It’s a good idea to keep a valid passport around no matter if you live in North America or Europe. Doesn’t hurt to be prepared.
Good luck getting one right now, they fired everyone who’s not a cop
Even when they run at full capacity it takes about 30 to 90 days for the paperwork to process.
I applied for a passport on March 1st and it is showing up on the 25th and I know someone else who applied on the same day and got theirs a week or so earlier. It isn’t taking long right now
Not true, my wife and I did our paperwork a few weeks ago and they’re due to arrive this week. Granted we paid for expedited, but they’re moving along.
Go get one, it’s only a question of time when you can’t anymore.
And then they’ll stop letting anyone out even if they have one.
That’s why op should get the hell out of there asap.
no it isn’t, but they should get one anyway.
Yes it is for a lot of people. Do you think the system will happily keep working for those it persecutes? This is a mistake a lot of Jews, Democrats, LGBT and others make every time the can’t imagine their country goes fascist, and it always backfires. Right now of those who’re technically eligible for a passport, citizens with migrant origin (or those who “look like it”) as well as trans people are already in danger of not being able to flee anymore. The first are persecuted by ICE, the second are being erased and now they (with Musk at the helm) start framing them as terrorists.
You’re living under a fascist government, act accordingly and do it swiftly.
“Yes it is for a lot of people”
Yes, changing your question will yield a different answer.
“Do you think the system will happily keep working for those it persecutes?”
it never has, why do you think a system will help the people it is persecuting? persecution is inherently harmful.
"…can’t imagine their country goes fascist, and it always backfires. "
well, guess what, you don’t have to guess anymore. your country is actively going fascist (you sound American).
“You’re living under a fascist government, act accordingly and do it swiftly.”
I am definitively not, and I’ve been helping others get out from under the boot heel for a decade and a half.
You’re talking out your elbow.
as you’re an American, I suppose you pay taxes and support that government that you claim upsets you so?
I don’t.
sounds like you’re the problem.
Your mode of conversation is quite odd.
I really got into specificity and accuracy lately, which does seem to confuse people.
I think you’ve gotten into being brief or “concise” but it isn’t working, because instead you’re just not explaining your thoughts clearly for others to understand you.
Also in this whole post, you seemed to not understand that OP’s statement about needing a passport is because he is American and needs to be ready to escape as needed. So in this thread, someone said to get it now before it’s too late, but your reply seemed to suggest that OP would always have access. So everyone was trying to explain to you that if he is an American currently targeted for persecution, he might lose that opportunity. Which you seem to agree with. I think everyone was just confused to your point.
“I think you’ve gotten into being brief or “concise” but it isn’t working”
works great for me and other people; brief and concise answers don’t work for you or other people who base their reasoning on assumptions.
you can remedy that by asking for clarification on the things you don’t understand.
“you seemed to not understand that OP’s statement about needing a passport is because he is American and needs to be ready to escape as needed.”
I understood just fine, hence my specifically directed answer.
If you had asked for clarification rather than formulated a conclusion from a false assumption, you wouldn’t be so wrong here.
your key incorrect phrase is a guess: “seemed to not understand…”. this was wrong.
“someone said to get it now before it’s too late, but your reply seemed to suggest that OP would always have access”
again, you are incorrect because you’re drawing a conclusion based on a false assumption(…seemed to suggest…").
My replies didn’t seem to suggest anything, i said very clearly that commenters who were telling him how difficult it was to get a passport were full of shit, because right now it Is very easy to get a passport.
in your head, you apparently pretended that the present tense implied “forever”, which is not what I said or what the present tense implies.
“everyone was trying to explain to you…”
no, some people were as confused as you are and decided to draw incorrect conclusions based on false assumptions rather than ask questions. other people were not as confused or asked clarifying questions.
those people received clarifying answers for the things they didn’t understand.
“you seem to agree with…”
it is a known fact, I don’t know why everyone in the thread expects anyone to disagree with marginalized populations being persecuted.
