Isle of Man passport

Manx passport
The front cover of a contemporary Manx biometric passport.
File:IOMpassportbiodata.png The biodata page of the Manx biometric passport
Issued by	Isle of Man
Type of document	Passport
Purpose	Identification
Eligibility requirements	British citizenship

The Isle of Man passport (or Manx passport) is a British passport issued by the Cabinet Office of the Isle of Man Government to British citizens and British subjects connected to the Isle of Man, a British Crown Dependency.

The passports are printed centrally in the United Kingdom, and dispatched directly from the printing centre to applicants.

Appearance

British passports issued in the Isle of Man are slightly different from those issued in the United Kingdom. In the case of British citizen passports, the words European Union still appear across the top of passport covers, signifying the special status of the Isle of Man and its population in relation to the EU. British subject passports issued in the Isle of Man do not refer to the European Union..

Because the Isle of Man is not part of the United Kingdom, its passports do not carry the words United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on the front cover and on the biodata page. In their place, they have the words British Islands: Isle of Man. The request inside the passport's front cover "to allow the bearer to pass freely" and to give "such assistance and protection as may be necessary" is made by the Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man. In United Kingdom passports, this request is issued in the name of "Her Britannic Majesty's Secretary of State".

Unusually, therefore, the words European Union and Isle of Man appear together on Isle of Man British citizen passports, even though the territory of the Isle of Man is not part of the European Union. This is because the bearer is a full British and European Union citizen, although (as set out below) an endorsement may apply in the case of some citizens.

The illustration shows the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, instead of The Arms of Her Majesty in Right of the Isle of Man.

Eligibility

The Cabinet Office of the Isle of Man Government issues Isle of Man variant British citizen passports only to:

• British citizens who are currently resident in the Isle of Man; and
• British citizens born in the Isle of Man who are currently resident either in the United Kingdom or the Channel Islands. Isle of Man variant passports cannot be issued to British citizens in any other part of the world.

British subject passports are only issued to British subjects currently resident in the Isle of Man.

Endorsements

Some British passports issued by the Isle of Man Government will have an endorsement included to the following effect:

holder is not entitled to benefit from European Community Provisions relating to employment or establishment

This appears when a British citizen passport holder was born or naturalised in either the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands and has no connection through residency (defined as five consecutive years) or descent (a UK-born parent or grandparent) to the United Kingdom. This endorsement results from Protocol 3 to the UK's Act of Accession to the European Community, which defines the relationship between the Isle of Man and what is now the European Union. The Protocol defined the term "Manxman" specifically to mean a person connected by birth or naturalisation with the Isle of Man who has no connection to the UK, which is different from the term's usual, wider meaning. The Protocol means that those defined as Manxmen do not have a direct right to live and work freely in EU member states other than the UK, where they have a right to live and work freely under UK domestic law in common with other British citizens. In practice, EU member states apply their own policies in regulating the right to live and work of Manxmen on their territory, and in many cases for the sake of simplicity may treat Manxmen in an identical manner to other British citizens.

External links

• Official Isle of Man Government webpage on passports