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The US Passport Act of 1926 is an obscure piece of legislation that was enacted decades ago when the idea of passports starting catching fire around the world. Subsequently absorbed into US Code Title 22, the law was originally intended to authorize and issue passports for US citizens to travel abroad. Several years ago, the law was modified to provide the Secretary of State with the authority to revoke or deny a passport to any US citizen convicted of engaging in immoral acts with minors overseas. Until now, this has been the only instance of excluding a US citizen from...

Tens of thousands of Russian dual nationals are being effectively stripped of their Russian citizenship via a quiet policy of Russian consulates worldwide refusing to renew their passports. Under new regulations the consulates are enforcing, anyone seeking to renew a passport who was not registered as living in Russia on February 6, 1992, will be rejected, even if his or her passport had been renewed on previous occasions. It is unclear just how many people this new policy will affect. But it will certainly apply to thousands of Jews who emigrated from Russia after July 1, 1991 — the date...

An Australian teenager who travelled to Syria has had his passport cancelled by the government, according to his lawyer. Oliver Bridgeman, from Toowoomba in Queensland, was reported missing by his parents in March 2015 after they thought he was spending time in Bali. Instead, the teenager journeyed on to war-torn Syria where his lawyer said he had been engaged in humanitarian work... Immigration Minister Peter Dutton defended the government's decision, telling ABC News those who travel to Syria put Australia's military staff and personnel at risk... The government has the power to cancel an Australian passport when a person "might...

Yasiin Bey, the American rapper formerly known as Mos Def, has been charged with violating South Africa's immigration laws after he was arrested last week trying to leave the country on an unrecognised travel document. Bey, who is free on bail, will appear in court on March 8, officials said on Wednesday. The entertainer was arrested on Thursday in Cape Town when he produced a "World Passport" to get on a flight to Ethiopia. The World Passport is a document issued by a non-profit organisation called World Service Authority. South Africa does not recognise it, making it illegal for anyone...

No passport, no flight: Driver's licenses from five states will no longer be valid to board a domestic plane under law cracking down on terrorists and criminals accessing fake IDs Fliers from five non-compliant states in America will soon not be able to use their driver's license to board domestic flights. The ruling, which comes under the Real ID Act passed 10 years ago, is down to states not complying to the stricter standards for state-issued IDs given by the government. Fewer than half (22) of the states have complied with the recent law, and while the other states are...

I suppose it might come as some cold comfort that we’re apparently not the only nation losing our collective minds. Over in Great Britain the “transgender” craze has hit the hallowed halls of government, with at least some of their leaders now finding that including the listing of one’s gender on minor documents like your drivers license and passport is a microagression of some sort. So there’s only one thing to do, citizens. De-gender the documents! (Mashable) People’s gender should be removed from official documents, such as passports and driving licences, in a bid to end transgender discrimination, a...

Under a new enforcement provision passed into law earlier this month, the Internal Revenue Service can revoke passports of serious tax offenders who owe more than $50,000 to the government. And Uncle Sam can take away your passport at any time, even when the offender is traveling outside the country. [...] The new passport-revoking provision allows the Department of the Treasury and the IRS to authorize the State Department to take away U.S. passports from individuals with seriously delinquent debts, which the government defines as greater than $50,000, the Arizona Republic reported. ...

Think you only need a passport to board an international flight? In 2016, some fliers better have one to fly domestic, which means they had better be paying their taxes. It now looks as though your passport could be cancelled if you owe the IRS. The Real ID Act created a national standard for state-issued IDs. It hits air travel in 2016. Some states initially refused to comply, fearing that the feds would make a national database of citizens. Others cited high administrative costs and a 50% increase in fees for drivers. Most states are OK, but millions in Louisiana,...

When you owe the IRS tens of thousands of dollars in past-due taxes, you can expect to owe big penalties and interest. And soon you could even lose your U.S. passport. Lawmakers are in the final stages of negotiation over a bill to provide funding for U.S. highways and transit programs. One provision in it would let the federal government revoke, deny or limit a U.S. citizen's passport if the person owes more than $50,000 in "seriously delinquent tax debt," including penalties and interest. It would only apply to those people whom the IRS has filed a lien or levy...

If this bill becomes law, it will be imperative for Americans traveling abroad or living abroad to pay attention to IRS notices—assuming they receive them,” said Mr. Kautter.

