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The Soviet passport was an identity document issued pursuant to the laws of the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
(USSR) for citizens of the USSR. For the general purposes of identity certification, Soviet passports contained such data as name, date of birth, gender, place of birth,
ethnicity An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
, and citizenship, as well as a photo of the passport holder. 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.


History

The passport system of the Soviet Union underwent a number of transformations in the course of its history. In the late
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
citizens of age sixteen or older had to have an
internal passport An internal passport or a domestic passport is an identity document. Uses for internal passports have included restricting citizens of a subdivided state to employment in their own area (preventing their migration to richer cities or regions), cle ...
. In addition, a
passport for travel abroad A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that contains a person's identity. A person with a passport can travel to and from foreign countries more easily and access consular assistance. A passport certifies the personal ...
(, , 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 (, ), a diplomatic passport, and a sailor's passport. Internal passports were serviced by "passport offices" (, ) of local offices of the
MVD The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation (MVD; russian: Министерство внутренних дел (МВД), ''Ministerstvo vnutrennikh del'') is the interior ministry of Russia. The MVD is responsible for law enfor ...
s of Soviet republics. Abroad passports were handled by the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...
of the corresponding Soviet republic. Internal passports were used in the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
for identification of persons for various purposes. In particular, passports were used to control and monitor the place of residence by means of ''
propiska Propiska is both a residency permit and a migration recording tool, generally referred to as an Internal passport: * Propiska in the Russian Empire * Propiska in the Soviet Union * Propiska in Ukraine; see :uk:Прописка#Прописка в ...
''. Officially, ''propiska'' was introduced for statistical reasons: since in the
planned economy A planned economy is a type of economic system where investment, production and the allocation of capital goods takes place according to economy-wide economic plans and production plans. A planned economy may use centralized, decentralized, part ...
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 A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, alt ...
, date and place of birth and
ethnicity An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
, family status,
propiska Propiska is both a residency permit and a migration recording tool, generally referred to as an Internal passport: * Propiska in the Russian Empire * Propiska in the Soviet Union * Propiska in Ukraine; see :uk:Прописка#Прописка в ...
, 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 (, ), 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 (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. The internal passports were written in the
Russian language Russian (russian: русский язык, russkij jazyk, link=no, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language mainly spoken in Russia. It is the First language, native language of the Russians, and belongs to the Indo-European langua ...
and the language of the republic where it was issued. The "green cover" internal passports and passports for travel abroad were written exclusively in the
Russian language Russian (russian: русский язык, russkij jazyk, link=no, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language mainly spoken in Russia. It is the First language, native language of the Russians, and belongs to the Indo-European langua ...
. 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 An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...
(e.g., by the age of forty-five, a person has to have three
photograph A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now create ...
s of himself in the passport due to the effects of
aging Ageing ( BE) or aging ( AE) is the process of becoming older. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi, whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentially biologically immortal. In ...
, taken at the age of sixteen (when it is issued), twenty-five and forty-five). In
Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
, these laws were abolished by its
Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...
in 2001 on the grounds of unconstitutionality. In
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
, similar cases have so far failed, and the system remains in place, although largely reduced. The system of internal passport registration remains strongly in place in Moscow, which uses the recent terrorist attacks on that city as a justification for their continued use. File:USSR external passport 1929.jpg, USSR passport for travel abroad, year 1929 File:Паспорт СССР.jpg, Passport USSR, year 1974 – 1991 File:1990 USSR Passport.png, USSR passport for travel abroad, year 1990 File:Soviet Service Passport Cover.jpg, USSR service passport issued in 1984


