I am not a lawyer or a tax accountant or any profession where you would likely be reasonably well informed about any of this stuff, but from what I’ve read trying to look at Ralph’s situation, there’s a shit ton of ways to have his account flagged and passport revoked.
Owing over $2500 in back child support can trigger passport cancellation, as can failing to file a tax return while a US citizen residing in a foreign country.
What I meant when I said “blah blah ID check, debank” was speculation that if his account/s got flagged in relation to the IRS or the Office of Child Support Services revoking his passport, it might look something like “hey we need to see your ID. Not your Mexican ID, your US passport. Oh hey you’re out of the country on a bad passport, account locked.”
I’m not SURE that that’s what happens, but it seems to me that if your passport gets revoked for reasons of finance, it would be plausible that the very same financial institutions that would enforce garnishments could also be leveraged to compel your appearance at the consulate.
Garnishment and passport revocation are different parts of enforcement.
For child support-related garnishment, it would usually be the employer garnishing, not the bank.
And you're right - a bank could ask for more info etc, if something with an existing customer seems off, But that usually has to do with types of attempted transactions if you are already a customer. I haven't seen that there's a necessarily a direct line from a "cannot renew" passport to a notice to a bank (US or otherwise). Agencies tend to respect their boundaries in the absence of explicit authorization.
As for what a bank requires to open an account, idr having to provide a passport to open my united states bank accounts - just a driver's license. ...but it does appear that a us citizen residing in Mexico trying to open an account with a Mexican bank will likely be asked for a passport, along with the temp/perm residency card and a utility bill for proof of address. Again, though, that's just opening an account. If his passport is OK today he could have accounts and wouldn't likely have to prove anything to continue using it.
As for what happens once you're refused issuance/renewal of a passport for failure to pay child support (in arrears >$2500 in support), to get eligible for a new [and renewed] passport, the process is described below. It appears to be a full handoff agency to agency, rather than a single process, and banks are not even mentioned. And again, this requires that the child support case already be handled by the state, enough statutory and processing time/opportunities to catch up or appeal has passed, and for the state agency to have forwarded the info to the DOS:
If You've Already Applied for your Passport
- Make arrangements to pay your child support arrears with the appropriate state child support enforcement agency.
- The state agency reports to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that you've made acceptable payment arrangements.
- HHS removes your name from their list and reports this to us. This may take 2-3 weeks.
- We verify that HHS removed your name.
- We process your passport application.
I also checked international aspects of child support enforcement. Interpol
excludes child support from its list of crimes for which it will issue a
Red Notice. In addition, Mexico is
not on the list of countries agreeing via Hague Convention to reciprocal enforcement of child support, nor is it
listed as having a country-specific arrangement with the US. If the deadbeat is in a country without an arrangement with the US, the US govt says:
In most cases, when there is no reciprocity with the other country, state child support agencies are not able to assist. Contact your local child support agency to ask if it has any suggestions. See also
Q9.
If your state child support agency is not able to provide child support services, you may choose to hire private legal counsel in the other country. The U.S. Department of State’s website provides helpful information on
retaining a foreign attorney .
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/faq/frequently-asked-questions-about-international-cases#q5
Basically, you are SOL.