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In the thread, Where can a US citizen retire outside the US?, it was posted that "The vast majority of Americans do not even have a passport, have not traveled much overseas (unless living in foxhole is counted)".
I wanted to see if that was true and from a quick Google search, learned that 1/3 of the population has a passport.
It's always brought up that posters on C-D retirement forum are not the average person. It will be interesting to see if a high number of people here have a valid passport.
Times have changed. "More Americans have passports now than ever before," says Ken Chavez, spokesperson for the Bureau of Consular Affairs at the US State Department. Over one-third of the population to be exact, or nearly 110 million out of 313 million Americans. That's more than double the number of US passports in circulation in 2000 (48 million) and around 15 times 1989’s 7 million. At that last number (under 3 percent of Americans), you can sort of understand why my European traveling buddies were scandalized.
I haven't traveled outside the US since July, 2001 but I still have mine because it sits in my underwear drawer to be used as a perfect secondary id should I ever lose my wallet.
Will I ever leave the country again? I would like to take another cruise but that would be it.
I haven't traveled outside the US since July, 2001 but I still have mine because it sits in my underwear drawer to be used as a perfect secondary id should I ever lose my wallet...
"Underware drawer"??? Me too! I always know where it is, so it will never get lost.
In addition to a passport I also have Global Entry which includes TSA Pre Check which expedites going through customs when returning to the US following foreign travel.
Because many States don't have drivers licenses that meet TSA standards, it makes sense to have one evn if you have no intention of ever leaving the US.
I have had one for about 20 years. We keep them in a fire safe. Oh if any of you are considering a safe that will work. Make sure you get a large silica package to keep moisture down. I put ours in there and during the summer the passports started curling.
I have three: USA, Canada, and Ireland. It's nice to know I have options. It's a shame that the UK is leaving the EU. That's one less option that will be available to me as an EU passport holder.
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