“I think everyone was just confused to your point.”
many people were confused, yes. but everyone who asked clarifying questions rather than drawing incorrect conclusions based on false assumptions got clarification.
I don’t really care if people get confused by unfamiliar facts, that is the state of people and the world they briefly occupy.
That confusion is fairly easy to solve; easily remedied, willfully refused.
Bwahahaha. Apparently your “accuracy” doesn’t include the wisdom to avoid rhetorical nonsense, for example how not to construct a straw man. I saw similar behaviour with other people before. You’re either a troll or lying to yourself. Either way and with all due respect, you’re full of shit. I take the “you sound American” as a compliment for my English skills though, given it’s not my first language. I’m not American, fortunately.
yes, bwahaha.
boy, I wish whatever orientation class you guys attended that taught you the wrong definition of “straw man” means actually taught you what the phrase “straw man” means instead.
“you’re full of shit.”
nope, That’s another assumption born of frightened ignorance.
“I take the…”
of course you did, your entire answer is based on false assumptions.
“Yes it is for a lot of people”
Yes, changing your question will yield a different answer.
Lol, if you think this was changing the question, no wonder people get “upset” at you for your obsession with “accuracy”.
lol, I don’t mind people getting upset over accuracy.
Am I having a stroke? It looks like you’re debating someone but there isn’t even a difference of opinion
“Am I having a stroke?”
I can’t definitively tell from here, but your typing suggests not.
“It looks like you’re debating someone but there isn’t even a difference of opinion”
there’s a difference of fact, context and “yes” isn’t very close to “no”, but many people in this thread appear as confused as you are, so don’t take your lost footing to heart.
it isn’t good for your stroke anxiety.
There are already trans people in that situation.
correct.
Depending on Ops race and gender, maybe
no maybe about it.
deleted by creator
mmhmmm, what about DEI are you curious about?
It’s only a matter of time until they stop letting us out
Best to work on your cardio now as well, if you’ve gotta trek to a destination it’s best to have some endurance.
We’ve got big long borders and a lot of it is incredibly undeveloped.
Sometimes you gotta Von Trapp it.
Better hurry and get it before they make it practically or literally impossible for everyone except the most privileged…
or they force you to serve in the military first to earn a passport. kind of like earning your citizenship in starship troopers.
too old to serve?..didnt ask…
The way they talk about how military service should be required for basic privileges is terrifying as a disabled person. No I didn’t join the military to pay for my education, I was never going to be allowed in even if I wanted to
Some of the better arguments abstract it out to civil service requirements and not just military. I understand the urge to make people ‘prove’ their willingness to work for the betterment of the country before you let them vote, but I don’t think mandatory conscription would actually help.
Required civil service would be a very interesting program. Especially if they used it to build out important infrastructure like national parks that might otherwise be neglected.
I’m remembering one discussion in particular where he used the Civilian Conservation Corps and other work-relief programs during the Great Depression as evidence that it’s perfectly possible for the government to just invent jobs to be done, and especially now that we’re in the digital age, there is zero reason to keep a ‘conscription to vote’ scheme as military only.
People in the military are less likely to disobey corrupt orders as long as they come from the correct chain of command.
Power comes from a politically consolidated military. The larger the military the greater the reigns of power become.
That’d be one incentive for the people in power to force citizens into the military.
Trump’s Golden Passport, only five millions, for a limited time only! Lets you go visa free to beautiful Puerto Rico, Guam, and soon to Canada and Greenland. Other destinations pending.
Order yours now!Conditions may apply.
Don’t forget the Gaza Rivera.
and depending on where you fall on the color chart, potentially sunny Guantanamo Bay.
cries in transgender
By the time you realize you need to have a passport, you should have already gotten one. I got my first passport in 2000. It took like a week. I lost it and had to get a new one in 2007. I got grilled by Homeland Security in a windowless office about whether or not I was familiar with the terrorist cells in the country I was vacationing in because it was a country with a significant Muslim population. I can’t imagine what it’s like now.
