0:43 and the UK having a unicorn is okay?

Fun fact: Japanese passports are only red if it’s a 10 year passport. 5 year passports are a blue colour instead of red. I don’t know any other countries that do this.

Next EU parliament session: MEP: who wants to change all member countries's passports to blue so the UK will have to change theirs again? Everyone:🤚

I had a Yellow British passport once. I’d lost my passport in Thailand. A temporary passport was arranged and delivered next day. It lasted two days and I had to surrender it at passport control on my return to the UK. Oh and it only had one blank page in it. Apart from that it looked exactly like a normal one.

0:41 fun fact, the British Passport really does have a unicorn on it, at least a kangaroo is real. 🇬🇧🇦🇺

The colour green is symbolic for paradise in the Quran

Countries copying each other is definitely a thing though. Here in Finland it's a trope that the government can't do anything unless it's already been done in Sweden. I assume there's something similar for many other countries. Finland also used to have blue passports and but changed to burgundy with EU membership. For a time it was somewhat popular to get blue dust jacket style covers.

“Black with no real connection to the countries” New Zealand: “am I a joke to you”

Ironically, the new UK post-Brexit passport using the dark blue color to distance itself from the EU, is in fact 100% made in EU.

I‘m swiss. I looked for our passports on the screen and thought you had no reason to mention it. But then you did in such a nice way. Idk why but it made me kinda proud for no reason. Lol

15:44 I'm glad you showed what that mysterious black passport in the middle of the red ones was.

So papers please is actually a true sim of the old soviet union :). Seeing all these passports makes me want to play it again.

Fun fact: In Australia you can request an "Extra Large" passport (can't remember the official name) that is black instead of blue.

Broke: Estados Unidos Mexicanos Woke: *ESTA-DOS UNI-DOS M E X I-D O S*

I thought you would mentioned the British National (overseas) passport when you were talking about different types of British passports. It’s kind of cool because eventually there will be no holders of this passport: while holders of this passport could renew their BNO when it is expired, HMPO stopped accepting new applications since 1997 after the handover of Hong Kong, also holders could not pass this nationality/passport to their spouses/children. This passport will have no holders when all of them pass away.

0:46 the UK is a former British colony

I feel like some colour decisions historically may be down to the dyes that were common or widely available within the country. Although that's less relevant to changes in colours today.

I feel like the Central American countries are just not well known, so they put their geographical location on the cover. As an example, I got detained at a Chinese boarder crossing because of a "Fake country's visa in my passport." They didn't know Guatemala existed until I pointed it out on a map to them.

toycats gunna be stealin' passports to get those "Clean" and "Cool" passports

Forgot to mention BN(O) passport used in Hong Kong, it has gained notice after the Hong Kong protesters used it to claim that they are British, and the U.K. should protect them.

About internal passports. I have one since I was 16. In Ukraine and other post-soviet countries, those are the main means of identification. And it has a place for stamps, mostly about marriage status, and local authority (from the district you are living in) and stamps about you having an international passport. Generally if somewhere you see documentation list that mentions "passport" it means internal one, if not specified otherwise. Plus, you should fill in a new photo every 20 years or so. When ID card implementation started, elder generations protested. It looks like they do not even see the total absurdity of it. And, it is dark blue colored, with a design generally similar to the international one.

Shows black passport of Croatia: “As you can see, they are very much a blue passport”.

I believe Unija is suppose to be read as [ooniya] in English. In most European languages j is a letter for English 'y'

5:00 fun fact because guatemala claims belize if you look closly at the map on the passport it has the lines going into belize

I think the black passports look really cool actually, there's something suave and sleek about a dark one like that edit: hope you all are having a decent day

In Ukraine we have unique pictures on each page of our passports. It depict historical artefacts, chronicles, castles and all the other stuff - going from the fist page to the last is like a history speedrun. It has a lot more interesting design on the inside, then on the outside; so I wonder what is the inner design of passports of other counties..?

I think countries use discrete colors to make it less obvious where someone holding their passport is from. It's cool with unique colors though, likr Fiji's. The Netherlands could have orange and Ireland green.

I can add a few facts about Russian passports. There was and still no ID except internal passport. Other documents like driving license or ISIC (student card) can identify you, but they are not accepted as official ID. Even passport for traveling abroad is not valid as an ID within Russia. Internal passport is red, like passport for traveling abroad. At first internal passports weren't given to all villagers, so they couldn't travel within USSR without approval. And regular people couldn't get passport for traveling abroad, but it could be some kind of reward.

Norway have different colors depending on type of passport: Normal: Red (used to be darker than today) Provisional/Emergencey: White (used to be orange or turquoise) Diplomatic: Blue Forigner travel document: White (used to be black)

This is so much fun, and to see how colours can convey powerful meaning and the different designs

Actually had a bright pink passport for a trip to Bulgaria once. Thought they were in the Schengen agreement since they are an EU member but, at least at the time, they weren't so couldn't use my national ID to board the plane and had to go to the airport police station to get a temporary one made. Whish I took a pic of it since they took it back and destroyed it when I returned to Sweden.

