Chinese passport
The People's Republic of China Passport, commonly referred to as the Chinese passport, is a passport issued to citizens of the People's Republic of China (PRC) for the purpose of international travel, and entitles its bearer to the protection of China's consular officials overseas.
| People's Republic of China Passport 中华人民共和国护照 | |
|---|---|
Front cover of the current Chinese passport (with chip ), issued since May 2012 | |
Personal data page of the current Chinese biometric passport | |
| Type | Passport |
| Issued by | National Immigration Administration |
| First issued | 1949 |
| Purpose | Identification |
| Eligibility | Chinese nationals with Hukou residing in Mainland China, or Chinese nationals residing abroad who do not qualify for travel documents issued by Hong Kong SAR or Macau SAR. Chinese nationals who are permanent residents of Macau or Permanent residents of Hong Kong are eligible for a MSAR passport or HKSAR passport instead. |
| Expiration | 10 years after acquisition for adults aged 16 or over, 5 for children or non-ordinary passport 3 months for single group travel |
| Cost | ¥120 for first passport ¥120 for renewed passport |
| China portal |
On 1 July 2011, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China launched a trial issuance of e-passports for individuals conducting public affairs work overseas on behalf of the Chinese government. The face, fingerprints, and other biometric features of the passport holder is digitized and stored in pre-installed contactless smart chip, along with "the passport owner's name, sex and personal photo as well as the passport's term of validity and [the] digital certificate of the chip". Ordinary biometric passports were introduced by the Ministry of Public Security on 15 May 2012. As of January 2015, all new passports issued by China are biometric e-passports, and non-biometric passports are no longer issued.
In 2012, over 38 million Chinese citizens held ordinary passports, comprising only 2.86 percent of the total population at the time. In 2014, China issued 16 million passports, ranking first in the world, surpassing the United States (14 million) and India (10 million). The number of ordinary passports in circulation rose to 120 million by October 2016, which was approximately 8.7 percent of the population. As of April 2017 to date, China had issued over 100 million biometric ordinary passports.