On a U.S. passport, the letter P in the Type field means “passport.” It is a code from an international standard, not an abbreviation for “personal.” Every ordinary passport book issued for regular international travel carries this same single letter.
Where the Letter Appears
Open your passport to the biographical page, the one with your photo and personal details. The Type field sits in the upper-left area, usually on the first or second line above your surname. On a standard U.S. passport book, it contains one character: P.
The same code also appears in the machine-readable zone, the two lines of letters, numbers, and chevrons printed along the bottom of the page. There, the type code occupies the first one or two characters of the top line.
Why “P” and Not “Personal”
The letter comes from Document 9303, the specification for machine-readable travel documents maintained by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Nearly every country in the world follows it, which is what lets a border agent in one country read a passport issued by another.1International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Doc 9303 Machine Readable Travel Documents Part 4
Under that standard, the code is actually two characters. The first letter is always P, meaning the document is a passport. The second letter identifies what kind of passport. On an ordinary passport, the second position is left blank, or filled with a chevron (<) inside the machine-readable zone. That is why you see only one letter on the biographical page. On specialized passports, both letters appear.1International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Doc 9303 Machine Readable Travel Documents Part 4
So a plain P tells a border agent one thing: this is the standard document a private citizen uses to travel. Nothing more is being flagged.
What the Other Codes Look Like
If you ever see a passport with more than one letter in the Type field, that second letter narrows down what kind of passport it is. The standard codes include:
- P (or PP): ordinary or national passport, the standard book for personal travel
- PD: diplomatic passport
- PO: official or service passport, for government business travel
- PE: emergency or limited-validity passport, often issued abroad when a passport is lost or stolen
- PR: refugee travel document
- PS: stateless person’s passport
- PT: travel document for non-citizens
- PL: laissez-passer, issued by international organizations such as the United Nations
- PM: military passport
As of January 2026, ICAO requires that newly issued machine-readable passports use these standardized secondary codes.1International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Doc 9303 Machine Readable Travel Documents Part 4 In the U.S., diplomatic passports (PD) have a black cover and are issued to federal employees serving abroad under Chief of Mission authority and others with diplomatic status. Official passports (PO) have a maroon cover and go to government employees traveling on official business who do not qualify for diplomatic status.2U.S. Department of State. Steps to Apply for a Special Issuance Passport Neither can be used for personal travel; holders typically also carry an ordinary P passport for vacations and family trips.3U.S. Department of State. After You Get Your Special Issuance Passport
A PE, or emergency passport, is what a U.S. embassy or consulate can issue if your passport is lost or stolen while you are overseas. It is a short-validity document meant to get you home, not a full replacement.4USAGov. Lost or Stolen Passports Some countries refuse entry to travelers carrying emergency documents, so once back in the United States you replace it with a standard book.
A Second Passport Book Still Says P
Frequent travelers can apply for a second passport book, usually when a country would deny entry because of stamps in the first, or when the first is tied up in a visa application. That second book carries the same P code as the primary one and is valid for four years or less.5U.S. Department of State. Applying for a Second Passport Book The State Department only issues second books, not second passport cards.
Passport Cards Don’t Use This Code
If you are looking at a passport card rather than a passport book, you will not find a “Type” field in the same place. A passport card is a wallet-sized document valid only for land and sea border crossings with Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Bermuda. It cannot be used for international air travel.6eCFR. 22 CFR 51.3 Types of Passports Because it is not a globally interoperable travel document under ICAO standards, it uses a different machine-readable format than the two-line zone in a passport book, and it does not carry the P-series type codes described above.
For the vast majority of Americans holding a passport book, the answer is simple. That single P is the international way of saying: this is an ordinary passport, issued to a private citizen, good for regular travel anywhere the holder’s citizenship is accepted.