Editing Principality of Sealand (section)

=== Expansion of British territorial waters ===
In 1987, the United Kingdom extended its territorial waters to 12 nautical miles, which put Sealand in waters internationally recognised as British.<ref name="ward"/>

Sealand previously sold [[Camouflage passport|fantasy passports]] (as termed by the Council of the European Union), which are not valid for international travel.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-06-17 |title=Table of travel documents entitling the holder to cross the external borders and which may be endorsed with a visa - (Parts II and III) and Part V (documents to which visas cannot be affixed) |url=https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/documents-publications/public-register/public-register-search/results/?WordsInSubject=&WordsInText=&DocumentNumber=7789%2F10&InterinstitutionalFiles=&DocumentDateFrom=&DocumentDateTo=&MeetingDateFrom=&MeetingDateTo=&DocumentLanguage=EN&OrderBy=DOCUMENT_DATE+DESC&ctl00%24ctl00%24cpMain%24cpMain%24btnSubmit=}}</ref> In 1997, the Bates family revoked all Sealand passports, including those that they themselves had issued over the previous 22 years,<ref name="LP11"/> due to the realisation that an international money laundering ring had appeared, using the sale of fake Sealand passports to finance drug trafficking and money laundering from Russia and Iraq.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gooch |first=Adela |date=2000-04-12 |title=Police swoop on Sealand crime ring |language=en-GB |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/apr/12/3 |issn=0261-3077 |access-date=13 February 2019 |archive-date=14 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214002821/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/apr/12/3 |url-status=live }}</ref> The ringleaders of the operation, based in Madrid but with ties to various groups in Germany—including to the rebel Sealand Government in exile established by Achenbach—had used fake Sealandic diplomatic passports and number plates. They were reported to have sold 4,000 fake Sealandic passports to Hong Kong citizens for an estimated $1,000 each.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Boggan |first=Steve |date=1997-09-23 |title=Money Laundering: Global fraudsters use sea fortress as passport to |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/money-laundering-global-fraudsters-use-sea-fortress-as-passport-to-riches-1240742.html |website=[[The Independent]] |language=en |access-date=12 March 2022 |archive-date=13 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200213052845/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/money-laundering-global-fraudsters-use-sea-fortress-as-passport-to-riches-1240742.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Criminal 2021"/> Michael Bates stated in late 2016 that Sealand was receiving hundreds of applications for passports every day.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-01-17 |title=Sealand swamped by passport applications after Brexit and Trump |url=https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/755158/Sealand-passport-applications-Brexit-Donald-Trump |website=[[Express.co.uk]] |language=en |access-date=8 October 2019 |archive-date=6 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200406113625/https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/755158/Sealand-passport-applications-Brexit-Donald-Trump |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2015, Bates asserted that Sealand's population is "normally like two people".<ref name="Eveleth">{{Cite web |last=Eveleth |first=Rose |author-link=Rose Eveleth |date=2015-04-14 |title='I rule my own ocean micronation' |url=https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20150414-i-rule-my-own-ocean-micronation |website=[[BBC Future]] |publisher=BBC |access-date=20 November 2020 |archive-date=28 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128115955/https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20150414-i-rule-my-own-ocean-micronation |url-status=live }}</ref>