Description
Passport officers provide passports and other travel documents such as certificates of identity and refugee travel documents. They also keep record of all provided passports.
Other titles
The following job titles also refer to passport officer:
passport examining officer
border control officer
passport issuing administrator
her majesty’s passport officer
passport office worker
Minimum qualifications
While there are no specific education requirements for passport officers, most of them have at least a high school diploma or equivalent. Some passport officers have a bachelorโs degree in criminal justice, homeland security or another closely related field.
Passport officers receive on-the-job training that includes a period of shadowing an experienced officer and performing duties under their supervision.
ISCO skill level
ISCO skill level is defined as a function of the complexity and range of tasks and duties to be performed in an occupation. It is measured on a scale from 1 to 4, with 1 the lowest level and 4 the highest, by considering:
- the nature of the work performed in an occupation in relation to the characteristic tasks and duties
- the level of formal education required for competent performance of the tasks and duties involved and
- the amount of informal on-the-job training and/or previous experience in a related occupation required for competent performance of these tasks and duties.
Passport officer is a Skill level 3 occupation.
Passport officer career path
Similar occupations
These occupations, although different, require a lot of knowledge and skills similar to passport officer.
grants administrator
licensing officer
civil registrar
customs officer
court clerk
Long term prospects
These occupations require some skills and knowledge of passport officer. They also require other skills and knowledge, but at a higher ISCO skill level, meaning these occupations are accessible from a position of passport officer with a significant experience and/or extensive training.
grants management officer
aviation communications and frequency coordination manager
ombudsman
court jury coordinator
leather production planner
Essential knowledge and skills
Essential knowledge
This knowledge should be acquired through learning to fulfill the role of passport officer.
- Fraud detection: The techniques used to identify fraudulous activities.
Essential skills and competences
These skills are necessary for the role of passport officer.
- Comply with legal regulations: Ensure you are properly informed of the legal regulations that govern a specific activity and adhere to its rules, policies and laws.
- Keep records of passports: Keep track of the passports and other travel documents such as certificates of identity and refugee travel documents which have been already issued.
- Use communication techniques: Apply techniques of communication which allow interlocutors to better understand each other and communicate accurately in the transmission of messages.
- Process applications: Deal with requests for passports and other travel documents such as certificates of identity and refugee travel documents in accordance with policy and legislation.
- Check official documents: Check an individuals’ official documentation, such as driver’s licenses and identification, to ensure compliance with legal regulations, and to identify and assess individuals.
- Monitor customer service: Ensureย all employees are providing excellent customer service in accordance to company policy.
Optional skills and competences
These skills and competences are sometimes, but not always, required for the role of passport officer. However, mastering these skills and competences allows you to have more opportunities for career development.
- Create solutions to problems: Solve problems which arise in planning, prioritising, organising, directing/facilitating action and evaluating performance. Use systematic processes of collecting, analysing, and synthesising information to evaluate current practice and generate new understandings about practice.
- Use different communication channels: Make use of various types of communication channels such as verbal, handwritten, digital and telephonic communication with the purpose of constructing and sharing ideas or information.
- Keep task records: Organise and classify records of prepared reports and correspondence related to the performed work and progress records of tasks.
- Think analytically: Produce thoughts using logic and reasoning in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
- Show empathy: Show empathy in order to prevent any kind of symbolic violence and isolation and to guarantee a considerate attention to everyone. It should include a capacity to understand various verbal and non-verbal communication of sentiment and feeling.
- Respond to enquiries: Respond to enquiries and requests for information from other organisations and members of the public.
- Liaise with colleagues: Liaise with fellow colleagues to ensure common understanding on work related affairs and agree on the necessary compromises the parties might need to face. Negotiate compromises between parties as to ensure that work in general run efficiently towards the achievement of the objectives.
- Listen actively: Give attention to what other people say, patiently understand points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times; able to listen carefully the needs of customers, clients, passengers, service users or others, and provide solutions accordingly.
- Ensure proper document management: Guarantee that the tracking and recording standards and rules for document management are followed, such asย ensuring that changes are identified, that documents remain readable and that obsoleted documents are not used.
- Tolerate stress: Maintain a temperate mental state and effective performance under pressure or adverse circumstances.
- Use Microsoft Office: Possess the ability to work with the standard programs contained in Microsoft Office at a capable level. Create a document and do basic formatting, insert page breaks, create headers or footers, and insert graphics, create automatically generated tables of contents and merge form letters from a database of addresses (usually in Excel). Create auto-calculating spreadsheets, create images, and sort and filter data tables.
ISCO group and title
3354 – Government licensing officials
References
- Passport officer – ESCO