Diplomatic passport
The passport only a few ever carry.
A diplomatic passport is more than a travel document. It shows that a state has entrusted you with a special task. And it makes your official role visible wherever you appear in that capacity.
What the passport is
There are passports. And then there is this one.
Most people hold a passport so they can cross borders.
A diplomatic passport carries a further meaning.
It records that you represent a state.
It is an official document for people to whom a state has entrusted a diplomatic or comparable role.
States generally distinguish between ordinary passports, service passports for officials and diplomatic passports for people who represent them in a diplomatic or comparable capacity.
The diplomatic passport names its holder and the issuing state. That state alone decides how long it is valid.
For many people, a document like this remains something they only ever know from the news, from state visits or from the world of international diplomacy.
For others, it becomes part of their own story.
Not through a mere wish to own a special passport, but because a state needs their abilities, relationships or experience for a special task.
Who issues it
When a state places its trust in you
A diplomatic passport carries the weight of the state that issues it.
It is granted by a state, usually through its foreign ministry. And behind every issue lies a decision. This person is to take on a special role for us.
That is exactly where its significance lies.
The state decides whom it makes its representative.
It determines which roles come with a diplomatic passport and on what conditions it is issued.
That is why the route to a diplomatic passport begins with the right appointment.
A role as special envoy, ambassador-at-large, attaché, honorary consul or government adviser can open the way to this document, depending on the rules of the state concerned.
The appointment is the route. The diplomatic passport is the visible outcome of this special decision by a state.
Benefits
Benefits of the diplomatic passport
Others apply for a visa. You show your diplomatic passport.
Many states let diplomats enter without a visa, even when other citizens of the same country need one.
The queue is long. You walk straight past it.
You head for the diplomatic lane or Fast-Lane.
Your suitcase stays shut.
Your personal baggage is protected from search.
The world becomes your duty-free shop.
Personal belongings, purchases for your family, even the furnishings for your home: you bring them in free of customs duties and taxes.
You enjoy diplomatic immunity.
Your status gives you immunity from the criminal jurisdiction of your host country and wide-ranging protection from its civil and administrative jurisdiction.
Your diplomatic status brings tax privileges.
Your host country exempts you from most taxes and duties.
How long it is valid
An appointment that shapes your story
The diplomatic passport belongs to your official role.
The issuing state decides how long you may hold it. Its validity is usually tied to the term of your appointment.
If your appointment is extended, the state generally renews the passport too.
That shows the true nature of this document: a diplomatic passport expresses an ongoing relationship of trust between you and a state.
It is a status that stays bound up with a real task.
The appointment is the route. The diplomatic passport is the result.
Talk to Daniel Taborek about which appointment will lead you to your diplomatic passport.