(CNN) — Chances are you only have one passport – maybe two if you have dual nationality.
But if you find yourself in a particular position – diplomatic, investigative or even presidential – you risk getting your hands on documents completely inaccessible to the common people.
Here are some of the non-standard passports and passes.
Diplomatic passport
What is that? Diplomatic passports are issued to diplomats and government consuls posted abroad.
Thus, for example, the US Chargé d’Affaires in France, Brian Aggeler, will hold a diplomatic passport, as will the French Ambassador to the United States, Philippe Étienne.
What else? In the UK, there is a very special type of diplomatic passport, stamped with the Queen’s Messenger Service (QMS).
Presidential and Prime Minister passports
Job Benefits: US President Joe Biden doesn’t have to pay for his passport.
Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
What are the benefits? Again, it’s hard to be specific.
When we asked the UK Home Office what Boris Johnson’s passport benefits might entail, they told us: “We don’t comment on individual cases.”
At least the culprit had his own protected identity; a press release from the Australian Department of Immigration read: “[Redacted] could not verify that Microsoft Outlook’s autofill function entered the correct person’s details in the ‘To’ field of the email.” Oops.
Official/special passport
What are the benefits? On paper, these passports do not offer any particular advantage. As the Government of Canada explains: “The official passport is not designed to give advantages to the bearer.
Interpol travel document
The Interpol passport was unveiled during the opening of the 79th session of Interpol’s General Assembly in Doha on November 8, 2010.
Karim Jafar/AFP/Getty Images
Both are equipped with high-tech integrated circuits containing personal information such as fingerprints and a photo identical to that printed on the document itself.
What are the benefits? Travel documents came into being after Interpol’s 79th General Assembly in 2010. Pursuing criminals around the world is no easy task, and the Interpol Travel Document was designed to reduce bureaucracy by removing various visa requirements and accelerating the fate of the pursuer. .
Nothing else? Although we know that Interpol has approximately 1,000 employees, it is not clear how many have an Interpol travel document at hand.
United Nations laissez-passer (UNLP)
The blue UN “Laissez-Passer” travel document.
Ralf Hirschberger/picture alliance/Getty Images
What is that? Members of the United Nations (UN), International Labor Organization, World Health Organization and various other organizations can get their hands on this document, which was first launched in 1946 and is became electronic in 2012.
There are two types of UNLP: blue pass and red pass (for higher rank members).
What are the benefits? The UN says holders of the red UNLP may well be “granted diplomatic privileges and immunities and diplomatic facilities when traveling on United Nations business”.
In some countries, this includes a visa waiver. Unlike many other passports on this list, the UNLP does not officially replace a national passport, but supplements it. Orders the UN: “The two documents must always be… carried together on official travel.”
Nothing else? The expression “pass” translates in the sense of “to let pass”. The term may have been used shortly after the Safe Conducts Act 1414, in which Henry V made it high treason for an international counterpart to break a promise to allow someone free travel through his country.
When you are not required to have a passport at all
No passport required if you’re Queen Elizabeth ll, seen here arriving in Fiji on her Silver Jubilee tour of the South Pacific in 1977.
Anwar Hussein/Getty Images
Although most members of royal families still need a passport to travel, reigning monarchs may be exempt.
And the Pope?
As ruler of Vatican City, the Pope has a special passport from the Holy See.
