A Turkmen passport (Turkmen: Türkmenistanyň raýatynyň biometriki maglumatly pasporty) is issued to the citizens of Turkmenistan for the purposes of international travel, and entitles the bearer to the protection of Turkmenistan's consular officials overseas. It is issued by the State Migration Service of Turkmenistan.
| Turkmen passport Türkmenistanyň raýatynyň biometriki maglumatly pasporty [1] | |
|---|---|
 The front cover of a contemporary Turkmen biometric passport. | |
| Type | Passport |
| Issued by |  Turkmenistan |
| First issued | July 2008 |
| Purpose | Identification & International Travel |
| Eligibility | Turkmen citizenship |
| Expiration | 5 years after issuance [2] |
| Cost | 60 Turkmen manat None (children under 16, veterans, disabled people[3] |
History
editFollowing the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the establishment of independent Turkmenistan, blank passports of citizens of the USSR of the 1974 model and foreign passports of citizens of the USSR were used in Turkmenistan, in which the stamp “Citizen of Turkmenistan” was placed. The unified national passport system was introduced in Turkmenistan on October 25, 1996 by the Decree of the President "On Approval of the Regulations on the Passport System in Turkmenistan".[4] According to the approved regulations, the exchange and issuance of national passports of a citizen of Turkmenistan was to be carried out in the period from October 25, 1996 to December 31, 2001.
The passports of the 1996 model were printed and issued with errors and technical shortcomings, which made it difficult for citizens of Turkmenistan to pass through passport control abroad. The passports incorrectly indicated the code of Turkmenistan according to the international standard ISO 3166 (TM instead of TKM), the date of expiration of the passport was not visually seen in the passports (it was indicated only in coded form), the photo of the owner was not pasted, but printed on an inkjet printer, looked blurry, poor contrast and hard to read.
President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow signed the Decree "On the introduction of a new passport of a citizen of Turkmenistan for exit and entry into Turkmenistan" on October 24, 2005.[5] Samples of new passports were approved at the meeting of the Security Council of Turkmenistan on December 24, 2007. Since July 2008, biometric passports have been introduced, making Turkmenistan the first country in the ex-USSR mid-Asia region to issue an ICAO compliant biometric passport.[6][7] Concurrently, the separation of two different identity documents was introduced, with the new passports being used only for international travel while internal passport (Turkmen: içerki pasport) officially citizenship passport (Turkmen: raýatlyk pasporty) are used for identification purposes inside Turkmenistan. The new passports also included expiry date. The existing passports were valid for internal use and foreign travel until July 10, 2013.[8] In April 2013 new version of the biometric passport was approved, with more protection, increased volume of electronic chips, and high-quality manufacturing.[9] Previously issued passports are still valid until expiration.[10]
Appearance
editTurkmen passports are dark green in color, with the inscription "Turkmenistan" (Turkmen: Türkmenistan) and "Passport" (Turkmen: Pasport) in Turkmen and English on the cover. The Coat of arms of Turkmenistan is embossed in the center of the cover. The passport is produced in Turkmen and English languages.
Visa requirements
edit
In 2022, Turkmen citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 58 countries and territories, ranking the Turkmen passport 74th in the world according to The Passport Index.[11]
Issues
editTurkmenistan is one of the few countries that does not renew expired passports at their foreign diplomatic missions. Instead, the embassies and the consulates of Turkmenistan put a stamp on the last pages of the expired passports claiming that the passport has been "extended".[12] After a total lockdown [13] after the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic, many Turkmen nationals abroad have been trapped in a limbo with expired passports and a stamp that claims to "extend" the validity of the passport alongside a QR code that, when scanned (with an Android device), opens a Google search query which includes passport details in text format. As of middle 2022, it remains unclear if the stamp and a QR code are regarded as legitimate abroad.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Türkmenistanyň Döwlet Migrasiýa Gullugy".
- ^ Часто задаваемые вопросы
- ^ "Türkmenistanyň Döwlet Migrasiýa Gullugy".
- ^ "ПОСТАНОВЛЕНИЕ ПРЕЗИДЕНТА ТУРКМЕНИСТАНА от 25 октября 1996 года №2843" (in Russian). Законодательство стран СНГ. Retrieved 2023-06-19.
- ^ "ПОСТАНОВЛЕНИЕ ПРЕЗИДЕНТА ТУРКМЕНИСТАНА от 24 октября 2005 года №7593" (in Russian). Законодательство стран СНГ. Retrieved 2023-06-19.
- ^ "Новые образцы паспортов утверждены на заседании Совбеза Туркменистана". Archived from the original on 2014-05-01. Retrieved 2013-03-01.
- ^ "Гурбангулы Бердымухамедов получил диппаспорт нового образца". Archived from the original on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2013-03-01.
- ^ "Finally: Turkmen Passports Have Expiry Dates". RadioFreeEurope. 2008-07-17. Retrieved 2023-06-19.
- ^ approves new samples and descriptions of the biometric passport of Turkmenistan Archived 2014-01-07 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Chronicle
- ^ "Global Passport Power Rank 2022 | Passport Index 2022". Passport Index - Global Mobility Intelligence. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ Turkmenportal (July 28, 2021). "Turkmenistan approved a new procedure for extending the validity of a foreign passport | Society". Turkmenistan, an Internet portal on cultural, business and entertainment life in Turkmenistan. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
- ^ "When will we be free to travel?". Progres.Online. 2022-05-11. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
External links
edit- Biometric passport information at the State Migration Service of Turkmenistan web-site
