The
Kosovan passport (
Albanian:
Pasaportë;
Serbian:
Пасош or Pasoš) is a travel document that is issued to the citizens of the
disputed Republic of Kosovo[a]. The document facilitates international travel as well as serving as proof of citizenship. The issuance of
passports is solely the prerogative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, with the exception of diplomatic passports which are issued by the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Kosovan passports comply with all the recommended standards set for
machine-readable passports by the
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) (such as size, technology, security, layout, etc.),
[citation needed] but the country/citizenship code RKS is not within
ISO 3166 and thus not ICAO-endorsed. The passport design was disclosed on 14 March 2008.
[1] The first passports were issued on 30 July 2008 and as of 20 May 2009, 300,000 passports have been issued to the citizens of Kosovo.
[2][3] The
Kosovan Government has announced that biometric passports, compliant with international standards, will be issued in 2010.
[4]
The new design of the passport is a dark blue colour, with the
coat of arms of the
Republic of Kosovo in the middle of the cover page.
[5] The word "Passport" is written on the cover of the passport in
Albanian,
Serbian and
English. All relevant identity information about the bearer is printed in these languages as well.
[3] For citizens that are 18 or older, the passport is valid for 10 years from the date of issuance.
Before the introduction of the new national passports,
travel documents were issued by the
United Nations administration[6] with a maximum validity of 2 years. Those travel documents, though no longer issued, remain valid until their expiration date.