Soviet passport

The passport system of the Soviet Union underwent a number of transformations in the course of its history. In the late Soviet Union citizens of age sixteen or older had to have an internal passport. In addition, a passport for travel abroad ({{lang|ru|заграничный паспорт, загранпаспорт}}, {{lang|ru-Latn|zagranpasport}}, often confusingly translated as "foreign passport") was required for travel abroad. There were several types of abroad passport: an ordinary one, known simply as "USSR zagranpasport", a civil service passport ({{lang|ru|служебный паспорт}}, {{lang|ru-Latn|sluzhebny pasport}}), a diplomatic passport, and a sailor's passport.

Internal passports were serviced by "passport offices" ({{lang|ru|паспортный стол}}, {{lang|ru-Latn|pasportny stol}}) of local offices of the MVDs of Soviet republics. Abroad passports were handled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the corresponding Soviet republic.

Internal passports were used in the Soviet Union for identification of persons for various purposes. In particular, passports were used to control and monitor the place of residence by means of propiska. Officially, propiska was introduced for statistical reasons: since in the planned economy of the Soviet Union the distribution of goods and services was centralized, the overall distribution of population was to be monitored. For example, a valid propiska was necessary to receive higher education or be employed.

The passports recorded the following information: surname, first name and patronymic, date and place of birth and ethnicity,In Russian, word {{lang|ru|национальность}}, {{lang|ru-Latn|natsional'nost'}} means ethnicity. This is not equivalent to the interpretation of "nationality" as "citizenship" as it is sometimes rendered in English and other languages. In Russian there is a separate word for "citizenship": {{lang|ru|граҗданство}}, {{lang|ru-Latn|grazhdanstvo}}. family status, propiska, and record of military service. Sometimes the passport also had special notes, for example blood group. As mentioned, the internal passports identified every bearer by ethnicity ({{lang|ru|национальность}}, {{lang|ru-Latn|natsional'nost'}}), e.g., Russian, Ukrainian, Uzbek, Estonian, Jew, etc. When an individual applied for a passport at age 16, they had to select the ethnicity of one of their parents.According to the ethnic demographer V. I. Kozlov, the existence of this so-called "passport nationality," which was largely determined by birth, may have tended to fix the subjective national or ethnic identities of Soviet citizens: V. I. Kozlov, in {{lang|ru|Динамика численности народов}} (Dynamics in the Number of Peoples) (Moscow: Nauka, 1969). However, there is a lot of evidence of shifting of subjective nationality, for example as it was reflected in the Soviet censuses, despite the existence of a passport nationality. See, for example, B. A. Anderson and B. D. Silver, "Estimating Russification of Ethnic Identity Among Non-Russians in the USSR," Demography 20 (November 1983): 461–489. All residents were required by law to record their address on the document, and to report any changes to a local office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. For example, by the age of forty-five, a person had to have three photographs of themselves in the passport – to account for the effects of aging – taken at the age of sixteen (when it was issued), twenty-five and forty-five. At different stages of development of the Soviet passport system, they could also contain information on place of work, social status (marriage, children), and other supporting information needed for those agencies and organizations to which the Soviet citizens used to appeal.

The internal passports were written in the Russian language and the language of the republic where it was issued. Passports for travel abroad were written Russian and French. Starting 1991, French was replaced by English.

File:USSR passport 1974.jpg|Cover page of a 1974 Soviet Union passport

File:USSR external passport 1929.jpg|USSR passport for travel abroad, year 1929

File:Паспорт СССР.jpg|Passport USSR, year 1974 – 1991

File:Разворот советского загранпаспорта, 1976.jpg|USSR passport for travel abroad, bio page 1976

File:1990 USSR Passport.png|USSR passport for travel abroad, year 1990

File:Soviet Service Passport Cover.jpg|USSR service passport issued in 1984

File:1991 USSR Passport.png

Each passport has a data page and a signature page. A data page has a visual zone and no machine-readable zone. The visual zone has a photograph of the passport holder, data about the passport, and data about the passport owner under the writing "СОЮЗ СОВЕТСКИХ СОЦИАЛИСТИЧЕСКИХ РЕСПУБЛИК" (UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS):

• Photograph
• Type of document ("P" for "passport")
• Code of the issuing country (always 'SUN')
• Passport number
• Surname in Latin
• Given name(s) in Latin
• Nationality (usually 'СССР / URSS')
• Date of birth (DD.MM.YYYY format)
• Place of birth
• Sex
• Date of issue
• Date of expiration
• Authority

The page next to the data page - the signature page, contains under the emblem of the USSR, the writing "UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS", and contains:

• Last name in Russian
• First name in Russian
• Patronymic in Russian
• Signature of the holder

Notes on the last page of the passport:

{{Blockquote|Гражданин СССР, прибывший за границу на постоянное жительство, обязан встать на учет в консульском учреждении СССР и сняться с учета при смене места жительства.}}

translation: A citizen of the USSR who has arrived abroad for permanent residence is required to register with the consular office of the USSR and deregister when changing his place of residence.