Never thought id like learning about passport colors

Just to clarify about Russian internal passport, they're not required to travel inside the country any more after the collapse of the communist regime. They're just just for identification. And, also you get some stamps in there if a child is born to you or if you get married / divorced, or if you have to serve in the army

Oddly enough my first passport (US) that I got in 1994 was green. So the US wasn’t always blue. Edit: I just looked it up and they issued green passports from April ’93 to March ‘94 in honor of Benjamin Franklin and the 200th anniversary of the US consular service.

Canada uses 4 different passport colours. Blue is the standard passport. Red is diplomatic. Green is the non-diplomatic government employee (often military being sent overseas). White is the temporary passport (valid for 6 months) issued to citizens abroad who lose their passport and require one. There's also emergency travel documents for time sensitive situations but they aren't technically a passport.

Funny how you talked about Russian internal passports, but did't mentioned at all Latvija's alien and non-citizen passports, which is basically segregation existing in modern day.

You literally "talked about the world and stuff" and didnt actually say it. 🤔

There was an arrest made of a few guys with a substantial amount of cocaine and cannabis on board their car which th ey picked up in Barcelona. They were travelling on a diplomatic passport which I am fairly certain linked back to the librarian of the Vatican City. So diplomatic are not always 100% exempt

I renewed my passport a month ago and they’re going to change it before I can use it

In Mercosul (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay) all passports are blue and similar to each other, but you can travel to all four countries just with your ID card.

Thank you for producing quality content good sir. Learned more from KZfaq than school tbh.

The US passport is ranked 6th most powerful in the world with 184 countries that are visa free or garenteed visa on entry. The US has a normal passport that is blue, an official passport that is brown, and a black diplomatic passport. We also have a passport card, but it can only be used for land and sea travel to Bermuda, Canada, the Caribbean region, and Mexico.

Fun fact, the UK had/has bright pink color passport for foreigners. Certain Polish master of loosing passports (lost three on one expedition) learned that the hard way.

In Nepal, general public gets green passport, public servants get black and the VIPs get red passport, which is the diplomatic passport and gets you places with less hassle

Thanks for these videos mate!

I guess the “little red book” is not only restricted to China 😉

I want a country to use a yellow one

I think there's a passport of the Holy See and other of the Vatican, not sure

I wish Ireland had a green passport… gold and green would be such a good fit for them.

Haven't left the US since 2013, this was a really cool video, had to check my own passport after watching. Italy is...red..!? I'm colorblind. Thanks for the knowledge Toycat!

Nice, see you in some years when KZfaq recommends this

i have an in between one - it’s still burgundy but it doesn’t have “European Union” at the top

I remember flying between Madrid and London, and on the tram to the plane being the only person without a burgundy passport. I felt weird being the lone person with a blue passport.

really happy that he likes the swiss passport the most

Feels like England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should have distinct passports.

My passport is invisible, because I don’t have one anymore...

Fun fact there’s a unicorn on the British passport because it’s the national animal of Scotland

When I was in the Soviet Union in my teens those internal passports also granted or denied access to some stores (with full shelves).

Swiss has always been my favourite too! My British and Irish one look the same now too faded beyond recognition

Ibxcat, what do you think of the CANZUK idea? Personally, I support it as we see the UK, NZ, and Canada as our best friends. There was a recent survey done n which people had to list the countries they felt the most affection towards. NZ was in first place, followed by the UK, then Canada. And on the subject of the Australian passport, when I travel overseas the immigration officials in the airport always spend ten minutes looking at all the pictures of animals in our passports. It's like they've just discovered fire or something.

The UK left the EU on a a tacit (unmentionable, even?) policy of not changing "from purple to green". ;) ;) ;) ;)

I think we have opposite aesthetic tastes. Switzerland's passport makes me sad. Lots of "busy" ones are fascinating and beautiful to me. It's real money versus those empty-space white euros. The euro is awkward and ugly, but lots of countries have beautiful currencies.

What a fascinating subject to talk about! I really like this and hope you will continue. By the way, what was the site named with the passports and various criteria?

The only difference between an American Samoa National's passport and the normal USA passport is a statement printed inside that says the holder is a National of the United States of America. The reason is American Samoans are not necessarily born US Citizens. Bit of a weird situation, but American Samoa was never "incorporated" into the US, but is a territory. No other inhabited US territory is classed like this.

