I Bought a $150,000 Passport that can Travel the World

hello we are still in paris as you can see by the giant uh antenna behind me but uh this video has actually been three years in the making it's heartbreaking and wildly inspiring to see amar go through this journey and actually unbeknownst to you you're actually very involved in this story but before we go into that i just want to let you know that today is the launch of our first holiday drop create the sparks starting this month seek discomfort is going to transition to being a carbon positive company which means that we offset more co2 than we produce there are obviously additional steps that we can take and that we are planning on taking in the future but we are so proud of this positive evolution to be more mindful of our planet as we pursue our dreams of spreading seek discomfort into a worldwide message all right now to the video all right so if you are a male in egypt and you have a brother like i do then it's mandatory for you to sign yourself up for military draft and you have to continue doing so until you turn 30 years old [Music] it's been four years since i made that video and my life has changed in ways that i could have never imagined [Music] over and over and over again i literally can't believe i'm alive and while my life was great in the moments i chose to share with you all in our videos a whole lot was happening behind the scenes while i do believe that my decision to leave egypt and pursue my dreams was the right one to make and one that had the support of those around me i was not prepared for the way it would continue to impact me in the years to come shortly after having said my goodbyes to my family uncertain of when i would get to see them next just a few months after i found myself stuck at a crossroads once again since then i've had to live in a constant fear of what was to come between a broken relationship with my dad that wasn't getting any better and a ticking time bomb in the form of an expiration date in my egyptian passport an expired passport or running out of pages in it before i could return to egypt would pose a massive threat on the life that i've worked so hard to build with yesterday the stress that he has over his passport potentially being lost and then he has to go back to egypt and do military service like yes theory just completely ends pretty much my connection to my roots and the great history grows from has always been the driving force behind my big dreams as this connection faded over the time i was unable to go back home my overall well-being suffered i felt isolated from my own culture as well as the rest of the world this is what the world looks like when my best friends decide to travel with american french and swedish passports and this is what it looks like for me permissions required to go everywhere endless visa appointments stacks of documents to prove i was worthy of traveling never ending stress and anxiety at this point if you've been watching yes theory for the past few years then you would have noticed that i've missed the majority of the episodes that we filmed outside of the us well that was rarely my choice i wanted nothing more than to be traveling with my best friends telling stories and connecting with people from all corners of the world i need to prove a thousand things just so i can move just so i can go anywhere and it's always such a condescending attitude like no matter how nice and and warm and and like complete i have everything it's always just met with such skepticism i never considered that there could be another reality for me where i could just book a plane ticket on any given day and go wherever the adventure was calling but one day at the end of 2018 i was presented with an opportunity that could finally liberate me from the restrictions imposed by my passport and even more importantly one that could allow me to travel back to egypt sooner than 30 years old i met our travel hacker guillaume in switzerland at an airport it was our first time meeting and he said ammar have you ever thought of applying for another citizenship then he proceeded to send me a list of all these countries that have opened their borders to entrepreneurs and business people from all over the world to invest in the infrastructure or the economy of that country or real estate and then in exchange get a passport in return after going through the list of countries that offered citizenship by investment i landed on saint kitts and nevis an island country located in the caribbean about a three hour flight away from miami to get a citizenship there you either make a donation of a hundred and fifty thousand dollars or an investment of three to four hundred thousand dollars this grants you a citizenship in saint kitts and provides a passport that can access 155 countries visa-free though i wasn't in a financial position to make that commitment in 2019 quite yet i managed to save up over the next two years and with the help of yes theory splitting the cost in 2021 i was able to make the final payment and complete my application last week i got my approval for my second citizenship and i'm now asked to pay the rest of what's due for my citizenship application which is ninety two thousand five hundred dollars i already paid twenty seven thousand five hundred dollars this is the biggest payment of my life and i can't think of a better thing for it to be more than my freedom i don't own a car i don't own a house but now i own a new passport which is to me way more important duffy can we afford this this is our accountant he's on the phone right now all right thumbs up it's a little bit tricky financially uh youtube adsense didn't send us our money last month no sponsors have paid us yet so all right let's uh drain this bank account this is insane we've been trying to do this for two years i've been trying to do this my whole life make this repeating wire no are you sure you want to send this wire never been more sure congratulations it's the uh it's the best investment you've ever made thank you i i i fully and wholeheartedly believe in that please love you guys [Music] oh my god it's all done i paid the final thing that i have to pay and let's make some money so we can pay our employees [Music] hopefully yesterday works out huh [Music] so i just got some some of the biggest news of my life i got an email saying that my citizenship application has been approved when i tell the boys because it's been two years in the making now gather