Nansen passport

American  

noun

1. a passport issued after World War I by the League of Nations to refugees unable to establish citizenship.

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Nansen passport British  

noun

1. a passport issued to stateless persons by the League of Nations after World War I

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Etymology

Origin of Nansen passport

1920–25; after F. Nansen, on whose initiative an agreement to issue such passports was signed

Example Sentences

She points to the history of the Nansen passport, devised in the 1920s to help stateless refugees, as support for the feasibility of her plan.

From Washington Post

Exhibits include some 30 passports, including a German Jew’s passport stamped with the letter “J” in the Nazi era, a “Nansen passport” for stateless refugees from 1937 and a modern-day provisional refugee passport.

From Seattle Times

He remained on a Nansen passport his whole life — a document issued for stateless people and refugees who could not obtain travel documents from a national authority.

From Nature

In the 1920's the young Nabokov, like other emigres, was really a stateless person traveling on a special Nansen passport.

From Time Magazine Archive