Tourist passport necessary for no-hassle travel

This article is copied from the Welcome to Bavaria edition of The Bavarian News

and written by Emily Athens.

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Taking vacation into other countries with a no-fee passport may cause trouble at the borders. Some of this trouble is due to the fact that many people aren't aware of the differences between a no-fee passport and a tourist passport.

 

Soldiers and their families stationed overseas are under what's referred to as a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with their host country, which defines the legal status of those members in the territory of another nation. To comply with SOFA, a no-fee passport is issued to service members and their families who are serving overseas, said Dennis Randall, human resources specialist for the military personnel division (MPD).

 

Randall explained that people are not use these no-fee passports for leisure travel throughout Europe, but to use a tourist, or regular-fee passport instead.

 

"With tourist passports, you can travel anywhere in Europe, while a no-fee passport is issued by the government for you to be on official business outside the United States while your (Soldier) is stationed overseas," he said.

 

Recent confusion on which passport is used for what type of travel has caused problems for some Schweinfurt residents.

 

"We had a family get stuck in Austria with their no-fee passports and they had to pay a visa fine right there," said Nacomas Jones, MPD customer service supervisor.

 

To avoid the stress of random border checks when traveling, be sure that each individual traveling is in possession of a tourist passport. Randall and Jones suggested travelers bring both passports, just to be on the safe side.

 

"If you're outside of Germany with only a no-fee passport, with no tourist passport, and they just happen to have a border check, they're going to ask you what official business you are doing in that country," Randall said, adding that each country will respond to the situation based on its own national policy.

 

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I don't know how long this has been in effect, the need for two passports, because when we were stationed in Germany when I was a child, we only had one passport.