Going ahead with second passport: What to expect

 

Going Ahead: What to Expect

Good passport programs have always been in limited supply, more so now than ever. As of the time of writing, there were only a handful of professionals able to deliver truly useful documents.

As might be expected, the Internet or the classified ads section of international press are probably not the best places to go passport-shopping.

 

In fact, passports are never “sold” as a commodity. Genuine consultants in the field of citizenship merely act as intermediaries to authorities in those jurisdictions where legislation or other circumstances permit qualified candidates to obtain second citizenship and the desired passport.

Arranging second citizenship is a sensitive occupation and the providers who have remained in the business to this day now almost exclusively rely on introductions from past clients. Those who find it necessary to openly advertise their services are sometimes not what they seem.

 

Keeping the second passport arena closed to the unscrupulous is an ongoing concern for any genuine provider, and all reserve the right to refuse their services to anyone. Nobody wants to see the ever-diminishing number of schemes reduced yet faster — and serving all clients without discrimination, including those who might wish to abuse the advantages of their second passport, is a sure way of doing just that. Be prepared to explain your reasons for wishing to acquire a second passport.

Do not expect a “menu” of countries to choose from. Virtually all genuine providers are contractually obliged not to release details of the programs they manage until they are in receipt of either a substantial monetary deposit or other evidence of the serious nature of any enquiry.

The reason for this is human nature itself: the world is full of people who like the idea of having a second passport, but who have no intention or means of obtaining one. Indeed, a common complaint amongst professionals in this business is the never-ending flow of non-committal enquiries. You should be clear about your priorities and the criteria, and communicate the same to your provider upfront.

 

The levels of investment required very. On occasions, citizenship and a passport of a decent second- or third-world country may be available for as little as US$ 17,000 to 25,000 excluding legal fees and commissions. That is the minimum — pay less and you are unlikely to get you what you have bargained for.

Expect to meet a number of documentary requirements. Whilst they may vary in format and detail depending on the program, you should be able to provide:

1. Full personal data (full name, permanent address, date & place of birth, present citizenship, marital status, etc.);
2. Copy of your current passport; if unavailable, a copy of another identity document (driving licence, birth certificate, etc.) may be accepted;
3. Curriculum Vitae (Resume) which should include details of education and qualifications, in particular full details of knowledge and experience in any specialist field of commerce or science;
4. A letter of reference (sometimes two) from a party that has known you for a significant period of time.

Other documents may be needed depending on the program.

But persevere and you will be well rewarded. Be aware that the storm clouds of future fiscal and personal oppression are already appearing on the political and legal landscapes of many formerly civilised nations. Getting a second passport now might prove to be one of the best insurance policies you ever buy.

Just don’t leave it too late. Good luck!

 

 

Getting Your Second Passport

The pathway to second citizenship is not always an easy one. Setting a realistic agenda at the outset is essential.

Perfect Second Passport?

Second passport programs come and go. At any one time, there may be any number of programs to choose from worldwide. Naturally, they vary greatly in both quality and cost.

There are many questions you should ask yourself before you make a commitment to a particular second passport program. Here are but a few:

* Is the political and/or economic stability of your passport-issuing country important?

* Will you wish to relocate there?

* How will a new citizenship and/or residence affect your tax position?

* If your concern is ease of travel, which parts of the world do you intend to travel to?

* Is asset protection a major priority?

* Is a name change important?

* What level of investment do you wish to commit?

It is clear that no single passport scheme can ever fit the needs of all prospective applicants.

What’s more, many soon find out that there is no program available that can meet all of their particular criteria!

(Some first mistakenly assume that having sufficient funds at their disposal guarantees success. This type of thinking, so typical of clients from the many new democracies in Europe and further east, may well apply in other areas of life; it does not always apply in the second passport business, however.)

There can never be such thing as a “perfect” second passport, despite what others might tell you. Be prepared to compromise.

