The Sovereign Military Order of Malta passport is a travel document issued to officials and diplomats of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM). The order issues biometric passports which are fully ICAO9303 compliant. The application and printing processes are handled by the Österreichische Staatsdruckerei in Vienna, Austria.

Types of passport

The Sovereign Military Order of Malta issues two types of passport.

Diplomatic passports

Diplomatic passports of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta are issued only to the members of the Sovereign Council (the government of the Order) and to representatives of the Order's diplomatic corps (heads and members of diplomatic missions abroad as well as spouses of full-time diplomats and their minor children). The validity of the passport is strictly linked to the duration of the assignment. As of February 2018 there were approximately 500 passports in circulation. The numerous other members and volunteers of the Order remain citizens of their own respective countries with their national passports. Among those who possess an Order of Malta diplomatic passport are:

Service passports

Service passports of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta are issued only to people who are in charge of a special mission within the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. The validity of the passport is strictly linked to the duration of the assignment. Currently, ten service passports are in use.

Physical appearance

Passport covers carry the text Ordre souverain militaire de Malte above the coat of arms, and Passeport diplomatique or Passeport de service below it. Diplomatic passports are red, whereas service passports are black. The country-code XOM has been assigned by the ICAO after consultation with the SMOM and the machine-readable zone thus starts with.

Acceptance

The SMOM has diplomatic relations with 113 countries, which therefore accept the passport. In the Schengen area (where most of the extraterritorialities of the order are located) it is recognized by 24 out of 26 members (all except Denmark and Norway).