Consular Services
Passport Number upon Passport Renewal
October 12, 2021
When renewing a passport, the previous passport number cannot be retained for the new one.
Because international standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) strongly recommend that a unique document number be used for each passport to maintain the authenticity and reliability of the document. Japan complies with this recommendation as a matter of course.
- [Reference] ICAO international standards (Doc 9303, Part 2)
- A.5.2.3 Numbering
It is strongly recommended that the unique document number be used as passport number.