{{Blockquote|{{lang|ru|Паспорт этот является собственностью Союза Советских Социалистических Республик.}}
This passport is the property of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.}}

Soviet passports were eventually replaced by the following national passports in post-Soviet states between 1992 and 2005. Below are the replacement passports with year of first issue.

File:Russian passport.jpg|1997: {{flagicon|Russia}} Russian passport (including Internal passport of Russia){{cite web |title=Russia: The propiska (registration) system and internal passports |url=https://webarchive.archive.unhcr.org/20230601001859/https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6ad8a3.html}}{{cite web |title=Background Note on the Replacement of USSR passports in the Russian Federation |url=https://www.refworld.org/reference/countryrep/unhcr/2003/en/30467}}

File:Паспорт Армения.jpg| 1994: {{flagicon|Armenia}} Armenian passport{{cite web|url=https://armenpress.am/rus/news/542204/grazhdane-armenii-imeyushchie-pasporta-sovetskogo-obrazca.html|title=ГРАЖДАНЕ АРМЕНИИ, ИМЕЮЩИЕ ПАСПОРТА СОВЕТСКОГО ОБРАЗЦА, МОГУТ ПОЛУЧИТЬ НОВЫЕ ПАСПОРТА РЕСПУБЛИКИ АРМЕНИЯ ДО 25 НОЯБРЯ|lang=ru|website=armenpress.am|date=2005-10-25|accessdate=2021-04-29|archive-date=2021-04-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429003407/https://armenpress.am/rus/news/542204/grazhdane-armenii-imeyushchie-pasporta-sovetskogo-obrazca.html}}

Azerbaijanian passport cover.jpg|1998: {{flagicon|Azerbaijan}} Azerbaijani passport

File:Пашпарт. Рэспубліка Беларусь. 2001.jpg| 1996: {{flagicon|Belarus}} Belarusian passport{{Cite web|url=https://www.belta.by/incident/view/kak-poluchit-biometricheskie-dokumenty-v-belarusi-rasskazali-v-mvd-618159-2024/|title=Как получить биометрические документы в Беларуси, рассказали в МВД|lang=ru-RU|website=www.belta.by|date=2024-02-27|access-date=2024-03-12|archive-date=2024-03-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240312184556/https://www.belta.by/incident/view/kak-poluchit-biometricheskie-dokumenty-v-belarusi-rasskazali-v-mvd-618159-2024/|url-status=live}}

File:No-image-available-4X3.png| 1996: {{flagicon|Estonia}} Estonian passport{{cite web |title=Council of the European Union - PRADO - EST-AO-01001 |url=https://www.consilium.europa.eu/prado/en/EST-AO-01001/index.html}}

File:No-image-available-4X3.png|1994: {{flagicon|Georgia}} Georgian passport{{cite web |title=100 years of history of Georgian passports showed in new Arch of 26 May |url=https://agenda.ge/en/news/2018/1094#gsc.tab=0}}

File:KAZ passport.jpg| 1995: {{flagicon|Kazakhstan}} Kazakhstani passport{{cite web |title=Kazakhstan: Information on Kazakh passports; on when they were first issued, their colour, length of validity and whether the bearer's nationality is shown in the passport |url=https://webarchive.archive.unhcr.org/20230529053133/https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6aad388.html}}

File:Passport Kyrgyz Republic.png|1994: {{flagicon|Kyrgyzstan}} Kyrgyzstani passport{{cite web |title=Kyrgyzstan: Passports and ID documents |url=https://www.landinfo.no/asset/2357/1/2357_1.pdf}}

File:No-image-available-4X3.png|1992: {{flagicon|Latvia}} Latvian passport{{cite web |title=Council of the European Union - PRADO - LVA-AO-01001 |url=https://www.consilium.europa.eu/prado/en/LVA-AO-01001/index.html}}

