Passports are crucial documents. Without them you will have a lot lot of problems, incur additional cost, waste a lot of time and find it difficult or even impossible to travel.
Some tips for keeping your groups' passports safe when abroad are:
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ensure all group members understand they must value their passport and look after it carefully
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passports are not always safer left with students – it maybe safer for the Trip Leader to keep them in one place
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make sure all group members' passports are valid for for 6 months after the date you are due to return to the UK – check the entry requirements of the country you are visiting before you go as certain countries will not let you in if you do not fulfil this requirement!
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Collective passports are often a good option. Find out more from the GOV.uk website HERE. Please be aware that this process will take a long time so do plan well ahead
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make two photocopies of each of your group's passports – leave one set at school along with your emergency contacts list and take the second with you, or store it online using a secure data storage site
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where possible, use this photocopy as alternative ID, for example when going out at night
Great Passport Facts:
1. Around 450BC, King Artaxerxes of Persia gave the prophet Nehemiah a letter granting him safe passage to Judah. This is seen by many as the first ever passport.
2. British passports originated from the time of Henry V and the Safe Conducts Act of 1414.
3. Passports were written in Latin or English until 1772, then French, and English again from 1885.
4. Holders of British passports can travel to 173 countries visa-free or visa granted on arrival.
5. Having a Danish passport allows you visa-free travel to 169 countries
6. The Queen does not have (or need) a passport.
7. The Vatican City may have no formal borders or immigration controls but it issues passports and the Pope always has “Passport No 1”.
8. A new Nicaraguan passport has 89 separate security features, including ‘bidimensional barcodes’, holograms and watermarks.
9. Over 150,000 people bought Sealand passports on the internet. Sealand is a platform 'state' between France and England and is not officially recognised.
10. Producing a UK passport costs £12.25, relatively cheap compared to the world’s most expensive. A Turkish passport costs a whopping £215, and that is with the price reduced.
11. In 1937, Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond, bought a passport that had been issued to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Fleming kept it in a specially made silk-lined morocco case. It was sold in 1972 for £1,200.
12. Perhaps the rarest passports of all are the British Queen’s Messenger Passports carried by royal couriers. Only 15 of these are in use.
13. South Africa requires a passport to have an entire blank visa page in order for you to enter the country and reserve the right to refuse entry if you do not have one.
14. Pets owned by UK citizens do not require a passport to leave the UK, but do need one in order to re-enter. In order to gain a Pet Passport pets also need to be micro-chipped, with the rabies vaccine being given after the micro-chipping procedure is completed.