Choosing the Right Passport Program

Given that individual priorities very, how does one sort out the good, the bad, and the ugly and judge what’s best at any given time? With great difficulty, I’m afraid.If you have followed my writings, you will be aware that I attempt to apply some common (and common-sense) criteria that define a good second passport:

1. Good visa-free travel
2. Suitable for asset protection and banking*
3. Low profile
4. Reliable, tried and tested scheme
5. Reasonable cost

The choice of these criteria is based on years of experience of what the vast majority of applicants demand.In my opinion, there are only  four schemes available today that fulfil the above criteria. Of these, only two allow legal name change, and one — costing just under US$ 120,000 (plus legal fees depending on provider) — is considered too expensive by some.Nevertheless, your options may well be wider as some of the above criteria may not apply to you, depending on your circumstances and your agreement (or otherwise) to what I say.

Camouflage Passports – Passports from Fictitious Countries : Buyer beware

Camouflage Passports

These documents are not illegal as such and are sold by a firm in “cyberspace” quite openly. They offer passports from states that have ceased to exist and changed their names: such as British Honduras, Burma, Dutch Guiana, Spanish Guinea, Zanzibar, Rhodesia, New Granada, British West Indies, Eastern Samoa, USSR, British Guyana, New Hebrides, Netherlands East Indies and so on.

The documents are sold for a highly inventive and highly unlikely reason. The usual sales tactic is that should you encounter a hijacking, you should quickly pull out your bogus passport from the USSR. Your US, Israeli or British document — dependant on the political bent of your captors — being a sure fire means of ensuring that you are first off the gangplank if bloodshed occurs. This extraordinary rationale clearly masks the real attraction of these “historical curiosities”. Use them to travel across borders or open bank accounts and you will of course be committing an illegal act. Many of what I have seen termed “Privacy Boutiques” sell this kind of rubbish along with other equally useless items.

African Passports

A cheap, easy and completely useless option. These documents are widely available and are also touted by “Privacy Boutiques” who will, for example, sell you a passport from Mozambique for as little as $4000 –your “investment” in Mozambique being supposedly used to fund a dam project.

The truth behind this assertion is difficult to prove one way or the other. What is without doubt is that a document from Mozambique is about as much use as a chocolate teapot. You can travel virtually nowhere, any bank that accepts it as a valid form of ID is a bank which should be avoided and you run the not insubstantial risk that the document may have been obtained in some unorthodox fashion and therefore be a potential source of problems for your person or assets.

Let me state categorically that I have no knowledge of what kind of document the Mozambique one is but experience of other African states leads me to the conclusion that caution might be an appropriate response. Documents from Chad, in Western Africa, were offered for many years by an individual in London; at one time, they were perfectly legally issued but equally as useless. The official route was then closed but this did not prevent them from being available — they were merely stolen and the business carried on as usual. The truth was eventually revealed but not before many people had bought the bogus document.

Passports from Fictitious Countries

There are many of so-called “privacy boutiques” that litter the Internet with their rubbish and their easy-solution “must have” items. They exhibit monstrously low levels of professionalism (which is rife in the second passport arena) and tend to focus on conspiracies and other suspect justifications for the absolute need for their merchandise.

Such “Privacy Boutiques” also often offer passports from non-existent countries or unrecognised micro-nations. Oceanus, for example, is a “nation” operated from a P.O. Box and claims “all territory below the mean high tide”. The genesis behind these “nations” ranges from libertarianism through eccentricity to fraud.

I have been amazed to hear of the number of people who have fallen for the scam that is the “Dominion of Melchizidek”, run by convicted con artist Mark Pedley (who also goes under the bizarre name of Branch Vinedresser)! Melchizidek offers passports, bank charters and all manner of useless paperwork. Do not be another victim of this long-term deception.

Special mention needs to given to the brilliantly eccentric free thinker King Roy of Sealand who claims “Sealand”, a platform lying in the North Sea just outside the UK territorial waters. King Roy claims he does not issue passports even though one turned up in the Versace murder case.

Buyer Beware

I hope it will then have become apparent to the readership of this article that there are many dangers awaiting the hopeful recipient of a second passport.

You must not only be sure of the advisor who is introducing the passport program but also the validity of the program itself. It may be that the advisor himself is scrupulously honest but has himself been deceived. This is not uncommon with many well-known and honourable agents getting caught off-guard — as with the case of Chad — where greed dictates that in the event of the official route drying up, an alternative illegal one may appear. This means that what was perfectly legitimate one week may turn out to be bogus the next.

