canuck_in_pa

An example:

http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view...ia_diplo010129

and some of the aftermath:

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/...6e75d5&k=57666

Pat89339

I remember this from a 1978 episode of CHiPs.

puck

I work for a UN specialized agency, and at least for the UN, there is no magic higher-level diplomatic passport, just the laissez-passer.

I agree with nomad1974, having one is generally overrated, and can slow things down as it is unusual.

roundtheworld

So now here is a misconcpetion....:



The no diplomat in their host o....ry can be searched , arrested, or prosecuted in their hostcountry (if identity is confirmed). In the US diplomats usually pay their traffic fines, not because of their goodwill, but bcs they wnt ot sell their car. If a diplomat wants to selll their imported (tax and duty free)
they need a title. A title is only issued if the car is free of liens ( tickets) so the diplomat has two options. Pay the fines to sell the car, or take it back home... naturually most pay the fine.

erik123

Actually - the UN has a blue and a red Laisser Passer - the red one is for (very) senior officials and indicates diplomatic status and priviliges.

GUWonder

The diplomats I know who pay their traffic fines have it done because of goodwill and it has nothing to do with liens on cars or car titles. But avoiding boots on cars comes into play sometimes too. (What you said could be an issue, but it isn't for the persons about who I am talking.) And for most of the (former) diplomats in the US whom I know, they have their car returned home when they go home and don't sell it in the US. Since a lot come from developing countries that have high tariffs, they do a transfer of residence back home -- including with their car -- and then some sell the car once they are back in the home country and some time has passed. Selling the car in the US would make it less profitable and the costs of transferring goods back home is covered for them.

Odysseus

I have a friend who is an honorary consul of a small developing country, to another small developing country. he is actually one of the few adults I know that have >4 passports - where he was born, where his parents were born, where he lives and the country of which he is the honorary consul. of course, only one of those is a "major" country. but he likes traveling with the diplomatic one, and people refer to him both as "consul" and "col" - which he is both. in his business, the extra little bit of respect helps.

jpatokal

But note that in this case, the diplomat was charged for the crime in his home country, and ended up serving 4 years in a Russian prison -- not necessarily preferable to 5 in a Canadian one. This is standard operating procedure, and only for a real banana republic, where the crack-smoking ambassador is the President-for-life's favorite son or something, is it literally possible to get away with murder.

As usual, Wikipedia lays out the score pretty well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomatic_immunity

Note in particular the table laying out the various levels of immunity; not everybody waving a diplomatic ID actually has the real deal.

ClueByFour

The other reason diplomats are now (sort of) in the practice of actually paying traffic tickets is because certain cities (notably NYC) gave the feds the proverbial finger and started booting and towing cars, diplomatic tags not withstanding.

Which, IMHO, is a good thing. Feed that meter while obtaining industrial secrets ^ .

alpha5eight

There are a lot of misconceptions about UN travel documents. There are actually three - the standard UN Laissez-Passer (UNLP, which is pale blue), the Diplomatic version (Red) and the UN Certificate (actually a little folding booklet somewhere between credit card and passport size).

The UNLP is issued to internationally recruited staff and occasionally to national staff who travel on official business but whose own nationality or passport status (eg Kosovo) may cause difficulties. It is only valid on official business and can only be used in conjunction with a national passport. It does not confer diplomatic immunity - the relevant phrase is "functional immunity" which means being immune from arrest, imprisonment, investigation or whatever while in the course of official duties. You can occasionally see them waved in airports and quite frankly it shouldn't impress anyone - many countries refuse to accept them (e.g. the US) and it is a loosely regulated system which means it is open to abuse. Another downside is that using them to check in will frequently cause confusion as the drop-down menus on their systems do not recognise "UN" as a nationality. I have been held up for almost an hour at LHR because the check-in lady would not accept that my national passport (which I used to exit the EU as I was on a personal trip) had no visa for my destination (it was in my UNLP as this is the document I use to enter) and the duality just confused her.

The slightly more impressive red UNLP is issued to senior staff (normally the most senior for their organisation in a given location - but not always in units top-heavy with senior management) and give full diplomatic status.

The UN certificate is issued to "experts on mission" and is used in conjunction with a national passport - it should confer the same privileges and immunities as a UNLP.

Bottom line - none of these documents should be of any use in your own country. Along with diplomatic passports, they are supposed to be used for official travel so they should not confer any rights in your own country - but I am sure that is abused!

Either way, on the basis of personal security, any sane person would carry their passport or travel document in a plain cover to prevent a casual observer "pinging" it - no matter where we come from, there is always someone who will dislike us all!

ironmanjt

+1 - and fair to note that the majority of countries require visas in the UNLP, far more than require visas in European or North American national passports...so sometimes they're actually LESS convenient to travel on.

ironmanjt

Not quite...the only countries that "refuse" to accept them are the US and Russia.

nrr

10 years (or so), I was on a flight from zrh to jfk (maybe cdg to jfk), one the pax on the plane, when he got to CBP area, briefly conversed with the CBP agent (directing pax to where they should go) in FRENCH (I think they knew each other), held up a piece of paper--he did not go to a CBP station, but proceeded to the exit--what document (which was OK in the US) could he have had?

roberino

I love what the profanity screener did to this typo!

relangford

I don't have a diplomatic passport; I do have an official passport (red). It is a pain to use, so I just use my regular U.S. passport. The red one can only be used for official business (can't couple leasure travel with official travel). My entry visa to my host country was in the red one, but, if I went on leasure travel, I couldn't use it to get back in. I had my entry visa put in my tourist passport and put the red one in a safe.

I did once have the UN Laissez-Passer form. It was in Bosnia during the fighting. I still had to have both my U.S. passport and official ID. I don't think anybody ever asked to see it before it expired.

There was one time I saw a value to the black diplomatic passport: I was waiting in a loooooong line at a U.S. Embassy when a guy walked in, flashed his black passprt, and went to the front of the line (actually, they stopped working the first person in line so he could be served).