Passports

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Jay

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In the spirit of Nazi Germany, the .gov is proposing/implementing new passport restrictions. (Although they say it is only proposed, apparently they are already implementing it). Although this was news several months ago, here's more:

here's one of the letters following the article:

snip:
I Am Being Illegally “held” in the USA Without Charges

I am 64 years old and have, much to my regret, never traveled abroad. I have the opportunity to go to France for a vacation with a friend who is enrolling his daughter in an American School in France. However, I have been denied a passport because even with all that you supply to the passport office I have “not established my identity.”

The letter said that I had to complete the “biographical sheet” which was not enclosed. Looking on line I see that I have to “know” the address and zip code of every place I have lived in the US plus additional information that would only be required of a felon or terrorist.

Sixty four and they suggest I supply a high school year book photo? I was born in Wichita Falls Texas in 1948 to citizens who also never traveled abroad. I owe no money. I have no criminal charges against me. Even my auto insurance knows that I have never in 64 years had an accident. I have no traffic tickets.

One of my children, and her family, have passports and have travel abroad extensively. The Social Security Office recognizes my identity enough to award me survivor benefits. A company I worked for for years recognizes my identity to the degree that I will receive my pension next year. The State of Texas recognizes me to the extent of recognizing that I have “lost property.” I am executrix of my mother’s estate and am recognized as such by various legal entities.

Despite all this, the State Department does not recognize me as a US citizen who poses no threat in, as a senior citizen, visiting a foreign country before I die. Felons, dual citizens, people who owe child support etc. are able to get first time passports; however, I am not.

I can only assume that despite being a citizen with no legal problems, I am being held illegally in this country. I feel humiliated…violated…raped of my rights.

Nena Norwood

gist:

here are the new "proposed" passport requirements:

Ignoring massive public opposition, and despite having recently admitted that it is already using the “proposed” forms illegally without approval, the State Department is trying again to get approval for a pair of impossible-to-complete new passport application forms that would, in effect, allow the State Department to deny you a passport simply by choosing to send you either or both of the new “long forms”.

Early last year, the State Department proposed a new “Biographical Questionnaire” for passport applicants, which would have required anyone selected to receive the new long-form DS-5513 to answer bizarre and intrusive personal trivia questions about everything from whether you were circumcised (and if so, with what accompanying religious rituals) to the dates of all of your mother’s pre- and post-natal medical appointments, your parents’ addresses one year before you were born, every address at which you have ever resided, and your lifetime employment history including the names and phone numbers of each of your supervisors at every job you have ever held.

linky:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.inf ... e32803.htm
 
I am going to let mine expire. I never used it
 
Jay, your link is broken and I can't find the source with Google. Can you fix it?
 
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I am working on my third passport and will soon file for my fourth. If you already have one it is significantly easier to get than if it was the first go around. Either way, they have gone beyond stupid.
 
I am on another forum (Malthusia.com) which is invitation only (to keep out trolls I presume). I am the intellectual low end on that forum; when I posted this I got raked over the coals by some lawyers. WHY is it so hard to believe what SEEMS to be very obvious to me? Oh well. Thanks for reposting the link, Cronus.

we just renewed our five passports, it is easier, but getting more and more expensive.
 
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YES! Thanks Jay for bringing up this important information.

I do not have the details, but it is MUCH harder to now get a first-time passport than just a few years ago. Passport renewal is painful enough... But, for those without a passport now, you have a big job ahead.

If I had to guess? I would say it will get even harder in the coming years...
 
Jay - Your original post in this thread was very interesting, and I'm glad you brought up this subject ! And here is why :)

In the summer of 2003, my wife and I got our first ever passports. We left the USA for the first time, when we went to England and Scotland. It was a great trip . . . When we applied for the passports, it didn't seem that difficult at the time. The best I can remember we basically sent a copy of our birth certificate and some money. ( I'm probably leaving out some other things, but don't remember. ) We had the passports in time for our summer vacation. Our passports will run out in Feb 2013 and we need to decide if we should renew them.

After I read your post and the websites it came from ( I'm glad to help ), I'm now worried. If we are going to renew them, my wife and I better do it very soon . . .
 
Cronus, I would renew your passports ASAP if they have less than a year before they expire. It is not nearly as hard to renew now as it is to get a NEW, first-time passport. I do NOT know what the regulations would be if you apply later on (after passport expiration).

Why take chances? Get them now, you may need them...
 
Its somewhat ironic that 'they' now have more data on all of us than ever before and the means to instantly access it.
So with face / iris recognition tech, we do not actually need a passport, yet they deem it necessary to make it much more difficult to get one.

Clearly just another way to create fear and control then ......
 
this is really upsetting... I shall start replying to such examples of liberty-ripping posts with the "examples from behind the Iron Curtain" replies - i.e., how it was done in then-communist countries.

Well, to start off the series - after applying for a passport, you would need to pass "screening" (effectively be granted/denied, at the sole discretion of your local branch of the secret police). Being an active member of The Party, was one of the must-have checkboxes. Well theoretically, you wouldn't NEED to be a member, but if you wanted to actually GET a passport... You dig what I mean.

Even if/when issued, your passport would not be "yours" to keep it. It would be stored in your local branch of Police, and only given to you, for the purpose of the approved journey. And surely enough, they'd make sure, that the ones allowed to get out of the country, have enough incentive to get back to "the glorious Communist homeland" - be it your high rank in your local government branch, or family ties (like spouse/children/parents staying in the country).

Besides, there wasn't really things like "tourism" trips, there was no such need, in general, in the communist countries (/sarcasm) - you'd get everything you were ALLOWED to want, right from the glorious Party. International trips were not necessarily on the list. Asking for what you were not supposed to ask, I think, was a display of a great ingratitude.

Sigh... having said all that... I - CANNOT - FUCKING - BELIEVE - America, what has became of you!
 
I am on another forum (Malthusia.com) which is invitation only (to keep out trolls I presume). I am the intellectual low end on that forum; when I posted this I got raked over the coals by some lawyers. WHY is it so hard to believe what SEEMS to be very obvious to me? Oh well. Thanks for reposting the link, Cronus.

we just renewed our five passports, it is easier, but getting more and more expensive.

again, mocked on the "other" forum. Here's the comment

(I use the name "bing" as a screen name):

I finally checked bing's link, it's not even on the form. I shouldn't be surprised bing intentionally misled or sensationalized a non-issue.

arghhh. You know how to start a fight on the internet? Type something.
 
i like it here because we dont seem to have ego's running and we seem bright enough to enjoy a bit of banter without misinterpretation and the flame wars that are so common on forums.

long may it last ........
 
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