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A passport is a travel document, usually issued by the government of a nation, that certifies the identity and nationality (not citizenship) of its holder for the purpose of international travel. Standard passports contain the holder's name, place and date of birth, photograph, signature, and other identifying information. Passports are moving towards including biometric information embedded in a microchip embedded in the document, making them machine-readable and difficult to counterfeit.

A passport specifies nationality, but not necessarily the place of residence of the passport holder. A passport holder is normally entitled to enter the country that issued the passport, though some people entitled to a passport may not be full citizens with right of abode. A passport is a document certifying identity and nationality; having the document does not of itself grant any rights, such as protection by the consulate of the issuing country, although it may indicate that the holder has such rights.

Many countries normally allow entry to holders of passports of other countries, sometimes requiring a visa also to be held, but this is not an automatic right. Where a country does not recognise another, or is in dispute with it, entry may be prohibited to holders of passports of the other party to the dispute, and sometimes to others who have, for example, visited the other country.