Diplomatic Passports

Last week, we had a milestone in our journey.  We were issued our diplomatic passports.

The Department of State is tight with these documents.  I had to apply for it.  In order to get one, you must already have a regular passport, plus you need to show you have a need for a diplomatic passport.  For me, that meant giving them a form that shows I have been assigned to a foreign country.

Having a diplomatic passport sounds better than it really is.  At some airports, there is a separate, shorter line to enter the country.  Aside from that, I don't really get any special privileges.  Diplomatic immunity is way overblown.  If I do anything so bad that I need it, the US has the option to wave it and let me be prosecuted.  Or they can bring me home and fire me.  The point is, its not something anyone should count on.

Even with a diplomatic passport, I still need to follow the visa requirements any country I go to.  Sudan requires you apply for a visa here in the U.S., not at the airport in Khartoum.  So Carole and I filled out our applications, and gave then to the Sudan Desk at the State Department.  They drafted a cover letter and gave it back to us.  Today Carole dropped it off at the Sudanese Embassy.  Now we wait.  In a month or two, they will tell us our visas are ready.  We will need to visit them again, and have them stamp our passports.  Only then can we travel to post.

I spoke to someone who is on Secretary Kerry's advance team.  Those people have 3 or 4 passports, so they can be traveling on one while the others are getting stamped by the embassy's of countries they will be visiting soon.

All that said, it still feels cool to have a Diplomatic Passport.