Dual Citizenship - travel to India - URGENT

[complexity]

Hi All:

Have a situation - my spouse has dual citizenship - US/UK. We live in the US. We became citizens just a few months ago. Since the UK passport already had a valid Indian visa, we did not bother getting another visa to India on the US passport. We are travelling tonight to India and I just now read posts that this may not be okay. We were planning on only showing the UK passport to travel to India. But we will need to show her US passport at the check in counter for proof of valid US status correct? Anyone have experience of having traveled to India being a US / other citizen and having the visa on a different passport?

Thanks

 

[nwctzn]

Show the US passport at airline check-in. If they ask about the visa for India, you can indicate that your spouse is a dual citizen and then show them the UK passport which has the visa for India. Should not be a problem.

At passport control in India, just show the UK passport.

 

[Triple Citizen]

I traveled to India using my Canadian passport. No one along the entire journey was interested in my US passport, except CBP when I returned to the US.

Anyone have experience of having traveled to India being a US / other citizen and having the visa on a different passport?

 

[complexity]

Thanks Guys.

Triple - I can see why they wouldn't care about Canadian citizenship cause they have no I-94 to worry about. My concern is more about a UK passport for which they ask an I-94 and then if I show US Citizenship, they will ask why we don't have the visa on the US passport!

Anyway, I'm heading to the airport soon. Will post my experience once I get to my destination. Wish me luck.

 

[nwctzn]

Thanks Guys.

Triple - I can see why they wouldn't care about Canadian citizenship cause they have no I-94 to worry about. My concern is more about a UK passport for which they ask an I-94 and then if I show US Citizenship, they will ask why we don't have the visa on the US passport!

Anyway, I'm heading to the airport soon. Will post my experience once I get to my destination. Wish me luck.

Have a safe trip and please report back how it goes.

 

[König]

My concern is more about a UK passport for which they ask an I-94 and then if I show US Citizenship, they will ask why we don't have the visa on the US passport!

I am sorry, but what you posted sounds illogical. If a person is a dual citizen, why he/she should have a third country visa in passport A and not passport B? It is like implying that passport B is inferior to passport A or that country A requires all of its citizens to travel only on its passports - neither one is true.

I myself have two passports. If I travel to Brazil on the US passport, I will need to get a visa and be fingerprinted on arrival. On the other hand, if I travel on my other passport, I don't have to get a visa and be hassled at the entry. Which passport should I use in this situation? The answer is obvious.

 

[complexity]

I am sorry, but what you posted sounds illogical. If a person is a dual citizen, why he/she should have a third country visa in passport A and not passport B? It is like implying that passport B is inferior to passport A or that country A requires all of its citizens to travel only on its passports - neither one is true.

I myself have two passports. If I travel to Brazil on the US passport, I will need to get a visa and be fingerprinted on arrival. On the other hand, if I travel on my other passport, I don't have to get a visa and be hassled at the entry. Which passport should I use in this situation? The answer is obvious.

Konig - I understand what you are trying to say. My question was more associated with how airlines deal with them and given that there are no immigration checks during departure from the US, the onus is on the airlines to ensure that you are legal in the US (or report it if you are not) and have valid visas to the destination country before you board the flight.

I just returned from my trip and here is my experience -

When checking in at the US airport, we showed the airline personnel the US passport as required by law. The attendant looked through the passport and asked for the Indian visa. We showed them the UK passport and a valid Indian visa. The attendant was confused and raised the question how we could travel with two passports. I explained that my spouse is a dual citizen and is allowed to do so. She called her supervisor who seems to understand the situation but did not know what to do. So I recommended that they give us boarding pass to transit country (in Europe for which no visa is required for US citizens) and we'll get the boarding pass for the second flight there. They agreed and gave us the boarding pass to the transit country only. When we landed in Europe, we approached the airline agent and told them we needed a boarding pass to India. He asked for passport and visa; we showed him the UK passport and visa. He gave the boarding card and we went to India - no problem. On the trip back, left India on the UK passport, entered home with US passport. US immigration asked us about entry exit stamp for India. We showed them the UK passport informing him about dual citizenship and visa being on the UK passport. He didn't have a problem with this and understood the cost savings associated with this (even joked about it).

Lesson learnt - Airline employees are not well trained enough about dual citizenship.

I know of some other cases where they don't check anything at all and give them the boarding cards only to realize in the transit country that their Indian visa has expired. So in short, it all depends on the airlines and the attendant you get.