Who Needs a Second Passport?

International Living Postcards--your daily escape

Thursday, Oct. 5, 2006

The English political philosopher Edmund Burke (1729-97) observed in another time: "Early and provident fear is the mother of safety."

That remains good advice today for world travelers. Safety in travel means using a national passport that keeps the bearer as far away as possible from controversy. Travel in the Middle East, the Balkans, parts of Russia, or Asia using a U.S. passport may mean you're a target for terrorism.

But the reasons to obtain a second passport are many.

Holding a passport from any of the European Union nations gives you the valuable right to live, work, and do business in every one of the EU nations.

You can get a second passport as a matter of right, based on ancestors born in nations such as Ireland, Italy, or even the United Kingdom. If you can afford it, "economic citizenship" can be obtained in a matter of months from the two nations that still sell these (the Commonwealth of Dominica, and St. Kitts and Nevis, both in the Caribbean area)--but at a high price.

There's no need to surrender your current U.S. passport if you do acquire a second passport. U.S. law fully supports the right of Americans to enjoy dual citizenship.

Today passport requirements are moving in two opposite directions: more liberal; and more strict.

With the advent of the EU, national borders of 25 nations have fallen. More than 400 million people are allowed to travel freely without showing individual national passports.

On the other hand, the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington caused the U.S. government, and many other nations, to tighten formerly easy visa rules for foreign visitors. Within a few years almost all visitors to America will be forced to have digital, biometric passports with detailed personal and physical information readable by computers. The EU and the UK are adopting similar passport standards.

Another restrictive development is the denial of passports for a host of civil and other wrongs. In the U.S. any parent in arrears for $2,500 or more in child support loses his or her passport. Further, the U.S. government now keeps a computerized record of every exit and entry a U.S. passport holder makes, together with the nations visited.

All of which commends the possibility that you should consider obtaining a second passport from another nation.

In an unsettled world, acquiring a second citizenship is a wise decision, an investment in your future. Your second citizenship is a choice for life and that protective shield can be extended to your spouse and children, too.

Bob Bauman J.D.
Legal Counsel, International Living

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