4 ms·

> Passport Blocks: Arrears exceeding €5,000 can result in registration in the passport alert system, making it impossible to receive a new passport, I would sa

> Passport Blocks: Arrears exceeding €5,000 can result in registration in the passport alert system, making it impossible to receive a new passport, I would say that is pretty serious violation of human rights, for relatively small infraction. Soviet countries used similar system to prevent people from leaving their communist paradise. How are you supposed to pay your debt, if you are not allowed to find new job abroad?!

post-it 6mo ago
The Dutch embassy will be happy to get you home, where you can find a job.
- throwuttfj 6mo ago
  Right, for tiny fee of 6000 euro return ticket, and 2000 euro monthly rent. Great plan to save money and pay debt!
  - post-it 6mo ago
    There's only so much handholding a government is going to do. Don't let your passport expire while abroad and ineligible for renewal.
  - flowerthoughts 6mo ago
    Speaking of plans... If you haven't made bank already when the passport expires, perhaps it wasn't such a good idea to move abroad after all.
mothballed 6mo ago
US does same for very small child support debts (I think around $1000) as well as larger tax bills. Of course when I cross to/from Mexico by land at small crossing I've noticed most have no passport and just beg for forgiveness which usually works.
- harambae 6mo ago
  > I've noticed most have no passport and just beg for forgiveness which usually works in which direction? headed south or back north?
  - mothballed 6mo ago
    South almost never checks anything whatsoever so it's a moot point there unless you're crossing in a major city like Tijuana. On many occasions even the guy at the metal detector has been sleeping. (Also note: Mexico never changed law like US, in Mexico it's still legal to enter with only a birth certificate and ID) Going North into america I'd say the majority don't have passports and they are let through anyway. I actually have a legal US passport and I watched myself detained, jailed, and interrogated while everyone without a passport was let through with a birth certificate and state driver's license (this is modern times, not the days when that was all you needed). So maybe it is worse to have a passport as it's suspicious as most people at the lesser land crossings do not.
JumpCrisscross 6mo ago
> that is pretty serious violation of human rights I don’t think it’s that hyperbolic. But I agree that the existence of debts shouldn’t invalidate one’s right to a passport. (The counter argument is that passports are a privilege and citizenship a bundle of privileges and duties. Why should the country have the burden of passporting someone abroad who as abandoned it.)
- throwuttfj 6mo ago
  Education is also a privilege. And universities should have no power to block people from leaving a country. It is like Emirates preventing people to go home, because of unpaid speeding tickets. Or Qatar confiscating passports of Indian workers.
  - JumpCrisscross 6mo ago
    > universities should have no power to block people from leaving a country They don’t.
    - throwuttfj 6mo ago
      They do, state owned education
- Paracompact 6mo ago
  https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-huma... "Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country." Passports shouldn't be a privilege, and violation of the universal declaration of human rights is pretty serious.
  - JumpCrisscross 6mo ago
    > violation of the universal declaration of human rights is pretty serious No, it isn’t. It isn’t even legally binding. (And obviously couldn’t be. It would invalidate incarceration and conscription, for example.)
retired 6mo ago
They only do this if communication with the debtor is impossible. If this happens to you, you can contact the government, schedule a payment plan for your debt and then they give you a passport with a 12 to 24 month validity.
- JumpCrisscross 6mo ago
  > They block your passport because they can't reach you Wouldn’t one applying for a passport involve the government and person connecting on some level?
  - retired 6mo ago
    My best guess is that the embassy in the foreign country gets a red flag when you try to renew your passport and you then have to contact the government debt collector. Different branches of government.
- throwuttfj 6mo ago
  No, they also do that, if you have no money to pay.

post-it 6mo ago

The Dutch embassy will be happy to get you home, where you can find a job.

throwuttfj 6mo ago
Right, for tiny fee of 6000 euro return ticket, and 2000 euro monthly rent. Great plan to save money and pay debt!
- post-it 6mo ago
  There's only so much handholding a government is going to do. Don't let your passport expire while abroad and ineligible for renewal.
- flowerthoughts 6mo ago
  Speaking of plans... If you haven't made bank already when the passport expires, perhaps it wasn't such a good idea to move abroad after all.

mothballed 6mo ago

US does same for very small child support debts (I think around $1000) as well as larger tax bills. Of course when I cross to/from Mexico by land at small crossing I've noticed most have no passport and just beg for forgiveness which usually works.

harambae 6mo ago
> I've noticed most have no passport and just beg for forgiveness which usually works in which direction? headed south or back north?
- mothballed 6mo ago
  South almost never checks anything whatsoever so it's a moot point there unless you're crossing in a major city like Tijuana. On many occasions even the guy at the metal detector has been sleeping. (Also note: Mexico never changed law like US, in Mexico it's still legal to enter with only a birth certificate and ID) Going North into america I'd say the majority don't have passports and they are let through anyway. I actually have a legal US passport and I watched myself detained, jailed, and interrogated while everyone without a passport was let through with a birth certificate and state driver's license (this is modern times, not the days when that was all you needed). So maybe it is worse to have a passport as it's suspicious as most people at the lesser land crossings do not.

JumpCrisscross 6mo ago

> that is pretty serious violation of human rights I don’t think it’s that hyperbolic. But I agree that the existence of debts shouldn’t invalidate one’s right to a passport. (The counter argument is that passports are a privilege and citizenship a bundle of privileges and duties. Why should the country have the burden of passporting someone abroad who as abandoned it.)

throwuttfj 6mo ago
Education is also a privilege. And universities should have no power to block people from leaving a country. It is like Emirates preventing people to go home, because of unpaid speeding tickets. Or Qatar confiscating passports of Indian workers.
- JumpCrisscross 6mo ago
  > universities should have no power to block people from leaving a country They don’t.
  - throwuttfj 6mo ago
    They do, state owned education
Paracompact 6mo ago
https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-huma... "Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country." Passports shouldn't be a privilege, and violation of the universal declaration of human rights is pretty serious.
- JumpCrisscross 6mo ago
  > violation of the universal declaration of human rights is pretty serious No, it isn’t. It isn’t even legally binding. (And obviously couldn’t be. It would invalidate incarceration and conscription, for example.)

retired 6mo ago

They only do this if communication with the debtor is impossible. If this happens to you, you can contact the government, schedule a payment plan for your debt and then they give you a passport with a 12 to 24 month validity.

JumpCrisscross 6mo ago
> They block your passport because they can't reach you Wouldn’t one applying for a passport involve the government and person connecting on some level?
- retired 6mo ago
  My best guess is that the embassy in the foreign country gets a red flag when you try to renew your passport and you then have to contact the government debt collector. Different branches of government.
throwuttfj 6mo ago
No, they also do that, if you have no money to pay.