An act of intentional deception involving the forgery, alteration or false use of a travel document in a false or unauthorized manner, encompassing conduct such as the creation of a wholly fictitious passport as well as the fraudulent alteration or use of a genuine one under a false identity. It is addressed through a mix of international legal frameworks and national statutes, since a fraudulent passport can be used to cross a border under a false identity, and different countries, including China and the United States, have developed their own legal approaches to prosecuting the offense.
Facts
Typical PenaltyUnited States (18 USC 1542): fine and imprisonment of not more than 10 years for a first or second offense not committed to facilitate terrorism or a drug trafficking crime, 15 years for any other offense, 20 years if committed to facilitate a drug trafficking crime, 25 years if committed to facilitate international terrorism 1 Elements of OffenseWillfully and knowingly making a false statement in a passport application with intent to induce or secure the issuance of a passport (United States, 18 USC 1542) 1 Classification
Offense GradeMinor or Summary Offense 1 Connections
Has Offense Grade
Entity-backed identity for the offense-grade enum value this offense already carries, resolved to a crime concept by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The offense-grade fact itself stays on the offense unchanged.
Sources
1. 18 U.S. Code 1542, False statement in application and use of passport (Cornell LII)
18 USC 1542, first paragraph
willfully and knowingly makes any false statement in an application for passport with intent to induce or secure the issuance of a passport under the authority of the United States
18 USC 1542, penalty clause
imprisoned not more than 25 years (if the offense was committed to facilitate an act of international terrorism (as defined in section 2331 of this title)), 20 years (if the offense was committed to facilitate a drug trafficking crime (as defined in section 929(a) of this title)), 10 years (in the case of the first or second such offense, if the offense was not committed to facilitate such an act of international terrorism or a drug trafficking crime), or 15 years (in the case of any other offense)
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