Sign up for some exchange program in a neutral country, buy a round-trip ticket, and just never come back.
I renewed a year or two ago and it was no big deal (US passport but longtime Japan resident) and took like 3 weeks. I think part of it was by mail, even, though I can’t recall for sure (I think I submitted in person and received by mail? Now that I live hours away from Tokyo, I certainly hope that’s an option in 8ish years).
it might be harder for people more than 15years expired, very inconvienient.
I renewed my US passport about 6 months ago. I was eligible to renew online. Cost around $130 if I remember correctly. The online process was actually really easy and it came in the mail only a few weeks later (2-3 weeks). Highly recommend renewing online if you meet the eligibility requirements.
This ☝️. You don’t even have to go to the store to get a passport picture taken if it’s a renewal, take a pic of yourself using their guidelines. Tripod or have someone take it for you. Send that in. 2-3 weeks it’s at your door.
it is still very easy to get a passport. I helped a friend get theirs last month, and more over the years.
don’t listen to any of the ignorant comments saying it’s difficult to get one; they don’t know what they’re talking about.
you can do it online or in person at a US Post office.
fill out the application form, takes maybe 20 minutes tops, pay the fee (165$), they take your picture, you will get your passport in the mail in a couple of weeks, it lasts for 10 years, renewable on the go from embassies and consulates.
If you have any questions about passports or traveling, fire away.
A passport costs 165 dollaroos? Damn. And I thought the 70 Euro we have to pay was excessive.
As a swede in france, you can add the travel cost to Paris, only the embassy there has the biometric machine to do passports…
Also the idiots in sweden thought 5 (yes five) years validity is a good thing.
yea, but $16 a year for an instant 50-90% reduced cost of living with guaranteed high-pay employment and no income tax while retaining access to consular services is a pretty good deal.
not as good as 7 bucks a year, but I’m not exactly going to quibble over the extra ten in the face of all the benefits.
What the fuck are you talking about
I think they think that by having a passport you can go work in another country and skip out on taxes?
I don’t know where they got that idea but it’s hella wrong.
I’ve been doing it for 15 years, I’m definitely correct.
Dementia
which part are you confused about?
I tried to make my answers very simple and concise.
which part don’t you understand?
These are your assertions:
- Americans with a passport are guaranteed a high paying job
- Anericans with a passport don’t have to pay US income tax
- Americans with a passport also don’t have to pay foreign income tax
- Americans with a passport can move ‘instantly’ (even with some leeway for figurative language) to somewhere with 50-90% lower cost of living.
Are you an illegal border-running English as a Second Language teacher in Cambodia by any chance?
no, those are not my assertions.
it seems that rather than ask clarifying questions, you’ve extrapolated false conclusions from a base of assumptive ignorance.
not very helpful.
I hate to break it to you then, you are terrible at communicating what your actual assertions are. Because you made those assertions simple and concise. Whatever you imagined you were saying, you didn’t. Hence: what the fuck are you talking about?
Damn it! Who let the bot out?!?!
I said it’s for internal testing only.
are you confused by the numbers or the words?
both are concise and to the point, in case someone like you happened upon them.
I just picked up my first passport in my entire life. I’m trying to get away from this hell hole.
it rocks out here, have fun.
Where have you been traveling to? I was thinking euro rail pass and travel Europe.
that’s a great idea, I traveled across Western and Central europe, pretty much all of asia, Australia, India, morocco, I’m in Guatemala right now.
after South America probably I should start on Africa, but the largest inhabited continent is such a massive undertaking that I haven’t got to it yet.
I don’t think Morocco counts, I need that sub-Saharan Safari vibe going on.
Super jelly. That all sounds life changing.
it fucking rocks. shoot me over a message if you ever have any questions, I love talking about this stuff and have helped more than a few people start traveling full time.