Identity – Theft Semi-official Passports – Shadow Passport Schemes

 

Identity Theft

This form of document is 100% illegal although very prevalent. The process involves the use of another person’s birth certificate and/or other documents, often together with the assistance of a corrupt official in a passport-issuing office.

Stolen and Falsified Passports

This form of second passport is the most dangerous and is most likely to be detected.

Often passports are stolen from a passport-issuing office (such as town hall) and then falsely doctored. Belgium, for example, issued passports on a regional communal basis and some of these communes had an archaic hand-written passport that was a common target for this form of activity. Belgian passports were once offered at hugely inflated prices, apparently to justify their first-world “quality”. Nevertheless, these documents landed many of their owners in very deep trouble as they were reported as stolen and listed as such in police databases.

Semi-official Passports

Many countries will grant passports to foreign nationals who reside in their country for a number of years — the idea being that the foreigner has spent time and money there and will be contributing to the economy and so forth. Sometimes five years can turn into five minutes. This happens when an envelope containing the requisite number of dollar bills appears on an immigration official’s table. False paperwork is then filed declaring that the applicant arrived in the country five years ago and therefore fulfils the criterion. A number of palms will have to be greased too and as this passport was obtained as a result of corruption it is illegal. It is not uncommon for these rackets to carry on for a number of years and then be exposed when a new political party takes control. The passport is then rendered useless as the disgraced officials are revealed as corrupt and their handy work declared void.

Shadow Passport Schemes

These are passport programs that operate alongside official programs and are designed to deceive. They are usually perpetrated by corrupt officials eager to get a piece of the action for themselves and tempted by the seemingly easy pickings available and the credibility offered by the official program. This has been a problem in the Central American region particularly in Belize.

 

Second passport: Let the buyer beware

 

Let the Buyer Beware

Lost your money to a second passport fraud? You are not alone. But you might consider yourself lucky compared to some.

In my office I keep a file that grows thicker as the years pass. Inside are offers made by a wide variety of corporations, often with implausible names and from very exotic locations (International Attorneys S.A. from Aruba and then the Seychelles, some nonsense corporation from Budapest, and many others), offering all manner of tempting second passport offers.

 

Many of these operations disappear from sight after a short time often leaving their clients with either nothing at all except a large financial loss, or some worthless and perhaps very dangerous, illegally obtained document. I call such documents dangerous because a person in possession of one of these — even though he or she may have obtained it in good faith — will probably be arrested if the document is detected as being fraudulent whilst under official scrutiny. The best that might be hoped for is deportation, the worst a custodial sentence.

 

Those that sell such documents pray upon the client’s limited knowledge of what remains a little understood area of law and an often desperate human need. In some ways, the crooks who merely disappear with their clients funds are fractionally morally superior to those who supply illegal documents — at least the applicant only suffers a limited financial loss, rather than risking imprisonment.

I offer the following list as a warning of the danger of deception. I am not in the habit of judging others’ activities and follow the biblical line ” first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then thou see clearly to cast out the mote of thy brother’s eye” (St. Matthew 7:5). However, I hope to enable the readership of this article to see a little clearer and be in a better position to make an informed decision.

 

A wide variety of illegal, bogus and sometimes dangerous second passports exist and these can be categorised as follows:

Identity Theft

This form of document is 100% illegal although very prevalent. The process involves the use of another person’s birth certificate and/or other documents, often together with the assistance of a corrupt official in a passport-issuing office.

 

Banking Passports

 

If your banking passport is not good for anything else but banking, it’s a bad banking passport.

So-called “banking passports” — that is second passports in another name used to hold assets confidentially — deserve special attention in this article. I hope to correct a few misconceptions about these.

As it is commonly understood, the very concept of a “banking passport” is in my mind fundamentally flawed. It suggests that the reason for owning the passport is purely for the purpose of banking in another name and, consequently, virtually any passport will do. This is wrong.

