Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Passport Question for the Lawyers

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I am finally breaking down and getting a Passport due to my pretty much quarterly trips to Canada.  I need one by January for travel next year.

On the passport application there is a section for aliases.  For purposes of this section is a blog screen name an alias.  Does it rise to the legal standard?

I think my passport would look funny with the aka field filled out as EaBo Clipper.

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Comments

  2. …Keep It Simple, Stupid.  Especially when dealing with the government.

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    It’s been a while since I filled out an application for a passport, but I suspect that that “alias” portion is intended to provide the government with means by which they might do an investigation to deny you a passport. 

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    Stick with your name on your birth certificate or naturalization papers.

    • Ron White has a great comedy routine about his alias being ‘Tater Salad.’  But the humor of it lies in how an offhand joke to a cop about his alias needlessly complicated his interactions with the government.

      • Ron White has a great comedy routine about his alias being ‘Tater Salad.’

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        …but of all the Foxworthy’s quartet White and (I’m embarrassed to admit it) Larry the Cable Guy’s routines are the funniest.

  3. just a thought.

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    as for raj’s comment about keeping it simple, i have to agree.  i made the mistake a few years ago of presenting my passport instead of drivers license when reentering the usa from canada.  for reasons i cannot fathom, the boarder guard was immediately suspicious of the several-years-old stamps from a few east african countries in my passport.  this led him to feel the need to question me about my employer.  finding that i had none at the time, i swear he pushed a button under  the console.  luckily a more seasoned guard came out, rolled his eyes and waved me on.  never give them more information than necessary.  you never know what comic books the gun-toting idiot you’ve randomly drawn has been reading.

    • that  Laurel considers to be idiots US Customs
      Hmmmm? doesn’t look like an idiot’s job to me…It could have been much worse though. You could have been re entering the PROC and been confronted by a real “A hole” wanting to take you to the interrogation room.. then you’d really have something to bitch about. Lighten up and thank your lucky stars that you  have an American passport to the greatest country in the world. Be grateful.

      • besides needing to be able to see and hear, the qualified candidate must have 1 year experience talking to people, as from jobs such as

        customer service, claims adjustment,…information receptionist, assistant, aid, and secretarial/clerical positions.

        let’s just say that the threshold for these folks isn’t very high.  but what can you expect for a gs-5 job?  that’s crap pay.

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        thanks for helping me make the point, Tom ol’ buddy!

        • …whenever we go through passport control in Germany, the control officers are actually trained policemen.  They speak Amerikinsch, too, although I normally respond to them in Bavarian.  The only question they ask is whether our stay is for business (hence subject to income tax) or pleasure.

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          When we return to the US it isn’t so bad, but the questioning in much more extensive.  “Why have you been away so long?” is the typical question.  Why?  Because we have a house over there.

          • Although we didn’t leave the secure terminal area, we still went through an additional round of questioning between planes.

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            What was particularly amusing was that the guy doing the questioning was the absolute stereotype of the German inquisitor from WWII/Indiana Jones movies. He had a round face and small, round spectacles, and he spoke accented English in a high-pitched voice.

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            I half expected him to ask “Do you have your papers?”

            • …is/are your papers đŸ˜‰  Presumably you had to show that when you hopped on the plane at the first leg of your flight.

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              Before Lufthansa had non-stop flights to Munich, we spent a lot of time in Frankfurt running from one end of the airport to the other, including through narrow staircases.  Eventually, we got fed up with that and took SwissAir through Zurich.  Now Lufthansa has non-stop flights to Munich most of the year, and we schedule our travel around that.

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