The Terminal/YMMV


 * Artistic License Law/Hollywood Law: The whole story is predicated on the theory that if a country loses its recognition, the US will no longer accept its passports as valid. This is not necessarily true; typically, countries do not prevent the entry of citizens of countries they formerly recognized, although they may make it harder. For instance, it is very much possible to enter the US on a passport issued by the Islamic Republic of Iran, assuming that you've met the (very stringent) visa requirements, despite the fact that the US has not recognized Iran since 1979. The events in Krakozhia seem to be more or less equivalent, so Navorski's passport shouldn't have been a problem... and even if it were, it would have been a temporary one (the US might have placed a temporary entry ban on Krakozhians, but it wouldn't have lasted more than a few months at the most).
 * Countries that have never been recognized are another story. This is why a Transnistrian will necessarily want to get a Russian, Ukrainian, or Moldovan passport in order to travel, as no generally-recognized country has ever recognized Transnistria.
 * For reference, the person on whom The Terminal is based claimed to have documents allowing him to go to Britain, but also claimed to have lost the documents in a mugging. This may or may not have been true, but that's another story.
 * Genius Bonus: If you look closely, you can see that Navorski is holding Dr. Seuss' Oh, the Places You'll Go while talking to Amelia in a bookstore. Of course, it's quite ironic given his situation.
 * Hilarious in Hindsight: Zoe Saldana, who plays Dolores, a diehard Trekkie, went on to play Lt. Uhura in Star Trek.