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Comment by k_sze | Hacker News Reader

I didn't know that a person can simultaneously have two valid passports of the same country. I thought you either have to declare the old one as lost or bring it to the passport office to have it invalidated, when you apply for a new one.

How does this work?

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People traveling through the middle east and Israel often have two passports. One they show the israeli immigration officers, and the other they show elsewhere. Israel will interrogate when you show up on their borders with an stamp in your passport from on of the arabic states. It's just a way to get around this kind of hassle.

And (some) Arab countries will create trouble/ban you from entering if your passport has Israeli stamps...

He's actually in trouble in Lebanon now because of this. The article says he entered Israel in 2008, which is illegal in Lebanon since they are technically at war.

I have no doubt Lebanon will look the other way (the entry registry might even be in a different passport)

He's a national hero in Lebanon. He's been considered for the presidency.

I think the leb authorities will go through the motions. But I agree with you.

The bigger thieves are the Lebanese politicians who are the ire of the current protests in Lebanon. They have fleeced the country to the tune of billions... Multiples of what Carlos has been accused of.

It was a very public trip with press conference with the Israeli President (TV, photographs, etc)... Clearly the Lebanese government and judiciary have known about that trip all along and haven't cared.

Israel doesn't stamp anymore (at least the last few times I was there). You now get a small slip of paper instead. I presume for this very reason.

Even if you’re entering for business?

I've only ever gone for business.

It's the other way around. Israel stopped stamping a long time ago - but still might if you're a dick.

But if you had an Israeli stamp in your passport - or left the slip of paper in, there's a whole host of other countries that will not let you in: Syria Lebanon Libya Kuwait Iran Iraq Pakistan Sudan Yemen

Israel may ask some extra questions - but they won't refuse you entry.

In the U.K. you can get this easily if your primary passport must go to an embassy during a period in which you must travel for work, though it requires assistance from your employer in writing a letter confirming this. One would imagine France might have similar rules, though I don’t know if they do or not.

At one point in Canada, it was possible to have three valid Passports. A regular one, one for travel to Israel, and one for travel to South Africa.

Israel would give you a very hard time if you had visas/stamps from neighbouring Arab states (and vice versa).

Under Apartheid, South African visas/stamps made it very difficult to enter other sub-saharan African countries.

Just goes to show that these policies restricting people’s travels only applies to “little people”.

Or catches up people that can’t get a lawyer/consultant’s advice before booking every trip.

Every travelagent can tell you this, and a passport is like 50 bucks.

If you have the means to travel to Israel and neighboring Arab states, or to South Africa and neighboring Sub-Saharan states from Canada, you have the ability to get these passports and you really should know that you should.

> Or catches up people that can’t get a lawyer/consultant’s advice before booking every trip.

It’s 2020 now, presumably you mean “people with no access to the internet”?

Typically for business travel. If you have to send your passport off to get a visa from an embassy, you might still have to travel to another country while waiting to get it back, for example.

https://www.businesstraveller.com/features/apply-second-uk-p...

Many countries make exceptions for middle east travel because many countries complicate things if you have a stamp from Israel. So for someone with ties in Lebanon but also doing big international business, a third country could easily rationalize issuing an additional passport so that neither Lebanon or Israel see each other's stamps.

Saw this mentioned in a recent article about an Instragrammer who claims to be the youngest woman to visit every country.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-13/ingenious...

> You can—and should—hold two passports from the same country, simultaneously.

...

> You just need to show written evidence of your conflicting flights, with your name on the reservation. And remember: You can book refundable tickets as proof of travel, show them at the passport office, and then cancel them later. Then you’ll have one handy for any future travel traffic jams.

I believe it's not too hard to do in some countries. It's usually to partition your travel history somewhat to avoid incidents. I know in the past, I'd heard that people in the US who had to do business in the middle east would often have two passports because there were enough countries that would take issue with you having visited Israel or Iran that you needed to keep them separate.

Three or more countries can participate in a Mexican standoff. If you want to visit them all, you can't show the same passport twice. Is there a limit on how many passports you can have?

I don't think this has been an issue in the last century. Countries will take a stance on it if it actually happens.

Remember Manafort had two passports or perhaps 3. Another reason you need more than one is some companies physically need to get your passport to add their visa, they may take a few weeks to process it. Big time travelers often have 2 passports for this reason.

The most common reason is that you used to have to surrender your passport to get a visa. Not too long ago (my first China trip), I had to leave my passport at the Chinese consulate in NYC for up to 30 days (where it went from there... who knows, but came back with a big ass full page sticker as a visa).

If you are still in possession of the original passport, the US will issue you a second passport so you can travel internationally during those events.

Same goes for applying for green cards (married a UK citizen? moving to the UK? They're going to take your passport for 30+ days).

I think some countries allow you to have multiple so you can visit counties that are at odds with each other and having a stand from one would cause issues getting into the other.

You can have however many passports the country wants to issue you.

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