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UNMIK Travel Document | |
---|---|
Type | Travel document |
Issued by | UNMIK |
First issued | 2000 |
Purpose | Travel abroad |
Valid in | 40 countries |
Eligibility | Kosovo residency |
Expiration | 2 years after acquisition for adults |
An UNMIK Travel Document was a passport-sized travel document issued to residents of Kosovo, who were not able to obtain a passport from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, for the purpose of foreign travel. [1] The document was issued by the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) from 2000 [1] to 2008. [2]
The UNMIK Travel Document was introduced in 2000. After the government of Kosovo started to issue their own passports, UNMIK ceased issuing them. Existing documents retained their validity until expiry with the last ones expiring in 2010.
The document was the only other travel document issued by the United Nations besides the United Nations laissez-passer, which is mainly issued to employees of the UN and its specialised agencies.
The travel document was not a passport as it did not contain information on nationality and as it was not issued by a sovereign state. The document carried UNMIK travel document/titre de voyage on the cover, contained 32 pages and was valid for two years. The document contained a machine readable strip. As the issuing authority was the UNMIK, the document had the official [3] three-letter code "UNK" where normally the country code is placed.
As the status of Kosovo was and remains controversial, the document was not widely accepted. [4] For those countries that did accept it, its non-passport status sometimes restricted its applications. For example, although the United States did accept the UNMIK Travel Document, it did not place visa stickers in the document itself, but on a detached sheet. [5]
In 2004, the UNMIK travel document was accepted by: Albania, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, the Republic of Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Malaysia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Uzbekistan. [6]
A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that certifies a person's identity and nationality for international travel. A passport allows its bearer to enter and temporarily reside in a foreign country, access local aid and protection, and obtain consular assistance from their government. In addition to facilitating travel, passports are a key mechanism for border security and regulating migration; they may also serve as official identification for various domestic purposes.
A visa is a conditional authorization granted by a polity to a foreigner that allows them to enter, remain within, or leave its territory. Visas typically include limits on the duration of the foreigner's stay, areas within the country they may enter, the dates they may enter, the number of permitted visits, or if the individual can work in the country in question. Visas are associated with the request for permission to enter a territory and thus are, in most countries, distinct from actual formal permission for an alien to enter and remain in the country. In each instance, a visa is subject to entry permission by an immigration official at the time of actual entry and can be revoked at any time. Visa evidence most commonly takes the form of a sticker endorsed in the applicant's passport or other travel document but may also exist electronically. Some countries no longer issue physical visa evidence, instead recording details only in immigration databases.
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The Schengen Area is an area encompassing 29 European countries that have officially abolished border controls at their mutual borders. Being an element within the wider area of freedom, security and justice policy of the European Union (EU), it mostly functions as a single jurisdiction under a common visa policy for international travel purposes. The area is named after the 1985 Schengen Agreement and the 1990 Schengen Convention, both signed in Schengen, Luxembourg.
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