Most Popular
1. It’s a New Macro, the Gold Market Knows It, But Dead Men Walking Do Not (yet)- Gary_Tanashian
2.Stock Market Presidential Election Cycle Seasonal Trend Analysis - Nadeem_Walayat
3. Bitcoin S&P Pattern - Nadeem_Walayat
4.Nvidia Blow Off Top - Flying High like the Phoenix too Close to the Sun - Nadeem_Walayat
4.U.S. financial market’s “Weimar phase” impact to your fiat and digital assets - Raymond_Matison
5. How to Profit from the Global Warming ClImate Change Mega Death Trend - Part1 - Nadeem_Walayat
7.Bitcoin Gravy Train Trend Forecast 2024 - - Nadeem_Walayat
8.The Bond Trade and Interest Rates - Nadeem_Walayat
9.It’s Easy to Scream Stocks Bubble! - Stephen_McBride
10.Fed’s Next Intertest Rate Move might not align with popular consensus - Richard_Mills
Last 7 days
Stock Market Brief in Count Down to US Election Result 2024 - 3rd Nov 24
Gold Stocks’ Winter Rally 2024 - 3rd Nov 24
Why Countdown to U.S. Recession is Underway - 3rd Nov 24
Stock Market Trend Forecast to Jan 2025 - 2nd Nov 24
President Donald PUMP Forecast to Win US Presidential Election 2024 - 1st Nov 24
At These Levels, Buying Silver Is Like Getting It At $5 In 2003 - 28th Oct 24
Nvidia Numero Uno Selling Shovels in the AI Gold Rush - 28th Oct 24
The Future of Online Casinos - 28th Oct 24
Panic in the Air As Stock Market Correction Delivers Deep Opps in AI Tech Stocks - 27th Oct 24
Stocks, Bitcoin, Crypto's Counting Down to President Donald Pump! - 27th Oct 24
UK Budget 2024 - What to do Before 30th Oct - Pensions and ISA's - 27th Oct 24
7 Days of Crypto Opportunities Starts NOW - 27th Oct 24
The Power Law in Venture Capital: How Visionary Investors Like Yuri Milner Have Shaped the Future - 27th Oct 24
This Points To Significantly Higher Silver Prices - 27th Oct 24
US House Prices Trend Forecast 2024 to 2026 - 11th Oct 24
US Housing Market Analysis - Immigration Drives House Prices Higher - 30th Sep 24
Stock Market October Correction - 30th Sep 24
The Folly of Tariffs and Trade Wars - 30th Sep 24
Gold: 5 principles to help you stay ahead of price turns - 30th Sep 24
The Everything Rally will Spark multi year Bull Market - 30th Sep 24
US FIXED MORTGAGES LIMITING SUPPLY - 23rd Sep 24
US Housing Market Free Equity - 23rd Sep 24
US Rate Cut FOMO In Stock Market Correction Window - 22nd Sep 24
US State Demographics - 22nd Sep 24
Gold and Silver Shine as the Fed Cuts Rates: What’s Next? - 22nd Sep 24
Stock Market Sentiment Speaks:Nothing Can Topple This Market - 22nd Sep 24
US Population Growth Rate - 17th Sep 24
Are Stocks Overheating? - 17th Sep 24
Sentiment Speaks: Silver Is At A Major Turning Point - 17th Sep 24
If The Stock Market Turn Quickly, How Bad Can Things Get? - 17th Sep 24
IMMIGRATION DRIVES HOUSE PRICES HIGHER - 12th Sep 24
Global Debt Bubble - 12th Sep 24
Gold’s Outlook CPI Data - 12th Sep 24

Market Oracle FREE Newsletter

How to Protect your Wealth by Investing in AI Tech Stocks

How to Avoid Second Passport Scams and Traps

Politics / US Politics Nov 14, 2013 - 09:55 AM GMT

By: Casey_Research

Politics

By Nick Giambruno, Senior Editor, International Man

It's a predictable reaction that a government in need of cash will turn to destructive measures, such as currency creation and increasing taxes and regulations.

Unfortunately, those measures are just the hors d'oeuvres before a 10 course meal.

As they become progressively more desperate, governments throughout history and all around the world have always turned to more destructive policies, such as capital controls, price controls, people controls, official currency devaluations, wealth confiscations, retirement account nationalizations, and more.


It's a simple relationship. The more a government's fiscal health declines, the more destructive measures it takes.

This is what political risk is all about. And it's no secret that political risk is rising in many parts of the world, in particular, in the US where spending on warfare and welfare continues unabated.

This trend has led to a surge in interest in the topic of obtaining second passports as people look for ways to diversify the risks of being totally dependent on their home government. The reasons for obtaining a second passport are well established, and I have covered them before. (See this article)

Naturally, this has also led to a surge in second passport scams and traps, which are not always easily identifiable.

If you decide to pursue a second passport, you absolutely want to make sure the path you are taking to obtain it is in fact legitimate. Unfortunately, there is no way to acquire a legitimate second passport that is at the same time fast, easy, and inexpensive. But this does not lessen the need to do so.

