Guide
Which travel documents to carry on your phone (and have them offline)
To travel you need, at the very least, an identity document valid for that destination, any entry authorisations it requires, insurance, and your tickets and bookings. What each country asks for depends on your nationality and changes, so always check the official source before you leave. Carrying it all on your phone offline helps, but it doesn’t replace the originals or a second copy kept off your phone.
In a nutshell
- Within the EU, as an EU national
- A passport or national ID card valid on the day of travel, according to Your Europe.
- Schengen area, as a non-EU national
- A travel document valid for at least 3 months after the planned departure and issued within the last 10 years (Regulation (EU) 2016/399, Art. 6).
- Outside the EU
- Many countries require longer passport validity (often six months) and a visa or electronic authorisation: check country by country.
- ETIAS
- The EU announced it for the last quarter of 2026, with the exact date still to be confirmed. Check its official website before you travel.
- European Health Insurance Card
- Public healthcare in the 27 EU countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. It doesn’t replace travel insurance.
- Passport alert in Kokai
- 60 days before departure if it expires less than 180 days after you’re back.
- Expiry alert in Kokai
- 30 days before any document with an expiry date expires.
- What Kokai doesn’t do
- Check any country’s entry requirements.
First of all: your phone helps, but it doesn’t decide
This guide is a checklist. It’s useful even if you don’t use Kokai, and each section says what the app does and doesn’t do. Entry requirements depend on your nationality, the country you’re going to, where you enter and how long you stay, and they change. That’s why there’s no table of countries here: there’s where to check each thing.
Kokai doesn’t check any country’s entry requirements. It doesn’t know your nationality or what your destination asks for. Always check the official source (the foreign ministry, the embassy or the country’s website) before you travel, and again a few days before you leave.
Carrying your documents on your phone solves two problems: having them to hand without digging through your email, and opening them offline, in the boarding queue or in a country where you have no data. It doesn’t solve a third: your phone getting lost, breaking or running out of battery. For that you need another copy kept off your phone.
Identity: passport or ID card, and their validity
The document that lets you cross the border is the first on the list and the only one that can almost never be replaced once you’re there. What counts isn’t just having it, but how long it’s valid for.
- As a national of an EU country, within the EU and Schengen
- According to Your Europe, you can travel around the 27 EU countries and Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland with a valid passport or national ID card (in Spain, the DNI), and the document must be valid on the day of travel. Children carry their own passport or ID card.
- As a non-EU national, entering the Schengen area
- For stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period, the Schengen Borders Code requires a travel document that remains valid for at least three months after the planned date of departure and that was issued within the previous ten years (Regulation (EU) 2016/399, Article 6(1)(a)). Plus a visa if your nationality needs one.
- Travelling outside the EU
- You need a valid passport and, for some countries, a visa. Many require the passport to remain valid for several months after you leave, often six. Each country’s page is in the Travel Recommendations of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and on its embassy’s website.
Two details worth checking in good time: renewing a passport usually needs an appointment, and each country says from when validity counts (in Schengen, from the planned date of departure). A passport that expires in March may be fine for a trip in September to one place and not to another.
Visas and electronic travel authorisations
A visa is granted by the country before you travel and usually goes in your passport or is linked to it. An electronic travel authorisation is an online application for nationalities that don’t need a visa. Both are applied for on the country’s official website, and it’s best to do it with time to spare.
| System | Who | Status and where to check |
|---|---|---|
| EES (EU Entry/Exit System) | Non-EU nationals on short stays (up to 90 days in 180) in the Schengen area. | According to the European Commission, fully operational in all Schengen countries since April 10, 2026. At the border it records passport data, a facial image, fingerprints and the date and place of entry and exit, and it replaces the passport stamp. Registration happens at the border. |
| ETIAS (EU travel authorisation) | Nationals of visa-exempt countries travelling to the European countries that require it for short stays. | The European Commission announced it for the last quarter of 2026, with the exact date still to be confirmed. Until it’s up and running there’s nothing to apply for. You only apply on its official website, travel-europe.europa.eu. |
| ESTA (United States) | Nationalities in the Visa Waiver Program travelling to the United States. | You apply before travelling on the official website of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), esta.cbp.dhs.gov. |
| eTA (Canada) | Visa-exempt nationalities flying to Canada or transiting through one of its airports. By land or sea, it generally isn’t needed. | You apply online on the Government of Canada website, canada.ca. |
Some websites charge to process these authorisations on your behalf, with names and designs similar to the official ones. The European Commission warns that ETIAS has only one official website. Always go in from the authority’s own address, not from an ad.
