piclist@mmendes.com wrote:

> 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.

This is if you are a US citizen in the US. Outside the US, it may be a bit
more complicated. You can't do it in the post office, and for all I know
not by mail at all. And you possibly can't do it in one visit to the
consulate either. For all I know, getting a Brazilian passport in Brazil is
almost as easy as getting a US passport in the US (if you are up to date
with your citizenship duties). So all in all not that different. 

> Now here's the kicker, if you happen to have left Brazil before you were
> 18 and never signed up for their "draft" in order to get your passport
> renewed, you have to take the day off, go to Boston, stand in line to
> get a number to stand in another line, to pay a fine for not having
> signed up for the draft, 

You can call yourself lucky. There are countries where you are considered
AWOL if you don't appear for draft duty, and you might have to do jail time
(or something similar) instead of just paying a fine. 

This is about the fact that a citizenship includes rights and duties, and
if you don't like the duties (and have two citizenships), you can always
get rid of one.

> All in all, up to 4 days off just to get a stupid passport that I only
> need to use in order to go visit family.

But all that only because you remained Brazilian citizen. If you had
renounced the Brazilian citizenship, there would be no (Brazilian) draft,
no requirement to vote, no requirement to have a Brazilian passport, no
standing in line in the Brazilian consulate (at least not for the passport
:)

> The other great thing is that, even though they do recognize the fact
> that I am Brazilian from my American passport, they won't accept my
> American passport as a valid id picture id, and neither will they take
> any other non Brazilian picture id as proof of who I am.  

Neither do US officials accept your Brazilian passport. That's just the way
it is: if you're a US citizen, you have to provide US documents to US
officials. If you are a Brazilian citizen, you have to provide Brazilian
documents to Brazilian officials. If you are a ... you get the drift :)

> It is complete and utter horse manure.  As it is typical of any other
> Brazilian government agency, competent only at charging you fees.

I hear you :)  But the deal is really that you are Brazilian citizen (and
will be treated as such by Brazilian authorities) until you renounce. This
is something you control, something you can decide. After you renounced,
you may have to show your renonucement document when you file for a
Brazilian visa (so that they know that despite having a place of birth in
Brazil you are not anymore a Brazilian citizen), but that's it then. So
take it or leave it...

Gerhard

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