This common misconception has of course proved invaluable to those who are looking for some way to sell useless cheap passports from third world hell holes which provide virtually no opportunity for travel.

To give an example, I have been told in the past of an “amazing opportunity” which allows applicants to receive a passport from Niger, complete with instructions on how to use it to open a bank account. “Amazing opportunity?” I think not.

African passports, or any other passports that you cannot use to travel on, are simply useless as banking passports for any serious practitioner of financial privacy.

To begin with, carrying two passports with different names across a border — even if 100% legal — is asking for a great deal of trouble. Do not expect the average border guard to be well versed in those aspects of the legal system that enable you to obtain such an alternative identity document.

Furthermore, common sense clearly dictates that any banking official is going to look hard at documentation emanating from some exotic and backward location. Banks have their due diligence responsibilities nowadays and anything unusual can arouse suspicion — whether founded or not.

Upon account opening, bankers will now also routinely take a photocopy of your passport out of sight; this enables them to scan the pages border entry stamps and build up a picture of your travel itinerary. This again is done in line with the banks’ due diligence procedures (customers who tend to spend their vacations in North Korea, Columbia and the more racy parts of the Caribbean may be singled out for special scrutiny).

However, it will not be the variety of exotic entry stamps in your no-good-for-travel “banking” passport that you’ll have to worry about; rather, it will be the lack of any! I have no advice for those who find themselves in the sticky situation of trying to explain at this point how they managed to enter, say, Switzerland without the required visa in their African passport.

Technicalities aside, and to return to our example, ask yourself the following fundamental question: are you sure that you would wish to hold your hard-earned assets with a passport from an impoverished African nation like Niger?

Even if you do get an account opened one way or another, your risk having your account frozen later if your bank thinks something might be amiss (a profitable option for them). If, on the other hand, they happily accept such documentation, are you sure that you really want to bank with them?

Having said all this, a passport that incorporates a legal name change is a bullet-proof asset protection strategy. The danger lies in cutting corners. A passport for asset protection should be a lifetime investment; it should not be done on the cheap, or through an unprofessional intermediary.

 

Second Passports: High Profile vs Low Profile

 

Expect hassle if everybody knows that the passport you hold can be bought for cash.

One of the main problems associated with economic citizenship programs is that they are frowned upon by many industrialised nations, who see them as government-sponsored “passports-for-sale” schemes.

Note that this is highly hypocritical: the same countries will often offer passports by discretion — particularly to the mega-rich, in return for a slice of their taxable income and the inward investment that their citizenship may deliver. Rupert Murdoch, whose media empire is worth a fortune, was granted US citizenship, for example.

Yet the same nations do not care for their Caribbean or Central American neighbours doing the same.

Countries such as Grenada, Dominica, St. Kitts and Nevis and Belize, for example, have operated official second citizenship programs. In my opinion, however, there was a fundamental problem with all of them: these nations, hungry for investors’ cash, choose to publicise the programs too widely — and this gave rise to a number of implications.

Freedom to travel is major attraction for many of those who buy into economic citizenship schemes. However, the magic “visa-free” lists that appear alongside these offers can quickly shrink as the number of passports issued increases. After all, the USA, Canada, or European nations may not feel happy about a sudden influx of strangely named visitors from a Caribbean tax haven.

The economic citizenship program of Dominica illustrates this problem. In February 2000, a new political administration under Prime Minister Rosie Douglas suddenly halted the program following complaints from the Canadian government that persons with criminal records were being granted citizenship; Canada also threatened to rescind the visa-free status of Dominicans.

Another example is that of Uruguay’s “non-citizen” passport. Uruguay for a time offered a passport for travel purposes only; it did not entitle the bearer to citizenship. This document soon found its way onto a blacklist held by immigration officials as the scheme became more popular and public, and many travellers were refused entry in Europe and elsewhere.

In any case, well-known programs often guarantee extra scrutiny by immigration officials who are well aware of their existence and may suspect something is amiss. If your name, ethnic origin and language skills do not match those of a person typical of your passport-issuing country, be prepared for a long wait at all civilised borders.

An undue level of scrutiny may also be expected in the banking halls of all reputable financial institutions for the same reasons. Bankers nowadays — with their due diligence procedures to follow — tend to be as interested in clients’ backgrounds as they are in their money.

