On Sat, 08 May 2004 06:00:36 +0800, Dan Jacobson wrote:

There is much information available about licencing for hams who take
temporary trips aboard. But what about people who are Permanent
Residents and want to become a ham? Do most countries allow Permanent
Residents to obtain an operator's licence? a station licence? all
without needing to return or have any paperwork from one's country of origin?

I'm not talking about Reciprocal Licensing, I believe. I'm taking
about citizens of country A who have long ago moved to country B where
they are now Permanent Residents, when one day the ham bug bites and
they want to get into ham radio for the first time. They may live
very far from country A and don't want to go there anymore.

How far does the average country B allow them to get as far as
licencing as compared to citizens of country B?

The US allows anyone - citizen, resident, or tourist - to obtain a
US license by examination.

The only exception is a representative of a foreign country. I have
a relative who is a diplomat of another country ("Country B") and
held a US license by examination before moving to "Country B" and
becoming a diplomat of that country. AFAIK s/he is able to retain
the US license as long as s/he is not accredited as a diplomat to
the United States (which is not likely to happen for quite a while
if ever).

--
73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane

Phil Kane wrote:


The only exception is a representative of a foreign country. I have
a relative who is a diplomat of another country ("Country B") and
held a US license by examination before moving to "Country B" and
becoming a diplomat of that country. AFAIK s/he is able to retain
the US license as long as s/he is not accredited as a diplomat to
the United States (which is not likely to happen for quite a while
if ever).



If he did get that diplomat accreditation, the FCC then couldn't do
anything to him. Hell,
you can shoplift and go drunk driving and they can't touch you if you're
a diplomat. The
only way New York City gets diplomats to pay up on parking tickets is to
tow his car
away, and he has to pay the tickets to get it back.

It used to be the case in UK many decades ago (it may have changed now)
that one could simply go to an auto accessories store and buy "CD"
("Corps Diplomatique") stickers (just like the "GB" stickers for UK
vehicles being driven in France). (Not as strange as it may sound: even
license plates were not *issued* officially: one was allocated a
registration number and could go and get the embossed plate made
anywhere -- or stick plastic letters and numbers on a blank plate). The
chances of a vehicle so adorned being ticketed were very slim (at least,
so it was said), because the police didn't want to risk a "diplomatic
incident."

AB2OS


Robert Casey wrote:

The only exception is a representative of a foreign country. I have
a relative who is a diplomat of another country ("Country B") and
held a US license by examination before moving to "Country B" and
becoming a diplomat of that country. AFAIK s/he is able to retain
the US license as long as s/he is not accredited as a diplomat to
the United States (which is not likely to happen for quite a while
if ever).

If he did get that diplomat accreditation, the FCC then couldn't do
anything to him. Hell,
you can shoplift and go drunk driving and they can't touch you if you're
a diplomat. The
only way New York City gets diplomats to pay up on parking tickets is to
tow his car
away, and he has to pay the tickets to get it back.

Robert Casey wrote:

The only exception is a representative of a foreign country. I have
a relative who is a diplomat of another country ("Country B") and
held a US license by examination before moving to "Country B" and
becoming a diplomat of that country. AFAIK s/he is able to retain
the US license as long as s/he is not accredited as a diplomat to
the United States (which is not likely to happen for quite a while
if ever).

If he did get that diplomat accreditation, the FCC then couldn't do
anything to him. Hell, you can shoplift and go drunk driving and they
can't touch you if you're a diplomat. The only way New York City gets
diplomats to pay up on parking tickets is to tow his car away, and he
has to pay the tickets to get it back.

The FCC sure has a handle on someone who has an FCC license and
becomes a representative of a foreign country (other than an
"honorary consul" which is a U S citizen handling certain business
or tourism activities). They can - and will - invalidate the FCC
license that s/he holds.

If s/he commits an offense such as continuing to operate as an
amateur without a license from the "home" country and meeting all
the requirements for alien operation in the US, the US can - and
will - lodge a formal complaint with the "home" country and if
nothing is done can declare the person as "persona non grata" and
give him/her 48 hours to leave the country. I've seen it done to
someone who held a U N passport who thought that he could get away
with something because of that. It was handled very quietly without
paper subject to the FOIA being passed back and forth.

--
73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane