# Green passport and RCN travel. [Merged]



## CallOfDuty (26 Jul 2005)

Hey there guys.............I was just curious.  When you travel to other countries while in the Navy, should you have a Canadian passport with you   And if not, would you say its a good idea to anyway?
  Cheers all
Steve
PS--- A retired Navy buddy of mine told me that when he retired, he came home from Dubai on a commercial plane and then when in France or England( not sure which) he was given alot of trouble for not having a passport


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## Ex-Dragoon (26 Jul 2005)

Your ship's office will generally handle the paperwork to get your passport (green...it least ours were).

As for your friend he should have been travelling under NATO Travel Orders and should not have been given any problems.


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## Navalsnpr (31 Jul 2005)

NATO travel orders used to be the way to go, accompanied by your military ID. Problem with it though is that if you are flying through a non-NATO country, you could run into problems.

Passports are the only way to go.

IMHO, all members posted to operational units should have a green passport issued as part of their in-routine.


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## Gus (15 Sep 2005)

Get a passport!

Going overseas the DND will generally arrange for green passports to designate people as "government officials" (as opposed to blue which is ordinary citizen).

NATO travel orders don't always work, even in NATO countries - I have had friends face untold delays because customs/immigration officials would not (or could not) recognise the travel orders.

If green ones aren't being issued, my advice is to always have some type of passport.


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## Carbon-14 (15 Sep 2005)

I have a question about the green passports:

Do you require a "Guarantor" like you would for a normal blue passport?

I have to get a green passport and its proving to be very inconvient for me to find one a Guarantor


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## Gus (15 Sep 2005)

The admin staff should be arranging that for you.


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## Carbon-14 (15 Sep 2005)

my OR gave my the standard passport application, same one I used to get my blue passport.  It requires the signature of a Guarantor


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## Gus (15 Sep 2005)

Well, that seems like a stereotype of the "support" staff.

Although military officers are not listed as possible guarantors, the passport office will often make an exception for your supervisor or CO to sign - but check with your local passport office, first!


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## Zoomie (16 Sep 2005)

Carbon-14 said:
			
		

> Do you require a "Guarantor" like you would for a normal blue passport?



You do not require a guarantor for CF issue Green Passports.  Just submit the paperwork and it will all magically work out in the end.


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## Rifleman62 (8 Jan 2019)

Do you need a green passport when deploying on a ship for a long period away from Canada?


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## NavyShooter (8 Jan 2019)

No.

I've only ever deployed with my Blue one.

NS


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## Rifleman62 (8 Jan 2019)

Thanks. First deployment, plus in another element and has been getting run around continually for months. No pay, no joining instruction, just "you should know, you are a Cpl".


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## BDTyre (8 Jan 2019)

Rifleman62 said:
			
		

> Do you need a green passport when deploying on a ship for a long period away from Canada?



I deployed "with" both but was only ever given access to my blue one for HLTA purposes. While in theatre, both were held on to by the OR/PSP staff (if I remember correctly). To and from theatre we flew on government aircraft.


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## Halifax Tar (8 Jan 2019)

In my experience we use the blue PP in the RCN.  The only time I have used the green was on my Land/Army deployments.


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## Furniture (8 Jan 2019)

Halifax Tar said:
			
		

> In my experience we use the blue PP in the RCN.  The only time I have used the green was on my Land/Army deployments.



That is the same as my experience with all three deployments I did while on ship, with the last one ending in August of 2017.


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## Navy_Pete (8 Jan 2019)

For the guarantor here's the ref from passport Canada;


Guarantor requirements for military personnel applying for a regular passport (blue)

Regular Military Force officers may act as guarantor for other Regular Force personnel and their dependents if they have known them personally for two years or more. These officers include:

    NDHQ Directors
    Base Commanders
    Commanding Officers
    NDHQ Career Managers
    NDHQ Director Generals
    Personnel Administrative Officers
    any other commissioned officer (Captain and above) with access to service records
        instead of indicating the number of years they have known you, they must write “through service records which I have verified”

Only when the applicant is military personnel can military police act as a guarantor. They must personally know the applicant for two years.

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/canadian-passports/travel-documents-references-guarantors.html

It's pretty easy, have done it myself a whack of time of times myself (for passports and wills).  Your CoC should be able to do this; all they are actually signing is that you are who you say you are.


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## Eye In The Sky (8 Jan 2019)

I always use my Green PP for work trips, because when I go to Cuba on vacation or something like that, I don't want them to be able to see all the places I visit for 'other reasons'.


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## Furniture (9 Jan 2019)

Eye In The Sky said:
			
		

> I always use my Green PP for work trips, because when I go to Cuab on vacation or something like that, I don't want them to be able to see all the places I visit for 'other reasons'.



They don't stamp your passport when you make a port visit, so the only stamps are from leave/LTA. My passport has places like Thailand, Malaysia, Germany, Spain and Portugal. It doesn't matter who sees that I've been to any of those places, other than making a few people jealous.


