You Don’t Need a Second Passport. You Just Need a F*cking Visa.

Every week, I get some version of this question:

“Okay, but how do I get a second passport so I can move abroad?”

And every week, I want to gently (okay, not-so-gently) bang my head on the desk and scream:

You don’t need a second passport. You just need a f*cking visa.

I get where the confusion comes from. Movies, influencers, TikTok finance bros... they’ve all made the “second passport” look like the ultimate freedom ticket. The glossy little burgundy booklet that supposedly unlocks Europe, tax breaks, and the ability to sip Aperol Spritzes while working from your laptop in a piazza forever.

But here’s the thing: 99% of the time, you don’t need that magical booklet.
What you need is a visa. Which, by the way, is way less sexy on Instagram, but way more relevant to your actual life if you’re serious about moving abroad.

Let’s break this down.

The Passport vs. Visa Confusion

Here’s the blunt truth:

• Your passport is basically your international ID. It’s proof you’re a citizen of a certain country. It’s the thing you show at airports to get in and out of places.

• A visa is permission. It’s the sticker, stamp, or piece of paper that says, “Sure, you can live/work/study/be here for X amount of time.”

Passports get you on the plane.
Visas decide whether you can actually stay.

That’s it. That’s the difference.

Now, is having an EU passport or a second nationality helpful? Absolutely. It makes things easier, faster, and cheaper.

But unless you’re secretly hiding an Irish grandma in your family tree or you’ve got six figures to throw at “citizenship by investment” programs, you don’t have a second passport. And that’s fine.

Because you don’t need one.

What you need is to stop getting distracted by the fantasy of a second passport and start figuring out what visa will actually get you into the country you want to live in.

The Second Passport Fantasy (And Why It’s Misleading AF)

Let’s talk about how this fantasy even started.

Second passports have been marketed as this golden key to freedom by people selling “offshore living” courses, tax loophole programs, or luxury expat services.

It’s got a certain vibe: white guys in Patagonia vests explaining how they diversified their “residencies” for maximum arbitrage.

And hey, good for them. But that’s not your reality.

If you’re a regular person, you are not about to drop $200K on a Caribbean citizenship program. You are not about to wait 12 years for naturalization somewhere you’ve never even lived.

And you don’t have to.

Because second passports are the exception, not the rule. The vast majority of people who move abroad do it through—say it with me now—visas.

Why Visas Actually Matter (Even If They’re Boring AF)

Visas are the real game-changer. They’re not glamorous. They don’t look cool in selfies.

But they are the actual mechanism that allows you to live in another country.

Work visas.
Student visas.
Family reunification visas.
Freelancer visas.
Retirement visas.
Digital nomad visas.

That’s the stuff you need to be researching. Not which passport color looks best in flat-lays.

And here’s the kicker: if you qualify for a visa, you’re good. You don’t need to be a citizen. You don’t need permanent residency right away. You don’t need a backup passport in case America implodes tomorrow.

You need a visa that gets you through the door.

The Privilege of Even Asking About a Second Passport

I have to say this too, because it matters: the obsession with second passports is kind of a privileged question to begin with.

For millions of people, the question isn’t “How do I get a second passport?”
It’s “How do I keep my family safe?” or “How do I get anyone to let me in at all?”

Most migrants don’t get to choose between an Italian passport or a fancy investor residency. They’re navigating refugee systems, dangerous crossings, or waiting years in limbo for paperwork.

So when you, as a U.S. citizen, are sitting there wringing your hands about “needing” a second passport ... you’re skipping the part where your existing passport is already one of the strongest in the world. It’s already opening doors that billions of people would kill to have access to.

What you need isn’t another one. What you need is to learn how to leverage the one you already have—by applying for the right visa.

The Real Question You Should Be Asking

So if it’s not “How do I get a second passport?” what should you be asking?

Try these instead:

• What visa categories does my dream country offer?

• Do I qualify for any of them based on my job, education, family, or finances?

• How long does the process take, and what are the requirements?

• What are the costs involved, beyond just the application fee?

• What happens after the visa expires—can I extend or transition to residency?

These are the questions that actually move you forward. Not whether your future passport cover will be navy blue or burgundy.

The Hard Truth: It’s Bureaucracy, Not Magic

I wish I could tell you there was some sleek, secret hack to get around visas.

But the truth is: moving abroad is a paperwork game. It’s forms, fees, appointments, and sometimes, rejection letters.

It’s not sexy. It’s not Instagrammable. It doesn’t fit neatly into a three-minute TikTok with stock footage of Santorini sunsets.

But it’s real. It’s how people actually move. And it’s how you will move—if you stop wasting energy chasing myths about second passports and focus instead on learning the ins and outs of the visa process.

So, What Should You Do Next?

Here’s the blunt playbook:

1. Pick the country (or two) you’re most serious about.

2. Research their visa options; not in TikTok comments, but on official government websites.

3. Narrow down which visas you realistically qualify for.

4. Make a plan: budget for the costs, prep the paperwork, and get your timeline in order.

5. Apply. For a visa. Not a passport.

That’s it. That’s the whole thing.

Final Word

Look, I get it. The idea of a second passport is intoxicating. It’s aspirational.

It feels like a safety net, a status symbol, and an escape hatch all rolled into one.

But it’s also a distraction.

If you want to move abroad in the next 12 months, what you need isn’t a fantasy about citizenship-by-descent or an inheritance-level bank account.

What you need is a visa.

So stop spiraling in second passport Reddit threads and start getting serious about your options.

Because the only thing standing between you and your new life abroad isn’t a mythical passport.

It’s paperwork.
It’s research.
It’s a f*cking visa.

And you can do that.