Some passport scams, such as the selling of alleged "diplomatic passports," are obvious. Others that involve grey market passports are less obvious but similarly dangerous.

If you end up falling for a second passport scam or trap, it will likely end up causing you significant problems and limiting your options. Your goal should be the opposite: minimizing your problems and expanding your options.

My advice is to treat grey and black market passports (and the hucksters who peddle them) in the same manner you would a random solicitation to wire money to some Nigerian you don't know: run—don't walk—away from these people.

What Are Grey and Black Market Passports?

Black market passports are completely illegitimate documents; they are not genuine and have not been officially issued. They include stolen, cloned, and counterfeit passports. Black market passports are mainly in the realm of organized crime and spy agencies. While it is not impossible that you will run across black market passports in your search for a legit second passport, it is also not very likely.

Grey market passports on the other hand are far more common and have the appearance of legitimacy, which makes it even more important for you to be able to identify them.

Grey market passports are officially issued passports that were obtained in a way (usually from a bribed local official) that skirted the normal legal requirements for naturalization. The way this usually happens is a service provider will talk about a "special friend" in a foreign government who can help you get a passport faster and easier than would be the case if all the proper legal requirements were followed.

Some of the most common grey market passports pushed by promoters have come from Bulgaria, Belize, the Dominican Republic, Paraguay, and Cambodia. This doesn't mean there aren't legitimate ways to obtain second passports from these countries; there are. It just means if you see someone promoting these passports be absolutely certain that you are meeting the legal naturalization requirements.

No matter the country, you or those advising you should be able to point to specific naturalization laws with explicitly defined requirements that clearly spell out everything. This information is usually located on the local government's website or one of their consulate or embassy's websites.

If you cannot verify this information in some way with the local government, or if what a service provider is telling you doesn't correspond with the legal requirements, consider it a major red flag. The service provider or promoter is in all likelihood attempting to sell you an illegitimate passport, one that does not have any basis in law and thus should be avoided.

This is especially true of service providers that hype little-known economic citizenship programs. There are certainly legit economic citizenship programs, and they all have easily identifiable laws with specific costs that you can point to. It's the ones that do not have clear laws that specifically outline the program and its costs that you have to watch out for.

Costs Far Outweigh the Benefits

The potential troubles a grey market passport can cause you far outweigh any potential benefits.

In the electronic age where governments around the world have linked databases, it's foolish in the extreme to think you would be able to indefinitely get away with using an illegitimate passport. The consequences for using a fraudulent passport are severe almost everywhere in the world.

Grey market passports may work for a certain amount of time but are always at the risk of being cancelled at a moment's notice once the issuing government figures out that the passport was not properly obtained or the service provider's "special friend" is busted. In any case, it is nearly impossible for you to renew a grey or black market passport.

Americans have another reason to avoid grey market passports. And that reason is the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which makes bribing foreign government officials a criminal offense. This includes giving or offering "anything of value" to gain an "improper advantage." Obtaining a passport by bribing a corrupt foreign official to help you skirt the normal naturalization requirements most likely is a violation of the FCPA. I know it's something that I would not want hanging over my head.

How to Detect Illegitimate Passport Offers

As is normally the case, when something is too good to be true, it usually is. Here are a couple of points that will help fine tune your second passport BS detector.

  • I believe the best way to detect a grey market passport offer is to independently verify the promoter's claims against the specific and explicit naturalization requirements provided by the local government. If you are unable to do so, then it's nearly a sure bet that you are dealing with a grey market offer.
  • The cheapest legitimate economic citizenship program available today costs $100,000 plus tens of thousands of dollars in fees. It also takes at least a couple of months processing time under the best circumstances. Any economic citizenship program offered that is cheaper or faster should be treated with great caution, and those much cheaper/faster should be dismissed out of hand.
  • It is also important to make sure the information you are depending on is up to date. Naturalization requirements and options change frequently. For example, Belize and Grenada had legitimate economic citizenship programs in the past but no longer offer them.
  • Besides the economic citizenship options, marrying a local, having ancestry in a country, or other special circumstances, it generally takes at least five years to become naturalized in most countries. There are countries that will naturalize you in less time, but not many.
  • In order to become naturalized, practically every country in the world requires a thorough application process, which usually involves a background check and spending some time in the country. If the application process seems too easy, it should raise a red flag.

Conclusion

It is simple to see that the major costs of grey and black market passports outweigh the meager benefits.

The goal of internationalization is to increase your options in an uncertain world. Falling for a grey or black market passport scheme is a sure path to restrict your options… or worse. You should avoid them and the people who promote them like the plague.

Although there is a lot of bad advice and traps out there, it does not at all diminish the need to obtain the political-diversification benefits a legitimate second passport provides—a need that is growing each day as your home government sinks deeper into fiscal despair.

In order to safely navigate the veritable minefield that is out there, you need to have a trusted resource, such as Casey Research, to provide you with reliable information. You can find our top picks for the best countries to obtain a second passport in and how to do it here.

© 2013 Copyright Casey Research - All Rights Reserved

Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.

Casey Research Archive

© 2005-2022 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.


Post Comment

Only logged in users are allowed to post comments. Register/ Log in