Documents Entitling Border Crossings

According to state laws, the only documents which can legally confirm a person’s identity for the purposes of border crossings are:

• Identity card (ATTENTION! – This refers only to the “new” identity cards and only when travelling within the EU, EEA and Switzerland),
• Passport

All other documents (e.g. student cards, driving licences, medical record books, birth or marriage certificates, etc) are not valid documents confirming a person’s identity and cannot be used to accept a passenger on board a ‘plane.

Travel documents for children

During trips abroad, children are entitled to cross the border pursuant to the following documents:

- A biometric passport;

• For children aged less than 5, with a 12-month validity period – issued upon parents’ request;
• For children aged between 5 and 13, with a 5-year validity period;
• For children aged over 13, with a 10-year validity period.

- Interim passport;

• For children aged less than 5, with a 12-month validity period;
• As of the 28th of August 2006, children’s personal data is not entered in parents’ passports; such entries made before this date will remain valid until the expiry date of the validity of the passport including the data in question or until the child turns 16 years of age.

- Identity Card

• This authorises its holder to cross borders within the EU, member states of the Schengen Agreement, states of the European Economic Area not being EU members and other states which recognise such a document as authorising its holder to cross the border pursuant to unilateral agreements.

All passengers are asked to show their documents on four occasions:

1. By the ticket/luggage check-in (to check that the ticket purchaser is the same person who wishes to check-in the luggage and receive a boarding pass),
2. During the safety control (to check that the person who was checked in is the same person who wishes to enter the supervised airport area),
3. During passport control (only for persons travelling to non-Schengen countries), (to check that the person who intends to cross the border possesses an authentic document and that he/she fulfils the required conditions to enter another country)
4. Before leaving the departure lounge (to check that the person who is leaving the supervised airport area intends to board an airplane).

Travelling to/from Schengen countries:

Crossing internal borders between Schengen Member Countries does not require border controls. However, crossing air-space borders does require identity control. Additionally, when travelling to other EU countries (Great Britain, Ireland, Bulgaria, Romania) and Switzerland, passengers need to undergo standard passport control. According to airline safety regulations, every passenger before boarding the plane must confirm his/her identity in the proper way. This applies to all passengers, without exception.


Travelling from/to countries from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland:

The only document that can confirm identity and nationality and therefore entitle a person to cross a border is the passport.