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## Pusser (9 Jan 2019)

CanadianTire said:
			
		

> I deployed "with" both but was only ever given access to my blue one for HLTA purposes. While in theatre, both were held on to by the OR/PSP staff (if I remember correctly). To and from theatre we flew on government aircraft.



Because what could go wrong with that?


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## dimsum (9 Jan 2019)

Pusser said:
			
		

> Because what could go wrong with that?



I'm not sure what the issue is.  Mbr takes both to theatre (on gov't aircraft), hands off to OR.  On HLTA, OR gives blue passport.  After return, mbr hands back blue passport.  At end of tour, Mbr takes both back to Canada.

I'd think that the OR, where it's secure (or as secure as reasonably possible) with a bunch of people able to quickly give out the passports, would be better than the mbr having them in the field.


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## BDTyre (9 Jan 2019)

Dimsum said:
			
		

> I'm not sure what the issue is.  Mbr takes both to theatre (on gov't aircraft), hands off to OR.  On HLTA, OR gives blue passport.  After return, mbr hands back blue passport.  At end of tour, Mbr takes both back to Canada.
> 
> I'd think that the OR, where it's secure (or as secure as reasonably possible) with a bunch of people able to quickly give out the passports, would be better than the mbr having them in the field.



Actually, if I remember correctly (it has been almost ten years), when we left Canada our passports of both colours merely accompanied us on the flight (they were divided by chalk and the rearranged in theatre to be divided by leave block). As we weren't leaving the airports in any of the places we made stops, we didn't need to be in possession of either of our passports. Memories of Cyprus post-tour are hazy, but I think at that point we were given our blue ones (but not green) and stamped in and out with those.


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## Halifax Tar (9 Jan 2019)

Furniture said:
			
		

> They don't stamp your passport when you make a port visit, so the only stamps are from leave/LTA. My passport has places like Thailand, Malaysia, Germany, Spain and Portugal. It doesn't matter who sees that I've been to any of those places, other than making a few people jealous.



Ya thats what I was originally sailing under but under my latest (2016) RCN deployment the local customs officials stamped them on board.  Weird eh ?  They would come on with the ships agent and currency exchange guy usually.  I deploy again in 2020 so we will see how that one goes I guess.


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## brihard (9 Jan 2019)

Depending on trade you may alternatively be issued a purple passport.


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## Pusser (11 Jan 2019)

Dimsum said:
			
		

> I'm not sure what the issue is.  Mbr takes both to theatre (on gov't aircraft), hands off to OR.  On HLTA, OR gives blue passport.  After return, mbr hands back blue passport.  At end of tour, Mbr takes both back to Canada.
> 
> I'd think that the OR, where it's secure (or as secure as reasonably possible) with a bunch of people able to quickly give out the passports, would be better than the mbr having them in the field.



In the last 35 years, I have never lost an important personal document.  I cannot the say the same about my supporting ORs.


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## BDTyre (11 Jan 2019)

Pusser said:
			
		

> In the last 35 years, I have never lost an important personal document.  I cannot the say the same about my supporting ORs.



Nor have I and the OR at my regiment managed to lose one of my documents within 20 minutes of me giving it to them!


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## AirmanA (7 Jun 2021)

My Unit is asking for my blue passport for APRV but I paid for it on my own. Was the military supposed to pay for my blue passport? Weird they are asking for it when they didn’t pay for it or ask me to have one. Is there a DAOD or QR&O that says I have to give my blue passport to my unit?


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## dangerboy (7 Jun 2021)

Do they want to keep it or just see it so they can record your passport number and date of expiry? I have never heard of a unit holding onto a blue passport before.


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## dangerboy (7 Jun 2021)

Just to add the details for the PRV are in DAOD 5009-1 Personnel Readiness Verification Screening: DAOD 5009-1, Personnel Readiness Verification Screening - Canada.ca


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## FSTO (8 Jun 2021)

Because of Covid, it was an absolute poop show to get me a green passport to go to Bahrain. So I travelled on my blue and the Green one is sitting in a vault somewhere in Ottawa. 
When I sailed, I don't think I even brought a passport with me. It was safer to keep it at home. For sure I'd never give the passport to the ships office.


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## Pelorus (8 Jun 2021)

From what I have seen, these days the standard is to always sail with your Blue passport. Even if you're just doing local sailing it's not uncommon to have a US port as the closest one on either coast, and having your passport makes repatriation significantly simpler for unexpected admin, medical, compassionate, etc flights home to Canada.

I didn't get a green passport until I was posted to the NCR. From what I've seen, they are a hassle to get for little to no advantage for a ship's company (as far as flying to or from a ship abroad goes).

If I recall correctly, I believe that there's a mechanism by which members can be reimbursed for the cost of renewing (having issued?) their passport, at least in the RCN. I would defer to a finance type though.


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