Brad McCollom

  • I am planning on, at the end of the year, making the jump to Germany.  I have a few questions though:

    How much should I have saved in personal funds too make sure I don’t get in a bind once there?
    Does […]

    • If you are on supervised release, especially federal, then you most likely won’t be able to leave the country. You will, however, still have to register your passport at your registering jurisdiction and inform them of any travel plans you have, with 21-day notice, but you’ll first have to get permission to go anywhere, usually that also includes going out of state.

      If you choose to leave the state or country without permission, you will be absconding from supervision which is probably a felony, especially since it’s federal jurisdiction you’d be violating. The airlines won’t reject your boarding pass unless you choose one that bars felons from entering their home country (South Korea, Japan, Australia, etc.) Also, the US Marshals might not get you at the airport – if they aren’t notified in time that you left- but they will most definitely put out an Interpol RED notice (BOLO international fugitive – the worst one) on you as soon as they realize you’re gone and they WILL find you when you enter another country. The country you land in will detain you at border control, question you until the Marshals arrive, and extradite you at your expense back to the US where you will be charged with absconding & failure to register – not a situation you want to be in. Not only will you go to prison for several more years, but you will then lose your passport and probably not get issued another one.

      All that being said as a friendly warning: I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND AGAINST doing anything like this unless your probation/parole officer approves it and you GET IT IN WRITING. If you decide to follow through with this plan anyway – against our sound advice – no one here can help you. Please don’t do it.