Ad Hoc Committee on Statelessness and Related Problems, Decisions of the Committee on Statelessness and Related Problems Taken at the Meetings of 30 and 31 January 1950

E/AC.32/L.19

Article 22

1. The High Contracting Parties undertake to issue, on request for purposes of travel outside their territory, to refugees regularly resident in their territory, travel documents and the provisions of the Schedule to this Convention shall apply with respect to such documents. The High Contracting Parties may issue the travel documents referred to herein to refugees not regularly resident in their territory.

2. The provisions regarding the issue of Nansen certificates contained in the Arrangements of 5 July 1992, 31 May 1924, 12 May 1926, 30 June 1928 and in the Convention of 28 October 1933, and the provisions of the Inter-Governmental Agreement concluded in London on 15 October 1946 shall be superseded by paragraph 1 of the present Article so far as the High Contracting Parties are concerned; but documents issued under the said instruments shall be recognized and treated by the High Contracting Parties in the same way as if they had been issued under the said paragraph.

SCHEDULE

Paragraph 1 (3)¹

1. The travel document referred to in Article 22 of this Convention shall be similar to the specimen annexed hereto.

2. The document shall be made out in at least two languages - French, and the national language or languages of the authority which issues it.

Paragraph 2 (4)

Subject to the regulations obtaining in the country of issue, children may be included in the document of an adult refugee.

Paragraph 3 (5)

The fees charged for issue of the document shall not exceed the lowest scale of charges for national passports.

Paragraph 4 (6)

Save in special or exceptional cases, the document shall be made valid for the largest possible number of countries.

Paragraph 5 (7)

The document shall have a validity of either one or two years, at the discretion of the issuing authority.

Paragraph 6 (8)

1. The renewal or extension of the validity of the document is a matter for the authority which issued it, so long as the holder has not established lawful residence in another territory and resides lawfully in the territory of the said authority. The issue of a new document is, under the same conditions, a matter for the authority which issued the former document.

2. Diplomatic or consular authorities, specially authorized for the purpose, shall be empowered to extend, for a period not exceeding six months, the validity of travel documents issued by their Governments.

Paragraph 7 (9)

The High Contracting Parties shall recognize the validity of the documents issued in accordance with the provisions of Article 22 of this Convention.

Paragraph 8 (10)

The competent authorities of the country to which the refugee desires to proceed shall, if they are prepared to admit him and if a visa is required affix a visa on the document of which he is the holder.

Paragraph 9 (11)

The High Contracting Parties undertake to issue transit visas to refugees who have obtained visas for the territory of final destination.

Paragraph 10 (12)

The fees for the issue of exit, entry or transit visas shall not exceed the lowest scale of charges for visas on foreign passports.

Paragraph 11 (13)

When a refugee has lawfully taken up residence in the territory of another High Contracting Party, the power to issue a new document will be transferred to the competent authority of that territory, to which the refugee shall be entitled to apply.

Paragraph 12 (14)

The authority issuing a new document shall withdraw the old document.

Paragraph 13 (15)

1. The document shall entitle the holder to leave the country where it has been issued and, during the period of validity of the document, to return thereto without a visa from the authorities of that country, subject only to those laws and regulations which apply to the bearers of duly visaed passports.

2. The High Contracting Parties reserve the right, in exceptional cases, or in cases where the refugee's stay is authorized for a specific period, when issuing the document, to limit the period during which the refugee may return to a period of not less than three months.

Paragraph 14 (16)

Subject only to the terms of paragraph 13, the provisions of this schedule in no way affect the laws and regulations governing the conditions of admission to, transit through, residence and establishment in, and departure from, the territories of the High Contracting Parties.

Paragraph 15 (17)

Neither the issue of the document nor the entries made thereon determine or affect the status of the holder, particularly as regards nationality.

Paragraph 16 (18)

The issue of the document does not in any way entitle the holder to the protection of the diplomatic or consular authorities of the country of issue, and does not confer on these authorities a right of protection.

ANNEX Specimen Travel Document

THE document will be in booklet form (approximately 15 cm. x 10 cm.).

It is recommended that it be so printed that any erasure or alteration by chemical or other means can be readily detected, and that the words "Convention of "be printed in continuous repetition on each page, in the language of the issuing country.

No.................

(1) TRAVEL DOCUMENT (Convention of)

This document expires on .................... unless its validity is extended or renewed.

Name..............................................................

Forename (s)....................................................

Accompanied by........................... child (children).

1. This document is issued solely with a view to providing the holder with a travel document which can serve in lieu of a national passport. It is without prejudice to and in no way affects the holder's nationality.

2. The holder is authorized to return to .................................................. (State here the country whose authorities are issuing the document) on or before .................. unless some later date is hereafter specified. (The period during which the holder is allowed to return must not be less than three months.)

3. Should the holder take up residence in a country other than that which issued the present document, he must, if he wishes to travel again, apply to the competent authorities of his country of residence for a new document.

(This document contains pages, exclusive of cover)

(2)

* Strike out whichever does not apply.

(This document contains pages, exclusive of cover.)

(3) Photograph of Holder and Stamp of Issuing Authority Finger-prints of Holder (if required)

Signature of holder...........................

(This document contains pages, exclusive of cover.)

(4)

1. This document is valid for the following countries:

..........................................................................................................................

2. Document of documents on the basis of which the present document is issued:

.........................................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................................

Issued at...............................................................

Date.....................................................................

Signature and stamp of authority issuing the document:

Fee paid:

(This document contains pages, exclusive of cover.)

(5)

(This document contains pages, exclusive of cover.)

(6)

(This document contains pages, exclusive of cover.)

(7-32) Visas

The name of the holder of the document must be repeated in each visa.

(This document contains pages, exclusive of cover.)

1 The numbers in brackets refer to the Articles of the London Agreement of 15 October 1946 set out on page 154 of Document E/1112.