| ▲ | throwuttfj 17 hours ago |
| > 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?! |
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| ▲ | JumpCrisscross 17 hours ago | parent | next [-] |
| > 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.) |
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| ▲ | Paracompact 15 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | 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 2 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | > 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.) | |
| ▲ | Jensson 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | People don't have that right when they are criminals, prisoners don't get to leave their country etc and this is essentially that. |
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| ▲ | throwuttfj 17 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | 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. | | |
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| ▲ | retired 17 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| 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. |
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| ▲ | JumpCrisscross 17 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | > 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 17 hours ago | parent [-] | | 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. |
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| ▲ | throwuttfj 17 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | No, they also do that, if you have no money to pay. |
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| ▲ | post-it 17 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| The Dutch embassy will be happy to get you home, where you can find a job. |
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| ▲ | throwuttfj 17 hours ago | parent [-] | | Right, for tiny fee of 6000 euro return ticket, and 2000 euro monthly rent. Great plan to save money and pay debt! | | |
| ▲ | flowerthoughts 9 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | 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. | |
| ▲ | post-it 9 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | There's only so much handholding a government is going to do. Don't let your passport expire while abroad and ineligible for renewal. |
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| ▲ | mothballed 17 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| 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. |