What to do with the result: save the confirmation or PDF on your phone (in Kokai, a document of type «Visado» (“Visa”) inside the trip), note its number in «Referencia o localizador» (“Reference or booking code”) and its validity in «Desde» (“From”), «Hasta» (“To”) and «Caduca» (“Expires”). Many of these authorisations are linked to a specific passport: if you renew it, you have to apply again.
Insurance, European Health Insurance Card and vaccines
The European Health Insurance Card (EHIC; in Spain, Tarjeta Sanitaria Europea or TSE) is free and gives access to necessary public healthcare in the 27 EU countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, on the same terms and at the same cost as people insured there. You apply to your country’s social security body (in Spain, the Seguridad Social).
The European Commission puts it plainly: the EHIC is not an alternative to travel insurance. It doesn’t cover private healthcare, the flight back home, or loss or theft of your belongings, and it doesn’t guarantee that everything is free. Outside those countries it’s no use.
- Travel insurance: save the policy as a PDF and, above all, the assistance phone number and policy number, which is what a hospital will ask you for. The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs recommends having insurance that covers any eventuality.
- Vaccines and health: if your destination requires it, book an appointment at an International Vaccination Centre (Centro de Vacunación Internacional) well in advance. Spain’s Ministry of Health publishes advice for international travellers, and the World Health Organization its travel and health information.
- Regular medication: take what you need for the whole trip along with the medical report or prescription, and check whether your medicine is restricted at your destination.
- International certificate of vaccination, if you’ve been given one: it’s an entry document in some countries.
In Kokai, the annual policy and the EHIC go in the wallet (type «Seguro», “Insurance”), and vaccination certificates as «Salud y vacunas» (“Health and vaccines”). Insurance taken out for just one trip can go inside that trip.
Tickets, bookings and admission tickets
These are the documents you look at most during the trip, and the ones most often buried in your email. What’s useful about each one isn’t the whole PDF, but three details: the date and time, the booking reference and the address or meeting point.
- Flights: the boarding pass (many airlines provide it as a PDF or in their own app) and the booking reference. Download it beforehand: the airport doesn’t always have a good connection.
- Trains, buses and boats: the ticket with the code that gets scanned, and the carriage and seat number.
- Accommodation: the confirmation with the address, phone number, check-in and check-out times and the free cancellation deadline.
- Timed tickets: museums, monuments and activities sold in time slots. Put the time in the plan and build the day around it.
- Car hire: the booking, plus the excess and the deposit you’ll be charged.
In Kokai, when you add a PDF that contains text, the app reads it on the device, with no AI and no server: it recognises about 60 brands (airlines, trains, accommodation, car hire) and fills in the type, dates and times, booking reference, price and free cancellation. It never overwrites what you’ve typed. A photo or a scanned PDF has no text and isn’t read. The details are in PDF bookings.
On the day before a dated ticket, booking, admission ticket or hire car, at 18:00, «Mañana: …» (“Tomorrow: …”) arrives with its reference and the reminder that you also have it offline.
If you’re going to drive
With a Spanish driving licence, according to Spain’s Directorate-General for Traffic (DGT):
- Within the EU and the European Economic Area (Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein), your licence is valid for as long as it’s in force, with no paperwork for trips or short stays.
- Outside the EU and the EEA, you generally need the International Driving Permit, which isn’t valid on its own: it always goes together with your valid Spanish licence. It’s valid for one year and can’t be extended. Some countries with agreements don’t require it: check the DGT page and the country’s consulate.