Will do!
What good would it do? Unless you’re planning to overstay a tourist passport entry and become an illegal in that country?
A passport is one of the most important documents you can have. It has many uses, and is relatively easy to get… at least in my country where we have government efficiency with funding— so we get it in two weeks else it’s free.
That is not relevant to the context, but good for you.
It’s a little relevant to the context, but doesn’t really move the discussion forward- I admit.
I found some sources for you, here’s one:
“The chances of fleeing now were slim. Germany had conquered most of western Europe and its ally Italy was invading France in the south. One of the few escape routes left was the long, eastward one, through the Soviet Union by train. Transportation was costly and official hurdles endless. Travelers needed passports or substitute papers stamped with several kinds of permissions: one for exiting the Soviet Union and others for countries of transit and of final destination. What country would accept Jewish refugees?”
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/flight-and-rescue
I want you to be well prepared, friend 😊
By your own source, those seeking passage required stamps - approval - by the destination country willing to accept them during a time of war. In the context of the OP and my following statement, the assumption is the person would depart to another country without the benefit of the equivalent of “stamps”, approval, or wartime ethno-religious refugee status. Just somebody overstaying a tourist passport stay. So no, not really relevant. That said, I don’t disagree with getting a passport, it might be easier to ask forgiveness in another country should TSHTF in the US, but let’s not kid ourselves on it being a valid method of escape in the current situation.
I’m trying to show how it could be useful for you.
If you consider the risk vs reward of having a passport, it seems like a clear calculation to me. It sounds like we agree then. It’s an extra tool you can have, not the ultimate escape plan. As I say, I believe I am mentioning it for your benefit.
idk, maybe hold onto it and hopefully not use it (?)
wow, the comments went really somewhere.
Do you prioritize not having illegal status in another country over your own ability to stay alive and stay safe?
They deport you. Do you have confidence in evading authorities and working menial jobs under the table for a lifetime?
That’s the point.
not the only two options, you can legally stay in other countries very easily.
I don’t think the United States is going to turn into freaking Yemen. It’s not good for your mental health and those surrounding you to start thinking you are actually going to get executed or something like that.
by having a passport you can instantly decrease your cost of living and if you’re a native English speaker, start saving money instantly. there’s great food in other countries and tons to learn, you don’t have to overstay a tourist visa to travel.
that’s the whole point of visas, you legally stay in the country
You are confusing passports and visas.
They are not the same thing.
One is a piece of identification that, if accepted by the destination, allows you temporary entry into the country. That is all.
Visas are very specific for what you are allowed to do, whether it be a student visa, work, or some kind of residency.
I have no idea what you mean by reducing cost of living if your residency is limited and you are paying travel expenses to/from the destination. As far as food goes, yeah, it’s great to experience it, but again no real bearing on the discussion.
“You are confusing passports and visas.”
I’ve been traveling for 15 years, I’m not confusing passports and visas.
“I have no idea what you mean by reducing cost of living”
imagine you have to pay $800 in rent.
that $800 is your cost of living.
imagine that next month you move to a different house that costs $400 in rent.
you move there and now pay $400 per month.
that is a reduced cost of living.
"…travel expenses to/from the destination. "
travel expenses are so low as to be insignificant when compared to the amount of money you save on cost of living while traveling abroad.
I’ve been traveling longer and I travel for a living, not that any of that is relevant considering the differences between the visa and passport are freely available online, yet you handwave that away. You conveniently sidestep travel costs. Maybe they’re easy for you. That’s not the case for many. I can’t believe you skipped past that along with living expenses. There are serious limitations to who can rent/own in some countries, local banks are usually required, asset transfers abroad are limited by the US along with limitations by the destination countries on how much money a foreigner is allowed to hold in an account. Maybe you’re EU where relocation is relatively simple or some other country where CoL is cheap, I can state for a fact that there are plenty of hurdles to relocating from the US to many countries. We are actively exploring it and it is absolutely not as simple as hopping on a plane, renting a flat, and taking in the local cuisine at the cafe on the corner.
if you need any help, I’ve been helping people travel full time for as long as I stated, in stark contrast to your claim of “I’ve been traveling longer” followed by your claim of exploring the options of long-term travel.
unlike you, I have been traveling indefinitely for over a decade and do know what I’m talking about, and I will help you if you want help.
