how important is it to have your us passport doing this; hitching across border, finding work, renting a place etc? would the answer vary from province to province, country to country? your best guesses?
I ask because I had a passport at one point, planning to make my way out of country eventually.. but I, of course, lost it. and there are rumors possibly untrue that they(I don't know who) are now trying to make it near impossible to get a us passport.
Yeah, a passport is pretty important. They of course will ask you at all borders for your passport, and in addition to the physical passport you will also have to have the correct entry-exit stamps. The only exception is if you cross every border illegally, which is I suppose possible but really tiresome and dangerous. I jumped three borders (Mexico-Guatamala, Guatamala-El Salvador, and much later, Chile-Bolivia and vica versa), and while it was pretty exhilirating you really gotta have a passport from
somewhere while you're abroad, if you're to keep sane. Your passport, like it or not, is proof of who you are, and your origins. Without it, maybe you will get into some shit and they will just shoot you cause you're just another paperless slob. It dosen't matter whether you're legal in said country or not. You just need
some kind of documentation.
For example, I read something years ago about a guy who had renounced his US citizenship and hence become stateless. I can't seem to find it today, (perhaps he was imprisnoed and ultimetly deported to somewhere that was apethietic, which I reckon is the likely scenario) but he had
so many problems, always dealing with beaurocracy and embassies as he "sought refuge," -- which I'm sure is the last thing anyone on StP wants to do: beg the government of wherever, to let you in and feel sorry for you.
And seriously -- seeking refuge? An American citizen? As an American expat living abroad I obviously have my problems with the US government, but I could never, in my craziest trip, be able to describe the United States in 2014 as a war zone, or someplace where I would fear for my life because the government is shooting missiles at me.
And seeking refugee status is really the only thing you can do as a stateless person. I know, I know -- I'm kinda digressing but it's along the same lines.... Passportless must have different connotations but still, it can't be much easier.
Getting a passport is not hard, it costs you maybe 200 dollars, and if you're over 18 when you apply it lasts for 10 years and is good for most of the countries in the world. Just do that. And for crissake, don't ever renounce your US citizenship at a foriegn embassy, however tempting and deliciously rebellious it may seem (I myself have thought about it). Not only does it cost more than a passport ($300, at least in Brazil), it also leaves you with nothing -- like when you erase your computer's hard drive...you're not Windows or Mac or Linux....you're nothing, and nobody gives a shit because you can't even open a Word document.
I dunno if there are any conspiricies against a particular type of US citizen getting a passport but I highly doubt it. In fact I kinda think the idea is really ludacris - no offense. Compared to many other countires the US is pretty lax about those sorts of things. Just get a passport. Once you got it things go really smoothly. As for renting rooms, maybe they would ask you for documentation if you were to rent a room in say, Chile. Maybe not in rural Colombia. You can never get a legitiment job without a passport. That being said you can get plenty of illegal jobs with no documentation whatsoever.
But...you gotta have your papers. They're your proof of who you
officially are, and without it they can turn you into anybody they please.
