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ECOWAS passport

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ECOWAS passport

The ECOWAS passport is a common passport document for some countries in West Africa.

Contents

Some (but not all) member states of ECOWAS — the Economic Community of West African States — have implemented the common design for the passport. It was created to facilitate the intra-regional travel of member states' citizens for periods of a maximum 90 days. The passport can be used within the sub-region and is also recognized for international travel.

Types

There are three types of ECOWAS passports:

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.

Overall format

  • Paper size B7 (ISO/IEC 7810 ID-3, 88 mm × 125 mm)
  • 32 pages (passports with more pages can be issued to frequent travelers)
  • Color of cover: green, blue and burgundy (depending on type of passport)

    • Cover

    The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) itself does not issue passports, but the passports issued by its 15 members share certain design features. These include the green colored cover for ordinary passports, blue colored cover for service passports, and burgundy colored cover for diplomatic passports, as well as common security features and biometrics.

    Additional common features include the inscription of the words ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS), French: COMMUNAUTE ECONOMIQUE DES ETATS DE L’AFRIQUE DE L’OUEST (CEDEAO), depending on the language of the issuing state. While the emblem of the ECOWAS community is emblazoned on the cover page of some passports, it is possible to notice some ECOWAS passports of certain countries with the respective state’s emblem on the cover instead. The name of the issuing country is usually the only distinguishing factor between passports issued by the various sovereign nations of the sub-region.

    Near the bottom of the passport cover, depending on the official language of the issuing state, the words PASSPORT, French: PASSEPORT are inscribed on ordinary passports, OFFICIAL PASSPORT or SERVICE PASSPORT, French: PASSEPORT DE SERVICE on service passports; and DIPLOMATIC PASSPORT, French: PASSEPORT DIPLOMATIQUE on diplomatic passports.

    Identification page

    The following information is printed on the identification page, in both English and French:

    References

    ECOWAS passport Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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