Cool black New Zealand passport at 8:30, but seems that you've not shown it on your map at 2:55...

looking forward to getting my blue boy 11:42 same thing in china today

Welcoming is based on how many foreign country passports have visa-free access. In general, countries (esp. poorer ones) that rely more on tourism as a growth industry (the Caribbean states, Philippines as examples) will make access as easy as they can to make it a more attractive tourist destination. European countries 'accept' more than the US/CAN/AUS because of the EU's Schengen agreement, otherwise they'd be within the same range as the US/CAN/AUS . China has half the US' number in terms of countries that have visa-free access to it, it's just that the color gradient doesn't show it very well (basically you were right about them not really being in the same category). I'm pretty sure it's to do with the Chinese gov't rarely agreeing with visa-free access unless it was reciprocated (that's not the case with most developing countries).

Uk gets to sit with the cool kids again.

Standard Passports have to be size B7 when closed. (B6 when opened flat)

You can do pretty much anything you want with a Russian travel passport except live for more than 3 months or work or buy a property. But if you want an internal passport it's almost impossible to get on if you're not Russian and if you do get one you have to serve in the military if your under 27.

I don't care if my passport is pink with green dots and purple stripes so long as it gets me to where I'm going with minimum fuss.

Just one thing, around 10:00 when you say diplomats using a Queen's Messenger passport can take their gear through: only gear that has been sealed by the British mission, not their personal items nor their person. A diplomat's private luggage and person will still be screened by security.

The UK should have gone with something crazy like pink or yellow.

The preview image showed 5 colours though: Black, Red, Maroon, Blue and Green.

I'm from Uzbekistan, and we have 2 passports: internal passport which is green and travel one which is dark red

Speaking of which - why do all passports have the same shape? Why Not a long narrow passport or a quare book passport or a triangle passport? OR how cool would it be to have a passport shaped like an ancient scroll

The US had a green passport. My first one (which I still have), 1968, was green. My next one, 1975, was blue.

Juropska juniđa Well done Toycat, well done

China's current Hukou system is pretty much like USSR's internal passport thing. It does have fewer restrictions for short trips compared to the USSR's system, but if you want to move to another city and to use the local social resources there (ie. healthcare, transit discount, education, housing, etc.) you need to officially immigrate which can be a very lengthy and difficult process, especially for moving into the largest cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. We often joke that it's probably easier for Chinese citizens to migrate to a foreign country, get citizenship, and move back to China as a naturalized citizen (when you'll have much larger freedom to choose your Hukou) than to move internally in China.

The US used to (not sure if they still do) issue green temporary passports to Americans who lose their passports while overseas and need an emergency one prepared by the local embassy. And I've seen brown US Military Passports as well. My husband was born in the USSR but couldn't get a replacement passport for a while after the collapse (we were in the US), but because he had a US green card, he was issued a US Travel Document which looks like a US Passport but is white. It can only be used to re-enter the US since he didn't have a valid passport from anywhere else. One of the reasons he struggled to renew his passport was because we were in what's now Ukraine when the USSR collapsed and were just about to leave for the US. Ukraine hadn't started issuing passports yet, so we had to take his USSR passport to some government office, where they literally took a sharpie/vivid and crossed out "CCCP" and handwrote "Ukraine", chucked a stamp and signature on it, and it was all good to leave (getting it renewed was a totally different mess).

What do you think about the size of the emblem on passports

I think Lebanon, Israel, Cyprus, New Zealand, and Japan are the nicest.

Just got my Russian Passport 5 months after getting my Russian Citizenship approved!

I am happy I am early keep up the great videos

in northern ireland we can get a british and irish passport

canada but it is modeled after the swiss passport 🥺

Passport design tier list

"ja" in Unija reads as "oo-knee-ya" with "ya" at the end, like in "yankee"

It's interesting that the map categorizes Mexico's passport as black because it is actually dark green.

Andrew, Do you think that countries that likes to use gold in their currencies should use "golden passports"?

Toy cat: "Why Do Passports Only Come In 4 Colours?" Shows 5. More if you count light and dark shades as different colours.

The emus and kangaroos bullied the Australians into putting them on their passport

Wish we’d go to a Royal Purple colour passport, instead of back to blue. I think that would be cool.

I'm looking for a comment that answers the titular question without taking 17 min. Anyone care to reply? Might help others like me, looking for the answer.

Do a video rating the look of passport

Would have been awfully nice to include the passport ranking page ;)

Turkey just changed from burgundy to blue btws

But yeah, calling it four colours is basically an opinon. Some people might consider burgundy as a fifth colour; brown. Some regions separate the lighter and darker shades of blue, so that would make if five-six colours. Then you got regions not separating blue and green, so they might claim there only being three colours. - So stating there's only four colours is, misleading I would say, and it sounds like you kinda agree? - I would like to group the very dark passports as black, or group some of the black ones as brown. I'd simply want to regroup all of this :)

Red, green, black, and blue are the classical heraldic colours, while gold (yellow) and silver (white) are the metals. So it's no coincidence.

I have a blue passport