Is Central America a fruitful hunting ground for those seeking a second passport on the gray market?
Not too many writers on the PT scene have actually been there, done that like I have. Years ago, in the pre-internet days and feeling young and adventurous, I left Laredo and headed south, riding the famous ‘chicken buses’ through Mexico, into Guatemala and Honduras, and finally over to Belize. I was partly looking for second passports, and partly for those sweet chicas with a permanent tan.
In those days I was quite successful in my search for government officials who were willing, for a wad full of dollars discreetly passed over their desks, to overlook certain – how shall I put it? Questionable – ancestry documents on passport application forms. Your great-grandfather was a banana magnate with a Scottish name who had an illegitimate child with a local that was never registered? Si señor. You are Honduran. The passport was filled out on the spot. Passports back in those days were no big deal. Today, things are very different, and passport issuance procedures have been strengthened all over the world. Corruption in this field has become very expensive.
Back in those days, I finally ended up in Belize – as a consultant to the government on their new, legal, white glove second passport program. A company called Belize Orient was responsible for marketing this program in the Far East, and they did very well thank you. Hundreds of Hong Kong Chinese became Belizeans almost overnight. Although this was an official program, it was an open secret that one could obtain the same passport, from the same passport office, by going through a back street fixer for a fraction of the price. That way, you weren’t paying for the fancy offices occupied by the middlemen in Hong Kong. Of course, the Belize second passport program was closed down promptly after the events of September 2001.
As one grows older, one requires more stars in one’s hotels. Late last year, I made a brief trip through the Marriotts and Intercontinentals of Central America, this time traveling business class on TACA, the Central American airline. It was a trip down memory lane in many ways, undertaken more in the interests of academic research than anything else… as well as allowing me to drop in on a few old friends, contacts and watering holes. My conclusion? Although of course money still buys everything, the days of cheap second passports are long gone.
One thing people often fail to understand is that, if you go to Central America, it won’t be hard to find officials, lawyers or fixers, or even military types, who are keen to offer you second passports through gray or black market unofficial channels. Yes, even today, just hang around outside the passport office looking like a rich gringo and fixers offering their services will be all over you within a few minutes.
Everyone, it seems, has an aunt who works at the civil registry and can help ‘invent’ some birth documents… or perhaps a 400 pound cousin in her thirties who is keen to marry a foreigner. This, you will be informed, will most certainly lead to your new citizenship being approved personally and expeditiously by the President, who just happened to be at law school with the fat cousin’s uncle. Heck, you can even have a photo op with the President!
Another thing you need to understand is that Central Americans will never say no. It is considered rude in their culture. They are also unlikely to say if they don’t know. If they don’t know, to avoid losing face, they will make something up. And when it comes to accepting money, they are not shy either.
The net result of all this, in case you haven’t guessed it, is that you can easily end up handing over a few thousand dollars and being promised a second passport. When it doesn’t come through on time, your contacts will still never say no. They will still remain genuinely hopeful, as optimistic as they are in the face of adversity, years down the road. Another ten or twenty thousand bucks later, they still believe your passport application will be approved next week when such-and-such a high ranking official is back from his penguin-watching vacation in Antarctica (no kidding, that seems to be the in thing for the Central American elite). Then, they will explain that you just need to do a brief language and civics test someone had forgotten to tell them about, but then again they know a lawyer who will try to help you can avoid it for a small gratuity. And still, the guys in the passport office won’t say no. But they won’t say yes either. Your application will be in a permanent state of limbo. Somewhere near the bottom of the pile.
That is what happens in 99% of cases. I’ve often be contacted by well meaning enthusiastic expats who have established some local contacts and believe they have the right channels to get black market second passports. They’ve never seen the program actually work, but they are ready to take on their first clients, requiring payment up front that is handed straight over to the fixers.
As I said these people are well meaning, but they just don’t understand the risks they are taking. The best case scenario is that the sucker who falls for the deal will lose his money. The worst case scenario is much worse. Sometimes the end result is a real passport, but fraudulently issued. Sooner or later the ‘client’ will be arrested at a border crossing (yes, even in Central America they have computers at border crossings) and will point his finger directly at the expat who helped him acquire the passport. Central American jails are not pleasant places to reside.
There is, of course, that 1% of cases where the goods actually get delivered. There are gray market passports coming out of Central America right now. I know that for a fact. I’ve personally seen documents from Guatemala and Panama recently, and I know others are around. The net cost is well into the high five figures. No $10,000 deals any more.
Can I put you in contact with the facilitators? Absolutely not. I’m long retired from that business. It’s too risky for me. So please do not even ask. All I will tell you is that anyone who advertises this kind of second passport on a website is a scammer. No ifs, no buts, period. If you Google ‘second passports’ you will find a lot of these scam sites, with fancy sounding names and claiming to be law offices. Google, in this case, is not the way to go. Safe travels!
Bill Freeman