# Passports of the Mercosur

The Mercosur itself does not issue ordinary passports, but ordinary passport booklets issued by its 5 member states (plus associated), and share a common format. This common format features a colored cover (for which blue) emblazoned—in the official language(s) of the issuing country (and sometimes its translation into English and French)—with the title "Mercosur", followed by the name(s) of the member state, the heraldic "Arms" of the State concerned, the word "PASSPORT", together with the biometric passport symbol at the bottom center of the front cover.

## Use

With a valid passport, Mercosur citizens are entitled to exercise the Agreement on residency for nationals of the Mercosur Party States (meaning they do not need a Visa, a certain amount of money, or a certain reason to travel freely and no residence permit for settling) in the Mercosur and associated (Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay). When going through border controls to enter an aforementioned country, citizens possessing valid biometric passports are sometimes able to use automated gates, such as Peru (an associated member) instead of immigration counters. As an alternative to holding a passport, Mercosur citizens can also use a valid national identity card to exercise their right of free movement within the Mercosur, Chile and associated.

## Common design features

While considerable progress has been made in harmonizing some features, the data page can be found at the front or at the back of an Mercosur passport booklet and there are significant design differences throughout to indicate which member state is the issuer.
Since the 2004, Mercosur member states have started to harmonize aspects of the designs of their ordinary passport booklets. Most passports issued by Mercosur member states have the common recommended layout: blue in color with the words "Mercosur" accompanied by the name of the issuing member state printed on the cover. The unique Mercosur plenty member state Brazil refused to fully comply with the Mercosur common recommended layout even though the Mercosur passport has been changed in design. From 2015, the new Croatian passport refrain from the coat of arms on passport cover and is the odd one out among the 5 Mercosur member states' passports.

### Overall format

* Paper size B7 (ISO/IEC 7810 ID-3, 88 mm × 125 mm)
* Color of cover: blue

### Cover

Information on the cover, in this order, in the language(s) of the issuing state:
* The words "MERCOSUR"
* Name of the issuing state (similar typeface as "MERCOSUR")
* The word "PASSPORT"
The cover also has the emblem of the issuing state, either on top of the text, or in the middle (This has not been complied by Brazil until 2023).

### Current Passports of the Mercosur

| Member state | Passport cover | Biodata page | Cost | Validity | Issuing authority | Latest version |
| Argentina | | | AR$35,000 regular AR$70,000 express AR$125,000 instant | 10 years (overage) 5 years (aged 0–17) | Renaper | 2018 |
| Brazil | | | BRL 257,25 | 1 year after issuance for children up to the age of 1; 2 years for children at the age of 2; 3 years for children at the age of 3; 4 years for children at the age of 4; 5 years for applicants aged 5 to 18 , and 10 years for all other applicants (aged 18 and above) | Renaper | 2023 |
| Paraguay | Link to the image | Link to the image | | | | 2023 |
| Uruguay | | | UYU$3.397 Common revenue UYU $6.613 Urgent renewal procedure | 10 years | DNIC | 2015 |

## Multiple and simultaneous passports
### Same country

Some Mercosur countries, such as Brazil and Malta, allow their citizens to have several passports at once to circumvent certain travel restrictions. This can be useful if wanting to travel while a passport remains at a consulate while a visa application is processed, or wanting to apply for further visas while already in a foreign country. It can also be needed to circumvent the fact that visitors whose passports show evidence of a visit to Israel are not allowed to enter Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen (It is, however, possible to get the Israeli entry and exit stamp on a separate piece of paper).

### Multiple citizenship

Each Mercosur member state can make its own citizenship laws, so some countries allow dual or multiple citizenship without any restrictions (e.g. Argentina, Uruguay), some allow multiple citizenships but ignore existence of other citizenships within their borders (e.g. Argentina), some regulate/restrict it (e.g. Brazil), and others allow it only in exceptional cases (e.g. Paraguay).

## Emergency passports

Decision 38 / 2004 of the mercosur of 16/12/2004 on the establishment of an emergency travel document decided that there would be a standard DOCUMENTO DE VIAJE PROVISORIO MERCOSUR/DOCUMENTO DE VIAGEM PROVISÓRIO MERCOSUL(DVPM).
DVPM are issued to Mercorsur citizens for a single journey back to the Mercosur country of which they are a national, to their country of permanent residence or, in exceptional cases, to another destination (inside or outside the Union). The decision does not apply to expired national passports; it is specifically restricted to cases where valid and unexpired passports have been lost, stolen, destroyed, or are temporarily unavailable (i.e. left somewhere else by accident).