Press Releases 2004

U.S. Embassy Cautions Against Passport Buying

February 9, 2004

NEW DELHI -- The U.S. Embassy in New Delhi cautions the public to beware of the Conch Republic and other similar passport purchase schemes.

Conch Republic documents are sold for U.S.$ 900 over the Internet. The U.S. Government does not accept these as valid travel documents. The website offering Conch Republic passports for sale clearly states: "We do not represent our passports as valid travel documents."

The U.S. Embassy has recently received several inquiries about citizenship in the Conch Republic, a non-existent country, but there are many other similar schemes for selling passports for both real and fake countries. The Embassy cautions the public against purchasing such passports for purposes of applying for visas or travel to the United States.