Passport under in Qajar Era and Its Impact on International Relations

The establishment of the modern state and emergence of new borders necessitated the regulation of border passage under certain laws as a means to keeping the security of borders and maintaining official political relations. As for Iran, the formation of new geopolitical borders, expansion of foreign relations and familiarization of intellectuals and political elite with modernizations, threw the revival of national and Iranian identity into sharp relief. In this regard, to consolidate national identity and securing the new geopolitical borders (within the concept of territory) statesmen embarked on regulating the borders through the issuance of transit papers. Although these transit papers (passports) was nothing new to border officials, under Nasir Al-Din Shah and Amir Kabir in 1851 the law of transit passage was for the first time promulgated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and, consequently, the Passport Department was established. Thus, Nasir Al-Din Shah’s and Amir Kabir’s era could be considered as a turning point regarding the issuance of official passports. The study of the process of issuing passports in Qajar era until the end of this period is the main subject of this article and the objective is to delve into the history of early passports until the end of Qajar era using a descriptive method.