A Second Passport Could Save Your Life
Having a second passport and dual citizenship has numerous benefits. It can:
• Expand your travel and investment possibilities.
• Avoid “controversial” entry stamps on your primary passport.
• Give you the right to reside in other countries.
• Allow you to cross international borders if your primary passport is lost or stolen.
• For Americans, combined with expatriation—giving up your existing U.S. citizenship and passport—a second passport is the only way to eliminate permanently and legally U.S. tax and reporting obligations.
However, the most compelling reason to obtain a second passport is that it could literally save your life. During World War II, the Nazis stripped millions of Jews of their German citizenship and shipped them off to concentration camps. Most died there, but a few thousand fortunate survivors had an escape plan: a second passport they could use to escape the Nazis to freedom.
This wasn’t the last time a second passport became a lifesaver. Just before the brief 2009 war between Israel and Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, Israel allowed individuals possessing a foreign passport to leave Palestinian territory. Hundreds left before Israel’s ground forces invaded the Gaza Strip.
How you would react if the country you live in now became a war zone? Would the authorities allow you to leave your own country? Or, as in Gaza or Nazi Germany, would you become a virtual prisoner? Further, what would you do if your own country—or an authority controlling access to it—wouldn’t allow you to return home? What countries have gone up in flames in the lest several years – Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, Sudan, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Chad, Burundi, Bahrain, Rwanda, Fiji, Eritrea, Maldives, Mali, Venezuela, Guinea, Yemen, Argentina and the list goes on of place you may want a 2nd passport or at least a non-USA passport.
Just about everyone can benefit from a second nationality and passport. Unfortunately, it’s not easy to obtain one, unless you qualify by virtue of ancestry, marriage, religion, or long-term residence in a foreign country. However, in a handful of countries, you can obtain economic citizenship-for-life in return for an investment or contribution.