File:Lt pasport1994.jpg|1992: {{flagicon|Lithuania}} Lithuanian passport{{cite web |title=Council of the European Union - PRADO - LTU-AO-01001 |url=https://www.consilium.europa.eu/prado/en/LTU-AO-01001/index.html}}

File:MD Pass Kscan 0003.jpeg|1995: {{flagicon|Moldova}} Moldovan passport{{Cite web |url=http://www.registru.md/news_2011/164207/ |title=Centrul Resurselor Informaţionale de Stat «Registru» |accessdate=2011-04-16 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714114643/http://registru.md/news_2011/164207/ |archivedate=2014-07-14}}

File:2005, Tajikistan Passport.jpg|1998: {{flagicon|Tajikistan}} Tajik passport{{cite web |title=Modernizing Tajikistan's Travel Documents and ID management Past, Present and Future - ICAO |url=https://www.icao.int/meetings/mrtd-tashkent-2014/documents/session3_3-manuchehr.pdf}}

File:No-image-available-4X3.png|1996: {{flagicon|Turkmenistan}} Turkmen passport{{cite web|url=https://base.spinform.ru/show_doc.fwx?rgn=21785|title=ПОСТАНОВЛЕНИЕ ПРЕЗИДЕНТА ТУРКМЕНИСТАНА от 25 октября 1996 года №2843|publisher=Законодательство стран СНГ|language=ru|accessdate=2023-06-19}}

File:Uzbek passport cover.jpg|1995: {{flagicon|Uzbekistan}} Uzbek passport{{cite web |title=Указ Президента Республики Узбекистан О ВВЕДЕНИИ В ДЕЙСТВИЕ «ПОЛОЖЕНИЯ О ПАСПОРТНОЙ СИСТЕМЕ В РЕСПУБЛИКЕ УЗБЕКИСТАН» 23.12.1994 |url=https://lex.uz/ru/docs/237406?ONDATE=23.12.1994%2000}}

Ukrainian internal passport.jpg|1994: {{flagicon|Ukraine}} Ukrainian passport (including internal passport of Ukraine){{cite web |title=УКАЗ ПРЕЗИДЕНТА УКРАЇНИ Про паспорт громадянина України для виїзду за кордон 28.10.1993 |url=https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/491/93#Text}}

File:Abkhazian passport.jpg|2006: {{flagicon|Abkhazia}} Abkhazian passport{{cite news|url=http://www.newcaucasus.com/index.php?newsid=51|script-title=ru:Паспортизация Абхазии – караван идет медленно|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208135745/http://www.newcaucasus.com/index.php?newsid=51|archive-date=8 December 2015|last=Melkosian|first=Ardavadz|date=28 October 2007|publisher=New Caucasus|language=ru|access-date=22 November 2009}}

File:Karabakh passport.jpg|2006-2024: {{flagicon|Artsakh}} Artsakh passport

File:South Ossetian passport cover.jpg|2006: {{flagicon|South Ossetia}} South Ossetian passport{{Cite web |url=http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=13314 |title=Tskhinvali Begins Issuing South Ossetian Passports, civil.ge 15.08.2006. |access-date=2010-08-05 |archive-date=2016-09-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160913121129/http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=13314 |url-status=live }}

File:Passport of Transnistria.jpg|2001: {{flagicon|Transnistria}} Transnistrian passport{{Cite web |title=Исполнилось 80 лет паспортной системе | Новости Приднестровья | Официальное информагентство Приднестровской Молдавской Республики |url=http://novostipmr.com/ru/news/12-12-27/ispolnilos-80-let-pasportnoy-sisteme |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20130208143252/http://novostipmr.com/ru/news/12-12-27/ispolnilos-80-let-pasportnoy-sisteme |archivedate=2013-02-08 |accessdate=2013-01-03}}

• Passport system in the Soviet Union
• Eastern Bloc emigration and defection
• 101st kilometre
• Propiska

{{reflist}}

• [http://magazines.russ.ru/novyi_mi/1996/6/popov.html V.Popov, Passport System of Soviet Serfage, "New World" ({{lang|ru|журнал «Новый Мир»}}), Issue 6, 1996] {{in lang|ru}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080515221911/http://www.fmsrf.ru/5.asp Federal Migration Service of the Russian Federation -- "Historical Information" covers several centuries about passport-policy in Russia and Soviet Union -- in Russian]

{{Passports}}

Category:Soviet internal politics

Category:Foreign relations of the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

Category:Identity documents of the Soviet Union