All this, remember, is with passports and citizenships that are 100% legal!

Despite all the above, even well-known economic citizenship programs cannot be dismissed as useless. Naturally, they come with full residency rights, and many well-off thirld-world individuals and entire families have used them to fulfill their desire to relocate to a more politically and economically stable country than their own.

On the other hand, if you are seriously considering such a move, you should be aware that there are countries that have citizenship-for-investment schemes but do not advertise them.

A polite enquiry as to whether “any residency or citizenship incentives may be offered to those willing to invest in the country”, directed to the relevant government department of your chosen destination, might well get you started.

 

Second passport and citizenship program from Portugal

Citizenship and passport of Portugal

Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east. The Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira are also part of Portugal.

Portugal is a developed country [5] and it has the world’s 19th highest quality-of-life, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit. It is the 14th most peaceful and the 13th most globalized country in the world. It is a member of the European Union (joined the then EEC in 1986, leaving the EFTA where it was a founding member in 1960) and the United Nations; as well as a founding member of the Latin Union, the Organization of Ibero-American States, OECD, NATO, Community of Portuguese Language Countries, the European Union’s Eurozone, and also a Schengen state.

For further information on the country please click the link below: Portugal

Benefits of the passport:

Enjoying visa free travel to many countries. No visa required (or issued upon arrival)

Easy employment in many countries.

Obtaining residency in many countries.

Full benefits of citizenship all over the world.

Signing contracts with western or European companies.
Opening saving or current accounts with international banks and applying for loans, credit, etc.

Required documents:

Passport scan

Signature scan (On white background)
2 photos of you with different style. passport size photo with white background
Filling our data form (will be sent to you upon request)

Note:all the above documents should be scanned with high quality and resolution (500Kb) and sent through e-mail.

Note:we are able to send you 2 types of documents. Each has different advantages.

Type 1: national ID card and passport of Portugal will be printed with your name and data and there is no record in the Portugal government database. But the material is 100% genuine.
In this system because you travel with both your original passport and Portugal passport and the data is same then you won’t face any problems and both passports match.

Type 2: national ID card and passport of Portugal will be printed with a local person’s data matching your date of birth and with your photo. The material is100% genuine and the record exist in the government database and can be checked anywhere.

In this system you can’t travel with both your original passport and Portugal passport. You can only use your Portugal passport.

This type of documents are well used between company managers and CEOs who have problem signing contracts with western or European companies, applying for company or personal loans from international banks, company registration and etc. with their current citizenship.

Note: for the customers who need stronger documents we have arranged to obtain a powerful Asian country’s residency in your new passport. We will also open a new bank account for you using your new passport. So you will be confident using your documents knowing that they have been approved by a third party government also.

Documents that you will receive:

Portugal passport

Portugal national ID card

Processing time:

We will need 45-60 days from you but our customers usually receive their documents in 30-45 days.

Processing fee:

The total fee for both types of documents is 21,000 Euro which is payable in 3 steps:
7,000 Euro starting fee;
7,000 Euro after receiving the scan of your documents;
7,000 euro after receiving you documents;

Here is the list of countries that is visa –free for Portugal passport:

Europe

European Union: unlimited access

Albania:90 days
Andorra: 90 days
Bosnia and Herzegovina: 90 days

Croatia: 90 days
Faroe Islands: 90 days
Guernsey: 6 months
Iceland: unlimited access
Isle of Man: 6 months
Jersey: 6 months
Kosovo: 90 days
Macedonia: 90 days
Moldova: 90 days
Monaco: 90 days
Montenegro: 90 days
Norway: unlimited access
San Marino: 90 days
Serbia: 90 days
Switzerland: unlimited access
Ukraine: 90 days
Vatican City: 90 days

