What happens when a passport is seized?
Aug 17, 2016, 10:30 pm
#1
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What happens when a passport is seized?
The recent news stories out of Brazil have given me some theoretical questions about what happens when one's passport is seized and departure disallowed, while in a country one is not a national of.
Of course I have always been cautious and fortunate enough to always respect overseas laws and never be in such a position (and never encounter any corruption or other factors) but since passports are often seized from material witnesses and other people entirely innocent of any crime, I want to be well informed.
- Surely such seizure happens with the (implicit) consent of the issuing government? As the local embassy has authority to issue new travel documents to the person in question? It must be general practice to not reissue seized documents?
- What happens to a dual national (who is still not a national of the seizing government) with multiple travel documents?
- I assume it is generally not possible to overstay a visa when passport has been seized?
- Is there any standard practice one should follow, besides consulting local legal counsel and their country's embassy?
Of course I have always been cautious and fortunate enough to always respect overseas laws and never be in such a position (and never encounter any corruption or other factors) but since passports are often seized from material witnesses and other people entirely innocent of any crime, I want to be well informed.
Aug 18, 2016, 1:37 am
#2
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The recent news stories out of Brazil have given me some theoretical questions about what happens when one's passport is seized and departure disallowed, while in a country one is not a national of.
Of course I have always been cautious and fortunate enough to always respect overseas laws and never be in such a position (and never encounter any corruption or other factors) but since passports are often seized from material witnesses and other people entirely innocent of any crime, I want to be well informed.
- Surely such seizure happens with the (implicit) consent of the issuing government? As the local embassy has authority to issue new travel documents to the person in question? It must be general practice to not reissue seized documents?
- What happens to a dual national (who is still not a national of the seizing government) with multiple travel documents?
- I assume it is generally not possible to overstay a visa when passport has been seized?
- Is there any standard practice one should follow, besides consulting local legal counsel and their country's embassy?
Of course I have always been cautious and fortunate enough to always respect overseas laws and never be in such a position (and never encounter any corruption or other factors) but since passports are often seized from material witnesses and other people entirely innocent of any crime, I want to be well informed.
2 Dual nationals may sometimes procure a passport from country of other citizenship and use that to try to leave. But exit passport control checks sometimes do prevent such attempts.
3 It's possible to overstay as a result of a passport seizure but adverse action due to what may or may not be an overstay is probably the lesser of the problems when the subject of a passport seizure abroad.
Aug 18, 2016, 7:43 am
#3
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I highly doubt an embassy would knowingly issue a travel document to a person whose passport was seized. That would undermine the nature of state to state respect for passports.
Your name may appear on the page, but the document is owned by the issuing government, who requests you be given passage to a foreign state.
Your name may appear on the page, but the document is owned by the issuing government, who requests you be given passage to a foreign state.
Aug 18, 2016, 2:08 pm
#4
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Notwithstanding the original legal problem, it would be hard to leave on a travel document which was not used to enter the country, particularly if the country has outbound immigration control. Even if a document from other country of citizenship has different name, at the very minimum a border official would ask how such person entered the country. Brasil is not a country with lax entrance/exit border checks.
Aug 18, 2016, 2:13 pm
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Notwithstanding the original legal problem, it would be hard to leave on a travel document which was not used to enter the country, particularly if the country has outbound immigration control. Even if a document from other country of citizenship has different name, at the very minimum a border official would ask how such person entered the country. Brasil is not a country with lax entrance/exit border checks.
Brazil doesn't require passports from all foreign nationals entering/exiting Brazil. In other words, there are ways out where stamps don't matter.
If using a newly issued US passport with no stamps to fly out of Brazil on common carriers, then there may be issues. That said, it's not all that unheard of for passports to be stolen in Brazil for blackmarket use and then some; the victims of such thefts do fly out of Brazil daily.
Last edited by TWA884; Aug 18, 2016 at 4:38 pm Reason: Off topic; not practical advice/information
Aug 18, 2016, 4:36 pm
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Welcome to Travel Safety/Security’s Practical Issues forum. This is the place to ask questions and get information to help you travel safely and with minimal hassle.
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Before posting, ask yourself, “If I were traveling today, is this something I need to know?” For example, threads discussing what is permitted through a TSA checkpoint belong in this forum. If it is a debate... it belongs in the Checkpoints and Borders Policy Debate forum.
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Aug 18, 2016, 9:29 pm
#7
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If you get your passport confiscated, I can imagine your name (and DOB) being put on a watchlist for exits (easy to enforce if passports are digitally scanned on exit). Getting a replacement document from the same country obviously wouldn't help in that case, although you might have a bit more leeway with dual citizenship. (Not sure if this applies for Brazil, but most places I've been to do a digital passport check, although it's patchy in Schengen.)
Aug 19, 2016, 4:20 am
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If you get your passport confiscated, I can imagine your name (and DOB) being put on a watchlist for exits (easy to enforce if passports are digitally scanned on exit). Getting a replacement document from the same country obviously wouldn't help in that case, although you might have a bit more leeway with dual citizenship. (Not sure if this applies for Brazil, but most places I've been to do a digital passport check, although it's patchy in Schengen.)
Last edited by flyerCO; Aug 19, 2016 at 7:08 am
Aug 19, 2016, 4:45 am
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Aug 19, 2016, 7:10 am
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Aug 19, 2016, 8:27 am
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And once you've picked them up based on name, it's easy enough to do a more detailed lookup.
Aug 23, 2016, 1:10 am
#12
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Can one get a new passport issued if one's employer takes one's passport? In some countries in the Middle East, it is common for foreign workers to be forced to give their passports to their employers. There are allegations that this has led to abusive practices. I have wondered for years why in these cases, the workers can't go to their embassy to get a replacement passport if they want to leave.
Aug 23, 2016, 1:29 am
#13
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Can one get a new passport issued if one's employer takes one's passport? In some countries in the Middle East, it is common for foreign workers to be forced to give their passports to their employers. There are allegations that this has led to abusive practices. I have wondered for years why in these cases, the workers can't go to their embassy to get a replacement passport if they want to leave.