Everyone should make a document bugout bag. This should be part of your physical bugout bag. This allows you and your family to move efficiently across borders, here’s a comprehensive list to ensure you’re prepared. These documents cover the most critical, helpful, and non-vital but beneficial items to include. Below is a list that you can check off as you go collecting these documents. This list is ideal. Do not get obsessed with gathering every one of these documents at the expense of getting out.
Most important:
☐ Birth Records (Long form or extended form and get it with apostilles ☐)
☐ Marriage and divorce records (With an apostille ☐) If you have been living with someone over 6 months and are in a relationship but not married have a copy of a joint lease or be able to show shared assets.
☐ Family court order (where only one parent has full custody of the child)
☐ Name change court order (if you have changed your name)
☐ Passport(s) (Make sure to get it with extra pages in the passport I recommend a passport card also. Most countries require you to have 6 months of validity also at least 2 free pages)
Less important but still very good to have:
☐ Birth record of your father
☐ Marriage record of your father & mother
☐ Marriage/divorce record of your father & mother
☐ Death record of your father
☐ Birth record of your mother
☐ Death record of your mother
☐ Flash drive with the above and below documents scan on to.
Non vital documents that are good to have:
IDs:
☐ Global Entry Card (Entry into the US, Canada and Mexico easily)
☐ APEC card (Entry into the Asia-Pacific area easily)
☐ State ID or Driver’s license (If in the USA renewing apply for an enhanced ID or license if they do not offer that then a Real ID)
☐ Passport card or EU ID (this lets you travel by land/sea internationally EU ID can also be air but not the passport card)
☐ Translation of Driver’s license (This is only good for a year if in the US or up to three years in other countries so it’s better to get it when you have hard plans to leave the country you can get it from AAA even if the country does not require it some companies might when you try to rent a car like https://www.ouicar.com/ in France)
Education documents:
☐ Degree Official copy from the school. (This should be your highest completed education. This needs to be notarized then have an apostille attached to the notarized document.)
☐ Transcripts (This should be from your highest education even if you did not completed the program. This needs to be notarized then have an apostille attached to the notarized document.)
☐ Copy of your certifications / Licenses
Visa helpful documents:
☐ Visa/Passport photos (At least a set of two. This is needed for passports, visas, drivers license)
☐ Digital copy of passport photos (https://tsg.phototool.state.gov/photo)
☐ Copy of your resume/CV
☐ Color copy of your passport printed out
☐ Copy of lease or deed to the house you live in
☐ Copy of the title to any car or boat (proof of ties to your current country is needed for a lot of visas)
☐ Utility bills in your name for the last year (each month you should have a pdf)
☐ Bank statements for the last year (each month you should be able to generate a pdf of the bank statement)
☐ W2 for the last year
☐ Tax filing of last year
☐ A letter of employment
Other helpful documents:
☐ Ham Radio License (If you are a general or higher a number of countries will let you operate. You might need additional documents along with a translation.)
☐ COVID vaccination card
☐ Medical Records (If you request it for personal use and it can cost some money to get these records. Your doctor could request them for free but they might not with the other office being out of the country. Your doctor could delete your medical records if you have not seen them for X amount of time, X time changes by country and state by state in the US.)
☐ Copy of your Medical Insurance card
☐ Religious Records (This can be helpful in Israel’s Right of Return law or if your government can’t locate a birth, marriage or death record.)
☐ Car Insurance cancellation Statement (This is a statement from your car insurance to show the number of years you have been a customer and how many claims you have made. Some companies call this a loss history report. The longer you can show no losses the better your rating will be.)
☐ Copy of your transit card(s)
Tip: Keep these documents well-organized, and consider waterproof, secure storage solutions for the physical copies. Digital backups should be encrypted and stored safely to prevent unauthorized access.
Tip: If you are traveling to a different country under cover of tourism or vacation, do not carry all these documents with you. It will not conform to your cover story. Instead give them to a friend to be shipped to you at your destination.