I got my second passport after I submitted a letter from work (signed by my colleague) that I need a second one due to my work related travel and the related visa application process.

The second one cost the same as the first one, but is only valid for 5 years.

(OK that was more or less a repeat of the details in the above posts)

The true value of my second passport is that my primary passport is now my 'clean' NAFTA passport. No stamps from the middle east,south asia, china etc that raise silly questions while immigrating into the US. (example: why do you travel so much? Work? for which company? Do you own the company (my company is a publicly traded corp))

Besides that I have my German residence documented in one passport, my US residence in another. I always carry both with me when travelling and would be happy to show any immigration officer both, may I add. Sadly the german authorities no longer endorse the second passport as such, so if an officer who is not to familiar with german passport conventions comes across my two documents, I may be in for some strange questioning. Cest la vie.


IMPORTANT NOTE: Germany is moving forward with adding fingerprint data to the biometric data in your passport this winter. So get you r application in by Nov 1:

http://www.konsularinfo.diplo.de/Ver...eAusweise.html