Korean Job Discussion Forums

[bobbybigfoot]

These are my ideas for revolutionizing the passport:

(1) As an option, accredited post secondary education would appear. Degree, institution, date.

(2) Criminal Record Indicator, 5 point risk indicator, automatically updates as time passes. e.g. 1 = clean; 2 = small offenses; 3 etc... After two years, or whatnot, an indicator of 2 could become 1. A 3 could become a 2. Obviously, certain crimes would necessitate that an individual could not possess a passport.

(3) An option to become financially bonded. For example: passport holder gives $5000 to Passport Canada, who holds said money in trust, at an interest rate this is beneficial to both parties.

(4) an optional Health Check

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Information such as this would make applying for a Visa rather easy. The information being offered is certified by the Federal Government of whatever participating country (obviously agreements would have to be in place). For Korea, a consulate could simply scan the passport and have all relevant information. The Visa process would be sped up tremendously.

Those that choose not to have such information available could opt out.

The bond idea would be particularly useful for those travelers who like one-way tickets. Get stuck/injured in whatever country, and there's $5000 of guaranteed money available.

For example:

You have been in Korea 2 years and you want to return to Canada, but first you'd like to vacation in the US. But you aren't sure how long you plan on staying and so you feel a one way ticket is best. You don't have assets in Canada to show to US Immigration. But with such a bond available, US immigration could wave you through, few questions asked. Overstay your Visa? Forfeit your bond. (1 min to 1 day late = $150; 1 day to 3 days late = $500; 3 days to 7 days late = $1000 etc...)

Just some ideas I thought I'd throw out there...

[Gamecock]

Change all international passports (or maybe just Canadians, eh?) to accommodate Korean visa rules? What a GREAT idea! NOT!

How in the world would your criminal record indicator be updated? Through an international database that all countries would be connected to at all times? (Yeah right). What international body would determine which are minor infractions and which are serious? Because Korea definitely has a different idea of what is a minor infraction that most western nations!

Or Korean immi could simply get a 20th century database and actually keep track of the documents you presented the first time (instead of having to show new apostilled degrees and transcripts EVERY time you apply for a new job, having to show a new criminal check EVERY year, even if you haven't left Korea and gone home, etc.).

I can think of all sorts of privacy reasons that every person at every border crossing doesn't need to know so much information about you. I could see the BOND idea getting abused massively in 3rd world countries where officials are always looking for a bribe...."Look this guy has $5000 available on his passport! Excuse me, sir, please step into this room, we need to discuss some irregularities before you can get your passport back and leave our country..."

[Troglodyte]

I can't believe that someone would even support something like that, much less actually propose it. Would you actually want to go to all that trouble just to get a passport? Putting aside the fact that different visas for different countries would require even further information (i.e. time and $$$ from you), would you want to go to all that trouble just so that you could do some cross-border shopping or drive down to Mexico for the weekend?

Furthermore, would you really want to walk around with a document that contained a record of your education, health and criminal background? A document that any cop or bank could ask to see? A document that your employer is very likely to see. If passports contained that kind of specific information, you can bet that many countries would introduce all sorts of regulations based on that info. "Sorry Mr. Bigfoot, but it says here on your passport that you were charged with public intoxication. I'm sorry but we can't let you into the country. Please get on the next plane out of here." Or even worse, if that info is coming directly from the FBI database then they'll see things that you were arrested for, regardless of whether you were found guilty. Not to mention what kind of scams police and other people would pull on you if they knew that you're covered for 5000 big ones. Or for that matter what kinds of fraud they might try if they stole your passport --> you would suddenly become a prime target of pickpockets.

But why stop with having to carry around a document with all that information? Maybe you could lose your passport or forget it at home. Why not have everyone in the world chipped? Then we could carry around huge amounts of information about ourselves that anyone at all with a chip reader can find out. Clamp a GPS tracker on everyone and install 1984-style spy cameras in our homes and life would be just wonderful then, wouldn't it?

[Robbo]

What if there were simply different types of passports? One for the occasional traveler and a more comprehensive one for those of us that work abroad. I would be down with that.

[lifeinkorea]

A passport is the dumbest thing we can support having. We spend so much time removing physical walls, but we don't do anything to remove the imagined ones held up by things like nationality, currency, armies, and yes PASSPORTS!!

[bobbybigfoot]

[bobbybigfoot]

[Robbo]

Hey, if you're dirty, you're dirty. If you are a law abiding person there is no reason to worry. This reminds me of one of my friends years ago who was upset about his new cell phone having GPS. "Now the government can know where I am!!". I laughed and told him, " if they want to know where we are; we're at the bar, just like any other afternoon".
I think a comprehensive passport would cut away a lot of redtape. I'm glad someone thought it up. It's a hassle waiting for FBI checks and all that other stuff.

[conrad2]

[bobbybigfoot]

[conrad2]

[conrad2]

[bobbybigfoot]

[NYC_Gal 2.0]

Having a national ID number is useful. I wish the states would do away with state IDs and issue national ones.

[conrad2]