Passport fraud is an act of intentional

deception Deception is the act of convincing of one or many recipients of untrue information. The person creating the deception knows it to be false while the receiver of the information does not. It is often done for personal gain or advantage. Tort of ...

that involves forgery, alteration, or false use of a travel document, such as a

passport A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that certifies a person's identity and nationality for international travel. A passport allows its bearer to enter and temporarily reside in a foreign country, access local aid ...

. Common reasons to perpetrate passport fraud include illegally entering a country, avoiding

deportation Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people by a state from its sovereign territory. The actual definition changes depending on the place and context, and it also changes over time. A person who has been deported or is under sen ...

, committing financial crimes, and

smuggling Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. More broadly, soc ...

. One way to commit passport fraud is through the creation of a fake passport or camouflage passport. Misusing a passport is a crime in many jurisdictions.

China

The Passport Law of the

People’s Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the second-most populous country after India, representing 17.4% of the world population. China spans the e ...

, adopted in 2006, prohibits applying for a passport fraudulently. It provides that fraudulently obtained passports are null and void and that "the holder of the passport shall be fined not less than RMB 2,000 yuan but not more than 5,000 yuan".

United States

Passport fraud is a federal crime. Usually, this crime is committed to facilitate another crime such as,

illegal immigration Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of that country's immigration laws, or the continuous residence in a country without the legal right to do so. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upward, wi ...

contraband Contraband (from Medieval French ''contrebande'' "smuggling") is any item that, relating to its nature, is illegal to be possessed or sold. It comprises goods that by their nature are considered too dangerous or offensive in the eyes of the leg ...

, economic crime, or

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

. The

US department of state The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

's law enforcement,

Diplomatic Security Service The Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) is the principal Specialist law enforcement agency, law enforcement and security agency of the United States Department of State (DOS). Its primary mission is to protect diplomatic assets, personnel, and info ...

, have special agents who work with

law enforcement agencies A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for law enforcement within a specific jurisdiction through the employment and deployment of law enforcement officers and their resources. The most common type of law enforcement ...

in over 160 countries all over the world to investigate passport fraud. Millions of stolen passports are used by terrorists and other dangerous criminals at any given time and it is considered the single largest threat to U.S.

national security National security, or national defence (national defense in American English), is the security and Defence (military), defence of a sovereign state, including its Citizenship, citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of ...

. In 1940, the State and Justice Department convicted American Community Party members Earl Browder and Welwel Warszower of "unlawful use of passports." , the State Department discovered 900 cases of passport fraud a year.

Committing the crime

Passport fraud is usually committed by: * Stealing the identity of a deceased person to use their passport * Using false documents; i.e. fake

birth certificate A birth certificate is a vital record that documents the Childbirth, birth of a person. The term "birth certificate" can refer to either the original document certifying the circumstances of the birth or to a certified copy of or representation ...

* Using stolen or modified passports, such as altering the photo I.D portion of an old passport * Circumventing the parent signatures required for the passport of a person 16 years or younger{{Cite web , title=Passport and Visa Fraud: A Quick Course , url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/m/ds/investigat/c10714.htm , website=2009-2017.state.gov

Violations

Possible violations of the following statutes are investigated by the United States

: *18 U.S.C. 1541 Issuance Without Authority *18 U.S.C. 1542 False Statement in Application and Use of

Passport A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that certifies a person's identity and nationality for international travel. A passport allows its bearer to enter and temporarily reside in a foreign country, access local aid ...

*18 U.S.C. 1543

Forgery Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally consists of the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific mens rea, intent to wikt:defraud#English, defraud. Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be fo ...

or False Use of Passport *18 U.S.C. 1544 Misuse of Passport *18 U.S.C. 1546 Fraud and Misuse of Visas, Permits, and Other Documents *18 U.S.C. 371 Conspiracy to Commit Offense or to Defraud the United States *18 U.S.C. 911 False Claim to

Citizenship Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationalit ...

*18 U.S.C. 1028 Fraud and Related Activity in Connection with Identification Documents and Information Statutes do not specify that the passport must be a US passport.

Conviction

If a person lied on a passport application form, they can be fined up to $250,000 and sentenced up to 10 years in

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

. If the crime includes

human trafficking Human trafficking is the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. This exploitation may include forced labor, sexual slavery, or oth ...

narcotic The term narcotic (, from ancient Greek ναρκῶ ''narkō'', "I make numb") originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with numbing or paralyzing properties. In the United States, it has since become associated with opiates ...

s, or both, the sentencing can be raised up to 15 years in prison. If terrorism is involved, the penalty can be raised to 20 years in prison. As well as being charged with further penalties, if the person is caught engaging in any of these additional illegal activities.

References