around gather around guess who just became a dual citizen oh [Applause] cute [Music] two months later amar found himself in illegal no man's land his u.s visa expired so he had to leave the country but his new passport wouldn't arrive in dubai for pickup for another six weeks so first joining us in europe he now had to leave again still waiting for his passport to arrive to come to europe i had to submit my tax returns i had to submit bank statements from the past six months it's literally the most invasive process they end up giving me a single entry and only a visa for 26 days so this is the last time i ever apply for european visa are you feeling a little anxious to be honest i'm leaving europe with the plan to come back but i don't know how that's going to happen because my visa expires tomorrow [Music] i'm about to leave europe for one last time on my passport [Music] you made it yes you did you let me in i hope they'll be in okay so here's the situation i can only enter this country i have a valid us visa the us visa my passport is expired but i have an extension notice that i'm hope that i'm hoping they will have something the anxiety every time i'm at a passport control like this it's through the roof [Music] again i don't know i just got sent out of the line to go do extra checks for my visa i was just asked to go to the police desk which is not really good news [Music] i just got sent to another passport control hopefully it works out it's so freaking nerve-wracking because right now there is not a whole there's not a whole lot of places that i can go to and i can't go back to egypt thank you very much oh my god that was so nerve-wracking okay we made it through the last time had to be very dramatic look at you oh my god i was so stressed i'm glad we made it though we made it we made it we're here it's all behind us a few weeks later he finally made it to dubai where he was told his passport would arrive within the next week we just exited dubai airport and it feels pretty surreal that in the next five days i'll be receiving my new passport and it'll just give me an entirely new life i think actually the password is more about me going but being able to go back to egypt and being about travel there's billions of people around the world that apply for visas like i don't want to be i don't want this to feel like oh i'm just complaining that i have to go get reasons that's a reality for so many people and it's really about not wanting to spend three more years not not going back home and i missed my sister's wedding i missed my nephew's birth i don't want to miss my brother's wedding and i don't want to miss any more things i want to be able to be back i want to be i want to be able to connect with my culture again i want to be able to connect with my people to redefine what home is for me in a while just four years from you know the moment i left egypt thinking that i wouldn't be back for seven more years to it being now it's been four and hopefully sha allah very soon i'll be able to go back i leave this room with this passport come back with two thank you oh here we go here we go welcome thank you very [Music] much i can't believe this right now it's been in the making for so long no way what do i start with look at that this is my certificate that i i'm a citizen of st kids right citizenship certificate signed by the prime minister this is crazy oh my god [Music] you guys appreciate it thank you thank you guys [Music] about to leave dubai with one passport and enter europe with my new identity it hasn't hit me yet but i think the moment when i'm gonna get stamped is gonna be when i actually feel like the sense of freedom that i've created for so long i don't think i've ever been more excited to get on the [Music] planet hello this is one of the happiest moments of my life right now [Music] i'm going to my best friend's house he lives in paris thank you oh my god oh my god what that was it where are you going my best friend's house and then it just stamped me in what [Music] [Music] [Music] that was the shortest that's ever taken me to enter a country it was a total of like seven seconds yes baby it looks like we just stamped it right away that's it that's it to just not walk up in fear and not be afraid every time this is way more emotional than i thought what i'm in europe oh my god omar has passed the border for the first time on his new passport i see them welcome [Music] [Music] wow it's a nice passport too these colors are amazing these tough times that ammar has gone through and that his friends we have naturally been immensely involved in alongside him have been a huge part of our story and weekly lives since we started yes theory not being able to bring him alongside us on many trips has truly been heartbreaking time after time more importantly seeing him not be able to go back to his home country of egypt with his family has been the hardest part making the decision to spend 120 000 on this passport is not an easy one however i think there is a distorted view of how much money creators on youtube make as we see some drive lamborghinis and buy giant mansions our reality is a whole lot different we've chosen to invest a lot of what we earned back into yes theory and seek discomfort since the very beginning of our journey together we care about nothing more than taking our team the message and the stories we share with you to new heights year after year the sixty thousand dollars that yes theory contributed to a mars new passport came straight from the seek discomfort drop we had back then meaning that it came straight from you you helped ahmad earn his freedom by being able to afford this and as a result you've changed his life and hours so thank you finally today is the launch of our first holiday drop create the spark we tell the story of why we chose the spark to be the icon of the brand and why particularly there's three of them we hope that you check out seekdiscomfort.com after you finish watching this video there's a gift with purchase with each of the upcoming three drops over the next three weeks thank you from the bottom of our hearts for creating a massive new spark in ammar's life and allowing us all to travel together freely for the first time ever also if you want to see the surprise that tommy and i organized for ammar when he first arrived in paris please head to the seek discomfort channel linked below and check out the video we just posted on there thank you for watching we'll see you very soon you