See also

*
Passport system in the Soviet Union The passport system of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was an organisational framework of the single national civil registration system based upon identification documents, and managed in accordance with the laws by ministries and other gov ...
*
Eastern Bloc emigration and defection After World War II, emigration restrictions were imposed by countries in the Eastern Bloc, which consisted of the Soviet Union and its satellite states in Central and Eastern Europe. Legal emigration was in most cases only possible in order to r ...
*
101st kilometre The 101st kilometre (russian: 101-й километр, ''sto pervyy kilometr'') is a colloquial phrase for restrictions on freedom of movement in the Soviet Union. Etymology The phrase "101st kilometre" was first coined after the Soviet Union hoste ...
*
Propiska Propiska is both a residency permit and a migration recording tool, generally referred to as an Internal passport: * Propiska in the Russian Empire * Propiska in the Soviet Union * Propiska in Ukraine; see :uk:Прописка#Прописка в ...
*Post-Soviet passports **''
Abkhazian passport The Abkhazian passport ( ab, Атәылауаҩшәҟәы; russian: Абха́зский па́спорт) is issued to citizens of the Republic of Abkhazia for the purpose of international travel and for the purpose of legal identification within ...
'' **
Armenian passport Armenian passport ( hy, Հայկական անձնագիր, Haykakan andznagir) is a passport issued to Armenian citizens to enable them to travel outside Armenia, and entitles the bearer to the protection of Armenia's consular officials oversea ...
**''
Artsakh passport Artsakh passports are issued to Artsakh citizens to travel outside the partially recognized Republic of Artsakh. They are also used as proof of identity within the country. Passports of the Republic of Artsakh are issued based on amendments to the ...
'' **
Azerbaijani passport The Azerbaijani passport is issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan to the citizens of Azerbaijan for international travel. Ordinary passports are valid for 10 years (since 2007) from the date of issue and contain 34 visa pages ...
**
Belarusian passport A Belarusian passport ( be, беларускі пашпарт, bielaruski pašpart, russian: белорусский паспорт, belorusskiy pasport) is issued to citizens of Belarus and is used for both external and internal travel. Unlike Ru ...
**
Estonian passport An Estonian passport ( et, Eesti kodaniku pass) is an international travel document issued to citizens of Estonia, and may also serve as proof of Estonian citizenship. Besides enabling the bearer to travel internationally and serving as indic ...
**
Georgian passport Georgian passports ( ka, საქართველოს პასპორტი) are issued to citizens of Georgia to facilitate international travel. Visa requirements As of May 12, 2023, Georgian citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival ...
**
Kazakhstani passport Kazakhstani passports ( kk, қазақстандық паспорт, qazaqstandıq pasport, russian: казахстанский паспорт, kazakhstanskiy pasport) are issued to citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan to facilitate internation ...
**
Kyrgyzstani passport The Kyrgyz passport is issued to citizens of Kyrgyzstan for international travel. Appearance The passport of a citizen of the Kyrgyz Republic contains 32 pages, not including the cover. The inside pages of the passport have a light blue backgro ...
** Latvian passport **
Lithuanian passport Lithuanian passport is an official document, issued to Lithuanian citizens to identify themselves as such and/or to facilitate travel outside Lithuania (there are other types of passports which may be issued by Lithuanian authorities to non-citi ...
** Moldovan passport **
Russian passport The Russian passport (russian: Заграничный паспорт гражданина Российской Федерации, Zagranichnyy pasport grazhdanina Rossiyskoy Federatsii, Transborder passport of a citizen of the Russian Federati ...
**'' South Ossetian passport'' **
Tajik passport Tajik passports ( tg, Тоҷик Шиноснома, ''Toçik Şinosnoma'') are issued to citizens of the Republic of Tajikistan to enable them to travel outside the country. It is the international proof of identity of any Tajik citizen. Biomet ...
**'' Transnistrian passport'' **
Turkmen passport A Turkmen passport is issued to the citizens of Turkmenistan for the purposes of international travel. Since July 2008, biometric passports have been introduced, making Turkmenistan the first country in the ex-USSR mid-Asia region to issue an ICA ...
**
Ukrainian passport The Ukrainian passport ( uk, паспорт громадянина України, pasport hromadyanyna Ukrayiny, passport of a citizen of Ukraine) is a document issued for nationals of Ukraine as proof of Ukrainian citizenship. The country issues ...
** Uzbek passport


Notes and references


External links


V.Popov, Passport System of Soviet Serfage, "New World" (), Issue 6, 1996

Federal Migration Service of the Russian Federation -- "Historical Information" covers several centuries about passport-policy in Russia and Soviet Union -- in Russian
{{Passports Soviet internal politics Foreign relations of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
Identity documents of the Soviet Union