A brown passport is a special-issuance travel document, and the one most people mean by the term is the U.S. official passport carried by federal employees, certain military personnel, and government contractors traveling abroad on duty. The Department of Defense calls its cover brown; the State Department calls the same cover maroon. Either label describes the same book. A handful of other countries issue brown passports for similar official-use categories, but brown is one of the rarest cover colors in the world, and no major country uses it for ordinary citizens.
Who Carries a U.S. Brown Passport
Federal regulation limits the U.S. official passport to four groups:
- Officers or employees of the U.S. government traveling abroad on official duties, along with their authorized family members.
- Individuals under a personal services contract with the government who travel abroad to carry out those duties.
- Non-personal services contractors traveling abroad on a government contract when they cannot accomplish their duties using a regular or service passport.
- Employees of state, local, tribal, or territorial governments traveling abroad in support of U.S. government missions.
Every official passport requires authorization from the Department of State before it can be issued. You cannot walk into a passport office and ask for one.1eCFR. 22 CFR 51.3 – Types of Passports
How the request moves through the system depends on the applicant’s agency. State Department employees route requests through the Bureau of Global Talent Management or use a letter of authorization for temporary duty travel. Defense Department personnel submit Form DD 1056 at a DoD passport facility. Other federal employees need a letter of authorization signed by an authorized official within their own agency.2Travel.State.Gov. Steps to Apply for a Special Issuance Passport From there, the applicant fills out the standard passport application, supplies a photo, citizenship evidence, and government-issued ID, and submits the whole package through the sponsoring agency rather than a regular acceptance facility.
How the Brown Passport Differs From a Regular U.S. Passport
The color is the visible difference. The rules behind it matter more.
A standard blue tourist passport is valid for ten years when issued to an adult. The brown official passport tops out at five years, the same ceiling that applies to every special-issuance passport.3U.S. Embassy & Consulate in Italy. Types of U.S. Passports It is also a no-fee document; the government covers the cost.
The critical distinction is what you can do with it. A regular passport works for any lawful international travel. The brown official passport is valid only for travel tied to government duties. Using it for a vacation is not a paperwork issue. It can trigger federal criminal penalties under the passport misuse statute.
Brown Passports Outside the United States
Morocco is the other clear example. Moroccan “special” passports are brown and go to government service personnel rather than the general public. Regular Moroccan passports are green, diplomatic passports are red, and a separate category of special passport uses a blue cover.4Travel.State.Gov. a href=”https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/Morocco.html” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>Morocco Reciprocity and Civil Documents The brown Moroccan passport plays a role similar to the U.S. official: it marks the holder as traveling on government business.
Beyond those two countries, brown is uncommon. A few nations have used dark brown or brownish covers for service or temporary passports at various points, but no major country currently issues a brown standard passport to ordinary citizens. A brown passport from a country not named above almost certainly belongs to a government official or someone traveling under a special-issuance arrangement.
Misuse and Return
The brown passport goes back when government service ends. State Department employees and contractors can hand the passport to the Special Issuance Agency in person between noon and 3:00 p.m. on weekdays, or mail it in with a memorandum from their bureau’s executive office requesting cancellation and destruction. The memo needs a subject line of “Cancel and Destroy My Passport,” the holder’s name and date of birth, the passport number, its issuance and expiration dates, and the reason for return. Employees of other federal agencies follow their own agency’s return procedure, and in most cases the agency forwards the passport to the Special Issuance Agency on the holder’s behalf.5Travel.State.Gov. Change, Transfer, or Return Your Special Issuance Passport
Misuse is a federal crime. Under 18 U.S.C. ยง 1544, using a passport in violation of its conditions, using someone else’s passport, or furnishing your passport to another person can carry up to 10 years in prison for a first or second offense, 15 years for later offenses, and 20 or 25 years if the misuse ties to drug trafficking or international terrorism.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 1544 – Misuse of Passport Using an official passport for a personal trip is more likely to bring administrative consequences than a federal charge, but the criminal authority is on the books.
Where Brown Fits Among U.S. Passport Colors
The brown official passport is one of four books the United States issues. The black diplomatic passport goes to Foreign Service Officers and others with diplomatic or comparable status, plus their authorized family members; contractors can receive one if they meet the diplomatic eligibility requirements and need it for their contract.1eCFR. 22 CFR 51.3 – Types of Passports The gray service passport goes on a limited basis to non-personal services contractors when exceptional circumstances make a service passport necessary. A blue no-fee regular passport looks identical to an ordinary tourist passport but is issued at no cost to certain Defense Department employees, American National Red Cross personnel, and Peace Corps volunteers assigned overseas.3U.S. Embassy & Consulate in Italy. Types of U.S. Passports
All of these share the five-year maximum validity, the ban on personal travel, and the requirement that the book be returned when the holder’s assignment or government employment ends.