). The complete guide to national symbols and emblems. Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-34498-5.
- ^ Newman, Tim (20 March 2015). "Wikipedia's "Bhutaenese [sic] Passport" Audio Article Is The Funniest Thing You'll Hear All Week". Lazer Horse. Archived from the original on 13 March 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
- ^ "When 'Bhutanese passport' was deleted from Wiki after being subjected to trolls". The News Minute. 30 March 2015. Archived from the original on 13 March 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
- ^ Lileks, James (27 March 2015). "The trouble with "Bhutanese Passport."". Star Tribune. Archived from the original on 13 March 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2024.