With a licence from another country, the rules are those of the country that issued it and those of your destination. In Kokai, your licence and the international permit go in the wallet as «Coche y conducción» (“Car and driving”), with their expiry date for the 30-day alert.
Checklist
One row per document. “Type in Kokai” says where to save it, with the type’s name as it appears in the app, in Spanish; “Wallet” is for what’s valid for all your trips.
| Document | When you need it | Where to check | Type in Kokai |
|---|---|---|---|
| Passport | Outside the EU, always; within it, if you don’t carry an ID card | Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs travel recommendations; the country’s embassy | Pasaporte (“Passport”) · Wallet |
| National ID card (DNI in Spain) | Within the EU and Schengen, as an EU national | Your Europe | Documento de identidad (“ID document”) · Wallet |
| Visa | If your nationality needs one for that destination | The country’s official website or its embassy | Visado (“Visa”) · in the trip |
| Electronic authorisation (ETIAS, ESTA, eTA) | Visa-exempt nationalities, depending on the destination | The official website of each system | Visado (“Visa”) · in the trip |
| European Health Insurance Card | EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and United Kingdom | European Commission; Spain’s Seguridad Social | Seguro (“Insurance”) · Wallet |
| Travel insurance (policy and assistance phone number) | Always advisable; some countries require it | Ministry of Foreign Affairs; your insurer | Seguro (“Insurance”) · Wallet or trip |
| Vaccination certificate | If the destination requires or recommends it | Spanish Ministry of Health; WHO | Salud y vacunas (“Health and vaccines”) · Wallet |
| Tickets and boarding passes | Every journey | The carrier | Billete (“Ticket”) · in the trip |
| Accommodation bookings | Every stay | The website or the hotel | Reserva (“Booking”) · in the trip |
| Timed tickets | Anything sold in time slots | The venue’s official website | Entrada (“Admission ticket”) · in the trip |
| Driving licence and international permit | If you hire a car | DGT; the country’s consulate | Coche y conducción (“Car and driving”) · Wallet |
| Hire car booking | If you hire a car | The hire company | Coche y conducción (“Car and driving”) · in the trip |
Copies: on your phone, on paper and somewhere else
The rule that holds with any app: no important document should exist in only one place.
- The originals, with you and kept apart from your phone.
- A copy on your phone, offline: the PDF of each ticket and booking and a photo of your passport pages. Before you leave, check that they open in airplane mode.
- A paper copy of the essentials (passport, insurance with its phone number, first night’s accommodation), in a different bag. It doesn’t run out of battery.
- A copy off your phone that you can reach from another device, or that someone you trust has at home.
Before you leave, the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs also recommends signing up to its Registro de Viajeros (travellers’ register), so you can be located in an emergency.
What Kokai does with your documents
| What | How |
|---|---|
| Where they’re saved | In each trip’s «Documentos» (“Documents”), and in the wallet whatever is valid for all of them: passport, ID card, annual insurance, driving licence, vaccines. The wallet opens from «Tus viajes» (“Your trips”). |
| Types | Pasaporte (Passport), Documento de identidad (ID document), Visado (Visa), Seguro (Insurance), Billete (Ticket), Reserva (Booking), Entrada (Admission ticket), Coche y conducción (Car and driving), Salud y vacunas (Health and vaccines) and Otro (Other). |
| Files | PDFs or photos, on the device. They open offline. On your phone you can take the photo on the spot. |
| Details of each document | Title, «A nombre de» (“In the name of”), «Referencia o localizador» (“Reference or booking code”), «Desde» (“From”), «Hasta» (“To”), «Caduca» (“Expires”), related place and tags. |
| Alerts | A document expires: 30 days before, at 10:00. Passport cutting it fine for a trip: 60 days before departure, at 10:00. Day before a ticket, booking, admission ticket or car: at 18:00. All local: they work offline. |
| Reading PDFs | On the device, with no AI: type, dates, booking reference, price and cancellation. Up to 6 pages and 20 MB. |
| Passport, ID card and health | They never leave the device: neither the file nor its details go into your account copy. |
| Other documents | Their details (title, booking reference, dates) go into your account copy, unless you turn it off in Settings → «Cuenta» (“Account”). Their files, never. |
| AI | It never receives your documents, not even a booking reference. |
| Copy in Google Drive | Soon: it’s built but can’t be turned on yet. |
What Kokai doesn’t do
- It doesn’t check entry requirements. It doesn’t know your nationality or what any country asks for. The six-month alert is a fixed threshold to make you look, not a rule.
