Two Passports?
I heard something interesting the other day. My mom was telling me about a conversation she had with a British guy who was visiting for the weekend with my uncle. His business takes him all over the world and he was telling them about his travels – and mentioned that he travels so much that he has two passports.
Now I’ve only had a passport for less than four years (although I do only have 3 blank pages left 
) so I am no expert on passport rules, especially British ones. But two passports? Just because you travel a lot?? I have NEVER heard of this! Which one do you even use? It just seems like a passport is too much of an official document to just have a spare kicking around.
I guess this guy was in a situation where his passport was off at some consulate getting a visa processed when he needed to travel on short notice. Being unable to interrupt the visa processing and get his passport back, he went and got a new one and went on his trip. I thought that was pretty interesting; I don’t think I would have even known a second passport was an option. It’s an option in the US too, by the way, for that same situation.
Something else recently piqued my interest more about the second passport thing than this guy though. I was poking around on a travel blog looking at the author’s upcoming destinations and noticed “Israel (with a second passport of course).” I honestly had no idea what this could be referring to! Why do you need two passports to do to Israel?
I did a Google search of “Israel second passport” and quickly learned the answer. It’s pretty common knowledge that Israel is engaged in a land dispute with Palestine and in conflict with the Arab nations in general. Apparently several countries in the region which are in conflict with Israel will refuse entry to anyone with an Israeli stamp or visa in their passport. Knowing this, the US will issue a second passport to someone who has been or is planning to go to Israel and also plans to go to these other countries. I’m not sure what sort of reason/proof people need to pull this off.
Digging deeper I learned that the countries that won’t let you in if you’ve visited Israel are Lebanon, Syria, Libya, Kuwait, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen. Perhaps these countries aren’t on the top of most tourists’ lists, but this is still pretty crazy. I am really starting to think I do not understand enough about the history of Israel or what’s going on in the Middle East, because I can’t imagine what would cause a country to not allow anyone into their land that had just set foot in Israel.
Apparently, at least in Lebanon and Syria, immigration at the border will examine very closely to determine if you’ve ever been to Israel. They’ve been known to scrutinize your dates and countries visited in the region, looking for holes in your dates or missing border crossings. Even luggage tags from Israeli airports could give you away and get you kicked out. There is a ton of information out there on the internet about how to visit Israel and these other countries, and it seems Israeli immigration officials routinely stamp separate pieces of paper rather than passports if requested. Definitely lots of information out there on how to circumvent these crazy rules.
I’m a little surprised I’ve never heard of this before. It seems like a pretty ridiculous policy and it really reflects some deep-seeded hatred of Israel on the part of these ten countries. This kind of hatred, as demonstrated by the harsh embargo, should remind us of exactly how delicate and tense the situation is in the Middle East.