“I’ve been traveling longer”
if you misunderstood my comment enough that you had to look up the difference between passports and visas, then you are certainly not a traveler.
you also said when referring to long-term travel that you are still “exploring it”.
you don’t know what you’re talking about, so don’t make things up.
“You conveniently sidestep travel costs.”
incorrect, I explicitly state that the travel costs are insignificant compared to the savings.
“Maybe they’re easy for you.”
they are easy for most people who care to learn about them.
you clearly do not know anything about travel costs, hence yoir confusion.
you can ask questions instead of trying to attack me without a basic knowledge; it’s not going to work and you’re just going to end up sounding more foolish.
“I can’t believe you handwaved that away along with living expenses.”
that’s because you’re making this about beliefs instead of the facts on the ground.
hostels are $90 a month in Cambodia right now.
what is the cost of your rent and utilities right now?
“There are serious limitations to who can rent/own in some countries”
incorrect us to rent, but if you want to buy a house, don’t buy one in those six countries, there are 200 other countries.
“local banks are requires, asset transfers abroad are limited…”
none of this is correct for what I’ve talked about so far, so I’m not sure what you’re talking about.
“by the destination countries on how much money a foreigner is allowed to hold in an account.”
all of your concerns are marginal cases that I haven’t explained yet.
nonetheless, you are wrong about all of them so far.
most countries do not limit how much money you can have abroad.
“can state for a fact that there are plenty of hurdles to relocating from the US to many countries.”
no you cannot, because the facts defy your anxieties.
I’ve been traveling like this a long time, helping other people travel like this, it’s very doable and in every case I’ve come across, easier than their life was in the states.
and again, the facts prove you wrong on their face.
US citizens can travel coun Lisa free or with visa on arrival to 186 countries.
"We are actively exploring it and it is absolutely not as simple as hopping on a plane, renting a flat, and taking in the local cuisine at the cafe on the corner. "
again, you are wrong. it is exactly that easy to start traveling, from the states especially.
if you have a passport, you can sell all of your things, jump on a plane, and start living abroad indefinitely tomorrow.
you don’t have to, no one’s going to make you, but for nearly every native-english speaking American or anyone making more than 500 USD per month remotely, that is an option.
Incredible to think that something like 65% of Americans have NEVER left the country, not even to Canada or Mexico. More impressive, even, is that like 40% have left their home STATE.
How many live paycheck to paycheck
I imagine that’s a large part of it, yes, but how many don’t, and just CHOOSE to stay in like, Oklahoma or something?
I mean it’s a very large country with many interesting places, diverse landscapes etc etc, I don’t find it particularly strange to never have left. I wonder how many Europeans have never left Europe, though I guess the cultural differences between countries there is larger than between states in the US.
its to keep them ignorant, most of them tend to be conservatives, the only time they would leave is joining ht emilitary, that is about it. i never been to mexico, but i been to canada on both coasts different times when i was younger. was in china pre-2000.
I got mine very recently and I’m so happy about it. I’m trying to get my family members to get it as well but they refuse to, it’s upsetting.
I feel your frustration.
I got my passport 15 years ago and have been traveling since then, and since then family members, friends and strangers have complained to me about things that could easily be remedied by moving.
one friend has been complaining about the states pretty much the entire time since I left, asking me how she can travel like I do, and even today is still saying “I just have to get a passport and get out of here”, which is what she was saying 15 years ago.
Americans are starting to self deport to discover new worlds.
to get on a boat, that I may or may not need to own, and sail away from here.