- It doesn’t process visas or authorisations. You apply for them on each country’s official website.
- It doesn’t read photos. A photographed ticket or a scanned PDF is saved and opens, but doesn’t fill itself in.
- It doesn’t store your files on any server. If you lose your phone, the PDFs and photos that were only on it are lost with it, and your passport, ID card and health documents entirely. That’s why a copy somewhere else isn’t optional.
- It doesn’t replace the originals. At a border you’ll be asked for your real passport or ID card, not a photo of it.
Frequently asked questions
How long does my passport need to be valid to travel?
It depends on the destination and your nationality. To enter the Schengen area as a non-EU national, the Schengen Borders Code requires it to be valid for at least three months after the planned departure and issued within the last ten years. Many countries outside the EU require six months. Check the country’s page with the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs or its embassy before you travel.
Can I travel around Europe with just my ID card?
As a national of an EU country, yes, around the 27 EU countries and Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, with an ID card valid on the day of travel, according to Your Europe. For the United Kingdom and other countries outside, check what they require: you may need a passport.
Do I need to apply for ETIAS yet?
Check the EU’s official website (travel-europe.europa.eu) before you travel. In its latest announcement we were able to check, the European Commission placed it in the last quarter of 2026 and said the exact date would be announced in advance. It only affects visa-exempt nationalities; EU nationals don’t need it.
Is a photo of my passport on my phone enough?
It’s useful for having the number to hand or for a police report if you lose it, but not for crossing a border or, in general, for identifying yourself to an authority. Carry the original.
What happens to my documents if I lose my phone?
In Kokai, the files are on the device. The details of tickets and bookings are still in your account (unless you turned the copy off) and you’ll see them when you sign in from another device, but without their PDFs. Your passport, ID card and health documents never leave the device. That’s why a paper copy and another one off your phone are a good idea.
Will Kokai warn me if I’m missing a visa?
No. It doesn’t know your nationality or any country’s requirements. It alerts you to what it can know: that a document is expiring, that a passport is cutting it fine for the trip’s dates and that a ticket departs or a booking starts tomorrow.
Sources and references
The original documentation for what is cited here, checked on this page’s review date.
- Regulation (EU) 2016/399, Schengen Borders Code (Article 6) Official Journal of the European Union, on the BOE (Spanish Official Gazette)
- Travel documents for EU nationals Your Europe, European Union
- Travel recommendations by country Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Main differences between the EES and ETIAS European Commission, Migration and Home Affairs
- ETIAS European Union
- ESTA, official application U.S. Customs and Border Protection
- Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) Government of Canada
- European Health Insurance Card European Commission
- Health advice for international travellers Spanish Ministry of Health
- Driving abroad: international permit Spain’s Directorate-General for Traffic (DGT)
Keep reading
- DocumentsHow Kokai keeps tickets, bookings and passport as PDF or photo to open offline, what it warns you about before they expire and what stays on your device.
- Booking PDFsWhat Kokai reads from a booking confirmation PDF offline without AI: 65 brands, 8 classes, labels in 7 languages, dates, price, cancellation and an example.
- Plan a tripA five-night trip to Lisbon and Sintra planned from start to finish: places, accommodation, a timed plan, documents, packing list, alerts and On the road mode.
- Your dataWhat Kokai keeps on your device, what goes to your account copy, which services get anything and when, what never leaves, and how to export or delete it all.
- GlossaryTravel glossary: what a geofence, a stay, a booking reference, GPS hysteresis or PMTiles is. 35 travel and map terms, with the figures Kokai uses.