I missed my calling as an international man of mystery

[the_siobhan]

Axel discovered on the way home from his last LARPing trip that he had been crossing the border all summer on an expired passport.

So I checked mine and yep, I have to renew both of them. Irish one expired six months ago, Canadian one expires in four. Not that I have the money to go anywhere, but it's such a pain in the ass to get a new one if you let it lapse that it's worth it to me to eat the cost of renewing them now.

(It suddenly occurs to me that now I'll have to get my English passport as well because of Brexit. And that one lapsed so long ago I'll have to start over. Buggeration. Well, that one can wait.)

So I must seek volunteers to be my references for the Canadian one. And I hope that's not a requirement for the Irish passport, because I honestly don't think I know anybody who isn't a relative.

Comments

[greylock]

(I'm only mildly surprised to find Axel still LARPs.)

I'm surprised he was never arrested.
I've always heard he border guards (both Canadian and US) were complete wankers, and that was Before Trump.

How come you can get both UK and Irish? Parental ancestry on both sides of the border is my best guess.

Would that then make you a tri-citizen?

[the_siobhan]

He normally travels with his Nexus card, and that has a different expiry date.

Canadian border guards are wankers in as much as any position of power is prone to abuse. They've always been nice to me (even before I was a Canadian) but you know, privilege.

How come you can get both UK and Irish? Parental ancestry on both sides of the border is my best guess.

Irish citizenship through my parents who were both born and raised there. English citizenship from being born in London. Canadian citizenship through naturalization.

[smhwpf]

I didn't realize the UK had birthright citizenship. Well, apparently it doesn't anymore, if you were born in the UK from 1983 onwards. Then you are usually only a British citizen if one of your parents was a citizen, or legally settled. (Unless you apply).

So you are one of the small list of people I know who, like me, are citizens of three countries! (UK, US, Sweden in my case).

[greylock]

As an aside, weird citizenship laws have been the downfall of a shitload of Australian politicians lately. Some for citizenship they didn't know they had under S.44 of the Constitution.

It's a legal clusterfuck.

[the_siobhan]

That I did't know. That seems to me like it could lead to a lot more people without any legal claim to citizenship, since a lot of countries are also getting rid of inherited citizenship.

Come to think of it, Ireland also recently got rid of birthright citizenship unless you continue to live there afterwards. (They were trying to cut down on the number of people who would fly in to have the baby in an Irish hospital just to get an EU passport and then immediately go home again.) I lived in England until I was 3, so I don't know if that would count or not.

[greylock]

I have no idea what Nexus card is. Shall google anon, but it seems like if there's no passport, it's not a real border. (I mean, Nexus sounds like a public transport card).

Irish citizenship through my parents who were both born and raised there. English citizenship from being born in London. Canadian citizenship through naturalization.

I've gone from having no idea of tri-citz a few days ago, to hearing it's uncommon, to suspecting it's way more common than expected.

[the_siobhan]

I have no idea what Nexus card is

https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-traveler-programs/nexus

It's definitely a real border. Nexus is a frequent traveler program that allows you to go through pre-screening by both border control agencies all at once instead of having to do on site every time you cross. Basically if you can produce a Nexus card they know you already have a passport.

[greylock]

Clever. Just seems so unamerican. :)