President Barack Arrogant McStompyfoot held his ground the other day, proclaiming that the US was going to continue importing Syrian refugees, despite the fact that they cannot be properly screened. Deputy National Security Director Ben Rhodes was the guy who made sure the video was the focus in the aftermath of the Benghazi attacks as opposed to policy failure. He now assures us that the refugees will be thoroughly screened. He's not worried.Todd asked, "Does the president now have any more pause about bringing Syrian refugees into the United States?" Rhodes said, "No, Chuck. We have very extensive screening procedures...

Skip to 2:15 to watch Rhodes, responding to the news that one of the Paris bombers washed up onshore in Greece just six weeks ago, claim that it’s full speed ahead on the U.S. accepting 10,000 Syrian refugees of its own. The Democratic nominee-in-waiting said on Saturday night that she wants 65,000(!) refugees here, albeit “only if we have as careful a screening and vetting process as we can imagine.” That’s a mighty bold move by Democrats given that a majority of Americans already opposed admitting refugees back in September, with that number sure to rise now in the wake...

Athens (AFP) - A Syrian passport found by police at the scene of the mass shooting in a Paris concert hall belonged to an asylum seeker who registered on a Greek island in October, a Greek minister said Saturday. "We confirm that the Syrian passport holder came through the Greek island of Leros on October 3 where he was registered under EU rules," said a statement issued by Nikos Toskas, the minister for citizen protection. French police said the document was found "near the body of one of the attackers" in the investigation into the main attack of Friday's carnage,...

A Syrian passport has been retrieved from one of the suicide bombers who blew himself up outside the Stade de France stadium in Paris last night, according to two French police officers. The second of the suicide bombers is believed to have been as young as 15 years old. Meanwhile, witnesses reported hearing at least two of the terrorists at the Bataclan Theatre speaking perfect French.

It wasn’t that long ago that you could travel from one corner of the world to another with nothing but your good looks.There are people still alive today, in fact, who were born into a world where passports were not widely used for international travel.The passport itself is a relatively recent invention, an unfortunate consequence of World War I. And they didn’t really become ubiquitous until the late 20th century.Now, in many respects you can’t leave your own country without one, especially if you hail from the Land of the Free.Americans are so ‘free’, in fact, that they can’t even...

State driver’s licenses are among those from four states that will no longer cut it for clearing airport security under tightened measures that will go into effect sometime in 2016. But travelers may not face any obstacles anytime soon. The DMV has asked for an extension from Homeland Security for the Real ID Act, which calls for the extra ID measures in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks. “We have no reason to believe that any New Yorker will have a problem using their current state-issued ID card to get on a plane come January 2016,” the DMV said...

To comply with the 2005 Real ID Act, citizens in a number of U.S. states will now be forced to obtain a passport if they want to board an airplane....Even for domestic flights. Starting in 2016, travelers from five U.S. states - Louisiana, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, and Wisconsin will not be able to use their driver’s licenses as ID to board domestic flights. The website of Department of Homeland Security explains fives states are “noncompliant jurisdictions” meaning that to board an aircraft, you will need a passport.  That's a pretty major development considering a majority of Americans don’t...

If you don’t have a passport already, you may need to get one soon. Residents of certain states are going to need to show their passports — rather than simply their IDs — even if they’re only flying domestic. Yes, it will infringe upon states’ rights handed to them by the 10th Amendment and create unnecessary cost to taxpayers in order to implement the change, but let’s be real — the government doesn’t care about that. From Zero Hedge: To comply with the 2005 Real ID Act, which the U.S. government has been slowly implementing for the past decade, citizens in a...

The captain of the Iranian women’s soccer team will miss the Asian Cup tournament as her husband has confiscated her passport in a domestic quarrel, local media has reported. The dispute between 30-year-old midfielder Niloufar Ardalan and her husband, sports journalist Mahdi Toutounchi, touches on the rights of women in the Islamic Republic. Under Iranian law, husbands can stop their wives from traveling outside of the country. News of Ardalan missing the tournament came Monday, when Iranian news website fararu.com reported that Ardalan wouldn’t be traveling to Malaysia for the Asian Cup, which begins Thursday. Ardalan’s husband reportedly wanted her...

(Original title too long: Bulgarian Police Discover Boxes Owned By Muslim Refugees Going To Germany, And In Them They Find 10,000 Fake Passports That Were Going To Be Given To Islamic Terrorist). ******************************************************* Police officers in Bulgaria discovered boxes owned by Muslim refugees heading for Germany, they found 10,000 fake passports made in Turkey, that would have been given to terrorists. According to the report: An ISIS terrorist posing as an “asylum seeker” has been arrested by German police in a “refugee” center in Stuttgart, and German customs officers have seized boxes containing Syrian passports being smuggled into Europe. According...