Africa

Botswana: 90 days
Cape Verde: Visa issued upon arrival
Comoros: A free 24 h transit visa issued upon arrival at the airport.
Djibouti: 1-month visa issued upon arrival
Egypt: 30-day visa issued upon arrival
Gambia: At port of entry passport 24-72 h transit pass is issued.
Kenya: 3-month visa issued upon arrival
Lesotho: 14 days
Madagascar: 90-day visa issued upon arrival
Malawi: 90 days
Mauritius: 60 days (tourist), 90 days (business)
Mayotte: 90 days
Morocco: 90 days
Mozambique: 30-day visa issued upon arrival
Namibia: 90 days
Réunion: unlimited access
Saint Helena: 90 days
Seychelles: 1 month
South Africa: 90 days
Swaziland: 2 months
Tanzania: 90 days
Togo: 7-day visa issued upon arrival
Tunisia: 90 days
Uganda: 6 months
Zambia: 90 days
Zimbabwe: 90 days

Americas

Anguilla: 90 days
Antigua and Barbuda: 1 month
Argentina: 90 days
Aruba: 30 days
Bahamas: 90 days
Barbados: 6 months
Belize: 1 month
Bermuda: 6 months
Brazil: 90 days
British Virgin Islands: 30 days
Canada: 6 months
Cayman Islands: 30 days
Chile: 90 days
Colombia: 90 days
Costa Rica: 90 days
Dominica: 6 months
Dominican Republic: 30-day tourist card issued on arrival
Ecuador: 90 days
El Salvador: 90 days
Falkland Islands: 30 days
French Guiana: unlimited access
Greenland: 90 days
Grenada: 90 days
Guadeloupe: unlimited access
Guatemala: 90 days
Haiti: 90 days
Honduras: 90 days
Jamaica: 90 days
Martinique: unlimited access
Mexico: 180 days tourist/30 days business
Montserrat: 90 days
Netherlands Antilles: 90 days
Nicaragua: 90 days
Panama: 90 days
Paraguay: 90 days
Peru: 90 days
Puerto Rico: 90 days, Visa Waiver Program-ESTA required
Saint Barthélemy: unlimited access
Saint Kitts and Nevis: 90 days
Saint Lucia: 6 weeks
Saint Martin: unlimited access
Saint Pierre and Miquelon: 90 days
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: 1 month
Trinidad and Tobago: 90 days
Turks and Caicos Islands: 30 days
United States of America: 90 days, Visa Waiver Program-ESTA required
Uruguay: 3 months
U.S. Virgin Islands: 90 days, Visa Waiver Program-ESTA required
Venezuela: 3 months

Asia

Armenia: 120-day visa issued upon arrival
Azerbaijan: 30-day visa issued upon arrival
Bangladesh: 90-day visa issued upon arrival
Brunei Darussalam: 30 days
Cambodia: 30-day visa issued upon arrival
Georgia: 360 days
Hong Kong: 90 days
Indonesia: 30-day visa issued upon arrival
Israel: 3 months
Japan: 3 months
Jordan: Visa issued upon arrival
Kyrgyzstan: 1-month visa issued upon arrival
Laos: 30-day visa issued upon arrival
Lebanon: 1 month
Macau: 90 days
Malaysia: 3 months
Maldives: 30 days
Nepal: 15/30/90 day visa issued on arrival
Oman: visa issued upon arrival
Philippines: 21 days
Singapore: 30 days
South Korea: 3 months
Syria: 15 day visa issued upon arrival
Thailand: 30 days
Taiwan: 30 days
Timor-Leste: 30-day visa issued upon arrival
Turkey: 3-month visa issued upon arrival

Yemen: 1-month visa issued upon arrival

Oceania

American Samoa: 30 days
Australia: 90 days, eVisitor visa required – issued online free of charge
Cook Islands: 31 days
Fiji: 4 months
Guam: 90 days, Visa Waiver Program-ESTA required
Kiribati: 28 days
Marshall Islands: 30 days
Micronesia: 30 days
New Caledonia: 90 days
New Zealand: 3 months
Niue: 30 days
Northern Mariana Islands: 30 days
Palau: 30 days
Papua New Guinea: 60-day visa issued upon arrival
French Polynesia: 90 days
Samoa: 60 days
Solomon Islands: 3 months
Tonga: 31 days
Tuvalu: 1 month
Vanuatu: 30 days
Wallis and Futuna: 90 days