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4 international travel safety tips to keep in mind

Published on in photography, travel by Paspic

When you travel across national borders, it’s important to keep in mind a few additional safety tips—ones which either don’t apply to shorter-distance travel or apply much more when you go abroad. Here are four tips you’ll want to keep in mind the next time you travel outside of your home country:

1. Keep information on the embassy handy

Your home nation’s embassy will be your lifeline in any emergency, so make sure you have all the information for the embassy at hand—just in case. A phone number is a must, and other information such as the physical location, email address, etc. can be valuable as well. If something goes wrong during your stay, contact your embassy ASAP.

2. Secure your passport

Your passport is very important as a form of identification when you’re traveling outside of your home country, especially if you’re traveling to nations where passport theft is a problem. Find a good place to keep your passport safe and sound—either somewhere on your body or somewhere reliably secured at your hotel. Losing your passport isn’t the worst thing that can happen to you, but it’s a huge pain.

3. Make sure you have emergency funds

Having accessible money you can use in case you lose your normal form of payment is crucial when you’re traveling overseas—so far from your normal safety net, any problem can blow up in a big way. Something which would be a minor inconvenience normally can send you running to the embassy for help during international travel.

4. Do your homework

Make sure you learn enough about where you’re going in advance to prepare properly. Laws differ, customs differ, and not every part of every town is tourist-friendly. Just like any city at home, there are going to be rough areas—make sure you know where they are and avoid them (or act with appropriate caution if you do choose to visit them). A little homework will save you a lot of trouble.

If you’d like more tips on travel, or you need help checking your passport photos meet the necessary requirements, find out more on our blog or use our Paspic photo checking service.

Photo: Good bye ! by CJS*64 licensed under Creative commons 2

5 tips to help you reach your holiday destination on time

Published on in photography, travel by Paspic

Preparing to head out for the holidays? Travel can become a headache very quickly if you haven’t accounted for the necessary variables. Make sure everything goes smoothly and you arrive at your destination on time by keeping these five holiday travel tips in mind.

Plan in advance

A good plan wins out over no plan every time. Even a bad plan wins over having no plans at all! Take the time to think things through a little in advance, and you’ll be far less likely to run into a surprise when it’s time to get on the road.

Pack for every eventuality

The better you can pack to avoid delays, the faster you’ll reach your destination. While it’s impossible to really pack for every eventually, you can at least make sure you’re well-prepared for the likely suspects—flats, messes, hunger, etc.

Consider your best route, not the best route

While an unfamiliar drive through complex terrain may be theoretically faster, and a dizzying mess of flight transfers may look faster and cheaper on paper, you need to think carefully about whether that’s the right route for you. Sometimes discretion wins out over ambition.

Make sure your passport and other paperwork is in order

If you’re crossing a border, make sure you have your passport and any other necessary documentation ready for the trip. The same goes for tickets, baggage claim slips, hotel packages and anything you might need to get to your destination without headaches. Be especially aware of potential delays; if you don’t have your passport in hand already, don’t be confident you’ll have it on time, especially if you’re still waiting to find out whether your passport photos and applications were acceptable.

Stay on top of travel changes

Weather changes, flights get delayed, roads have accidents – there are plenty of things that can change the rules for your trip at the last minute and derail your plans. That’s okay! Just make sure you’re paying attention to relevant news sources and are staying flexible, so you can account for problems and eliminate them ASAP.

These won’t guarantee your arrival on time—nothing can do that—but they’ll greatly increase the odds you get where you’re going without too much delay.

Passports for intercountry adoptees

Published on in photography, travel by Paspic

In the past, acquiring citizenship — a pre-requisite for a passport — for a child adopted abroad was both time consuming and expensive. However, acquiring U.S. citizenship for you child became much easier following the The Child Citizenship Act of 2000. Any child adopted overseas acquires U.S. citizenship automatically if the circumstances of the adoption fulfill one of three requirements:

1) If the child is in the “legal and physical custody” of a U.S. citizen, the child is eligible for citizenship.

2) If the child is admitted to the United States as an “immigrant for lawful permanent residence”.

3) If the child’s adoption is finalized.

It is important to be aware, before a child’s U.S. parent(s) can apply for citizenship and a passport, the child’s adoption must be recognized by the United States Department of State. The U.S. does not necessarily recognize the legality of an adoption that occurs in another country. Hence, just because another country recognizes the adoption does not mean the child is automatically eligible for a U.S. passport to travel of his or her country of birth.

Unrecognized adoption

If the United States Department does not recognize the adoption of a child, the U.S. parents can still apply for citizenship by filing either a IH-4 or IR-4 visa application. These applications require a fee as well as passport photos. The child passport photos must meet U.S. Department of State standards.

Adult children of U.S. citizens who have never applied for citizenship themselves can do so by applying for citizenship through naturalization. This requires the filing of an N-400 form. Particularly if a child’s parents were married at the time the child was born, the adult child of a U.S. Citizen(s) has a very good chance of being recognized as a naturalized citizen and may be eligible for a U.S. Passport.

Upon being recognized as a naturalized U.S. Citizen, both a child or an adult are eligible for a U.S. Passport. All that is required is the completion of a DS-11 Form accompanied by the child’s adoption papers or U.S. Child Born Abroad Birth Certificate, a fee, and two passport photos that meet Department of State Standards.