Channel: Yes Theory

Views: 2,795,029

Keywords: yestheory, seek discomfort, yes theory strangers, yes theory travel, yes theory subscribers, getting out of your comfort zone, Amazon FBA

Id: sn_BfMJfhYQ

Length: 15min 59sec (959 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 14 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/CelestineZ]

This video hits close to heart. I have not one of the worst, but the worst passport in the world. I someday dream of being able to change it and gain freedom as well. Seeing him so happy and excited made me cry. Great video.

[u/Cobraninja97]

Now that Amar has gotten the passport, I'd love to see a video of him visiting St Kitts and Nevis.

[u/NessFeltHomesick]

Did they explain previously why American citizenship wasn’t an option? Is it just too difficult to get? I figured since he was part of a successful business it might be easier, but that doesn’t seem to be the case…

[u/[deleted]]

This really made me cry. So happy for him. Hope he can explore the world more now!

[u/sojourneroflife]

Many countries have mandatory military service from a couple months up to a couple years. This is a reality that citizens of countries without that struggle to understand. It applies not just to countries with "bad passports", Singapore has one of the best passports and still has 2 years of mandatory military service followed by 10 years or more of reserve duty.

I watched Yes Theory for years, and this video is conflicting to me. In some sense its a young man who have tasted freedom and success trying to escape obligations to his home country. On the other hand, I believe most who go through mandatory service would prefer to have an option to choose. I know some who grew up their whole lives in United States but were citizens of South Korea and Singapore going back to their home country for 1.5-2 years of the duty.

I know this comment may seem as "not being able to celebrate the happiness of an individual that many have come to love", but I feel it also should be brought to light to bring a balanced viewpoint. Viewers and fans of Yes Theory knows we seek discomfort.

I love what Yes Theory has done and is doing, and what it stands for. But I think looking at different sides of things and having a discussion is healthier than purely being "Yes men"(pun intended). He could have said Yes to military conscription, but he chose not to. And that's alright as its his personal choice. However bringing this to such a public platform allows for some form of discussion (without too extreme views or personal attacks of course). The video is titled "I bought a $150k passport that can travel the world". It can also be viewed as "I bought a $150k passport so I don't have to serve in the army of my home country". No harm meant at all, but am sure its a hard pill to swallow.

We all hope for a day when countries don't need to have conscription or even armies at all.

[u/Lemonsqueeze144]

This slightly worries me for him. He plans to go back very soon now(less than 100 days). Now in many countries, you are not allowed to enter your home country without your home passport. For example, I am from the US , but live in Canada. I cannot return to Canada using my US passport or I could be denied entry. I have to use for Canadian passport. I really hope this doesn’t happen to him 🙁 & I hope they don’t find out he is a citizen of Egypt and forbid him to leave and make him serve in their military.

[u/Outrageous-Drummer55]

I know i'm a bit late but as a person who has served mandatory military service, his actions and this video is disgusting. While paying to dodge military service is distasteful itself, the reason he did it, to go back to Egypt to reconnect with his 'culture and people', is disgusting and laughable. If he truly wanted to reconnect with his heritage he should've served. This video is mocking every Egyptian that has served in the military.