On Thu, 2007-09-06 at 11:46 -0700, piclist@mmendes.com wrote: > Quoting Herbert Graf : > > > On Thu, 2007-09-06 at 09:10 -0700, piclist@mmendes.com wrote: > >> > I wonder if I can leave the US showing a US passport (Not that I have > >> > one yet) and enter NZ with an NZ one. Then Leave NZ with an NZ > >> > passport, and enter the US with the US passport. > >> > >> This is basically what I have to do. > >> > >> Unless the person I spoke with at the Brazilian consulate office in > >> Boston did > >> not know what they were talking about. The short story was, if your foreign > >> passport (non-Brazilian) shows that your place of birth was Brazil, then you > >> will not be granted a visa to go to Brazil on that passport and the > >> only way to > >> go to Brazil is with a valid Brazilian passport. > > > > Personally, I don't see the big deal. You leave the US showing your US > > passport, you enter Brazil showing your Brazilian passport. You leave > > Brazil showing your Brazilian passport, and you reenter the states with > > your US passport. Seems simple enough to me. Am I missing something? > > The big deal is the burocracy one must go through. > > For a US passport, you take pictures, go to the post office, fill out the app > and turn it in with your drivers license so they can see that it is > really you, > send it in and wait for the passport to arrive in the mail. > > For a Brazilian passport, I have to take the day off to go to Boston. Ah, so the real issue is getting the passport. Unfortunately, Americans are quite spoiled when it comes to passports, your government has pretty much made it as easy as possible to renew a passport. Even here in Canada there is no such thing as "renewing" a passport. Every 5 years we have to apply for a passport, whether or not one currently has a passport only matters from a perspective of not being allowed to carry two passports (you have to surrender it when you hand in your application). Every 5 years, I have to get the form, get it filled out by a "professional who knows me" and 2 other people who know me. Then I have to get the pictures, stand in line, hand in the form, along with my ID (birth certificate or citizenship card, which I believe they still keep). Then, a few weeks later, you get a letter to come pick up your passport and ID, which yes, means another line. To be fair, the process HAS improved, the lines tend to be shorter. And it looks like they are strongly considering doing things the US way, but for the last 3 passports I had to get, that was the process. That said, while the US system is easy for US citizens, for others it is the hell you describe with regards to getting your Brazilian passport. A friend once needed to get a vistor VISA for the US. It meant a trip to the consulate, lining up, paying fees, ending up in the wrong line, them keeping the passport, then having to go down again, lining up, and hoping all went well. In the end it did, but it sure was alot of work just to visit the states. And, on a completely unrelated note (prompted by a story I read out of the UK), the moment the US (or any other country) starts imposing biometric data collection (fingerprints, iris scans, even DNA, etc.) is the day I will no longer visit that country. The US already does that for many (most?) visitors, but not Canadians, yet. I understand the purpose of the "false sense of security to placate the public", but the moment they start treating me like a felon is the moment they get off my list. Just a personal opinion. TTYL -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist