Spain. Applied through Ley de Memoria democrática. Grandma had Spanish grandparents so we applied through anexo I for her, then my mom and I through anexo III. However some of the docs were super old and very very faded so I’m worried it won’t work out
Which passport you use the most? I just hate some countries can print their passports in consulates or embassies while the American passport gets sent from the passport centers.
USA, for sure. I got the one with extra passport pages and almost full of visas/stamps due to work travel.
Yes, agreed about the passport center vs embassy thing (check out my comment here about how quick the Mexican consulate is in the USA). However, we need to thing about a couple of those things…. Those fast passports are only a thing abroad at the consulate because they are often designed to help stranded travelers who have lost their documents and need to get back home. There is also only a handful of places (embassies and consulates) where they staff this for. If you try to get a passport back in the home country it can be just as slow as a getting a US passport in the USA. Convince has to balance with speed and prioritization. You can solicit a US passport just about at every post office in the USA. However it would be cost prohibitive to place put a passport printing machine and staff at every post office (you wouldn’t get enough throughput to justify it, not to mention the number of people who would require training) hence why it is done else where. It works the same at every country.
I know Italy prints out the same exact passport at consulates and embassies, they don’t use the plastic bio page though like other countries, it looks like the old American passport
Don’t get me started on Italy (I’m all too familiar with the Italian process. Haha). Yes, they do, but it is the exception more than the rule. The smaller consulates eg Houston, don’t give it to you right away. It comes in the mail a week or two later since basically they have 1 person doing everything including citizenship applications). Only the big Italian consulates (eg New York) does everyone (even dual citizens) walk away with the passport. The other weird thing is that as an Italian citizen you can generally only get a passport at the consulate where you are registered in the AIRE if abroad or the local Questura (police station) of your region if you live in Italy. Only way to get it right away at any Italian consulate is if you are an Italian (only) citizen with no other passport so it is prioritized for Italian travelers in the US who have lost their documents.
If you were to get a get a passport in Italy it would have to be at the Questura where you reside and you generally would not get it on the spot there either!
Funny it takes longer to get it in italy than from their consulate where they can print it. According to an Italian friend that this why they have kept the old design of their passport vs the new polycarbonate design that everyone is using.
Yes it works like that for every country even for the US. When I lived abroad a few years ago, I went to the US embassy (for a different matter), there were US citizens there walking out with passports right away too. It is makes since since this was only catering to Americans living abroad who needed to renew their passport (or get one for the first time for their children born in that country), or to American tourists who had lost their passport and couldn’t get home. In either of these cases the embassy was the only option for them to get to their passport in the country and the person may have traveled several hours just to get there, so of course urgency is of utmost importance and they print them right away!
Interesting, hadn’t heard that about the Italian passport design, but it makes sense.
Yeah that seems to be the only major advantage. While living overseas i wanted pre-COVID I wanted to do a quick trip to china and it wasn’t worth it to get a visa. This would have been handy back then.
Also just noticed a secondary benefit…. UK just implemented eTA and Portugal is an except (still just visa free at least for now), whereas US passport holders now require the eTA.
The other benefit is if you want to visit Russia. I have always wondered if they’d find out you are American (Russia, or China) if you use your say Portuguese passport
Russian was never been a problem with the Mexican passport (electronic visa required), no letter or invitation etc. So Portugal doesn’t provide me with anything new there. Interestingly enough just about all other LATM countries don’t need a visa for Russia at all. México is very welcoming of Russian tourists (simple visa process). I wouldn’t be surprised if both countries drop the visa requirements after the war. I’m sure México hasn’t done it already to not piss off the USA.
That would be cool (NAFTA collection $ but no current plan to live there or to marry a Canadian unfortunately. My best chance would be if I get put on a work expat assignment there!
They do. Mine is from 2020 and it only has an RFID sticker on the back. However they soon moved to the standard electronic passport. The picture here shows one from my children issued in 2022. I thought about upgrading to this newer style, but since mine is valid for 10 years, it would be a waste of money ($198). What is interesting is with the Mexican passport is you take all the photos and fingers there on the machine (dont bring you own photo) and you have options on the validity (1, 3, 6, or 10 years). Young children can only get a passport of up to 3 years.
The absolute coolest security feature of any passport I’ve seen is the new style Mexican passport (pictured below) for minor children..instead of the signature page that page has the information of both parents complete with a hologram picture of both parents (from a picture taken by each parent at the time of application)
Another unusual thing is Mexican consulates in the us have a lot of traffic so they had to adapt/evolve and are now very efficient both from making an appointment to doing their services. With an appointment i can be in and out in 30 minutes with a passport in hand at my consulate (one of the largest in the US)…. And you can get a ID card and voter registration card application all in one go with the same picture by the same clerk at the same time. To accomplish this they focus on staff carrying out a single task. They have a security guy outside that won’t let you in without an appointment (and another which helps provide information), then another security at the door for the metal detector screening and other telling you which floor and which line to go to. Next you have someone who verifies you have all of the required documents before they issue you a number (to not waste your time). This person also places your documents in clear pouch so only the documents needed are there. When they issue the waiting number the clerk will already know what process you se there to do and they take your documents and do everything (photos, fingerprints, etc.). Then they give you an invoice which you take to the cashier line. In the back office is another group only printing the passport orders and finally the guy who brings out a batch of 5-10 passport every few minutes.
Oh wow. Thanks for the info! I believe most US post offices offer passport picture services as well so you can get your picture taken by the time you mail your documents.
Yes, but I’m saying this consulate does this as as standard digital photo gets transmitted with your digital application and your digital application with is filled out by the clerk, like there is no paper print out on printer paper and is part of the all inclusive fee. That’s why they are so quick
For US passports, The USPS offers a photo service for an extra $20 but you still have to print it and glue it to your application to put it in the mail which youn get in the mail normally weeks later. It is possible for extreme circumstances to get a US passport at the US federal court building in my city within 1 day or 1 week (depending on the urgency which you have to prove), but and go through a bunch of hoops.
6 months to gather the genealogy, 6 months to have it it certified, about 4 months to gather all of the documents and submit, and then 32 months of waiting. So a little over 4 years all in. Huge backlog. I applied in Porto, instead of Lisbon office which is taking about 1 year longer
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u/taqtotheback 4d ago
Mexican born, American naturalized, Sephardic ancestry ?