Dual Citizen - Traveling With Two Passports

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natur08

Registered Users (C)
As a dual citizen, I will be traveling back to my (EU) birth country for he first time later this year. I know that I need to exit and enter the US with my US Passport and enter and exit my birth country with that passport.

Can anyone who has done this comment on:

- Which passport to show the airline upon check in? Leaving the US, the US Passport, leaving the birth country the US Passport as well (but showing the birth country passport to authorities upon exiting)? I would assume that the airline might ask questions regarding visa status etc.? Did you end up then showing both passports?
- What if I enter the EU in another country than my birth country? I assume that I enter using the birth country passport?

Thanks!
 
I haven't done this, but have travelled with friends who have. Since the US doesn't really have exit immigration checks, show the airline your EU passport. If they ask, you can always show your US passport too, no problem. Upon entering and exiting the EU, obviously show your EU passport, and when re-entering the US, show your US passport. If asked, you can say you are a dual citizen (only if asked- do not volunteer any information).

Have fun.
 
natur08 said:
Which passport to show the airline upon check in? Leaving the US, the US Passport, leaving the birth country the US Passport as well (but showing the birth country passport to authorities upon exiting)? I would assume that the airline might ask questions regarding visa status etc.? Did you end up then showing both passports?
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The only thing the airline cares about is that you will be admitted to your destination country, so I'd probably show your EU passport. The airline wouldn't ask questions about your status, and if the ask for an I-94 to be returned tell them you don't have one.

What if I enter the EU in another country than my birth country? I assume that I enter using the birth country passport?
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Yes.
 
Thanks for your responses, cafeconleche & TheRealCanadian. I agree that, obviously, I do not want to volunteer the dual citizenship status unless asked.

When I traveled in the past with my Green Card, I was always asked for the GC when I showed my EU Passport upon check in leaving the US. The airline serves as an informal exit check, since they forward I-94s for processing unless you have a GC. This is why I was thinking of using the US Passport upon check in leaving the US. Has anyone actually done this and experienced their reaction?
 
Like I said, I have travelled with friends who have shown either passport at check-in. When they'd shown their foreign passport, they had sometimes been asked for a GC since there hadn't been an I94 in the passport, in which case a US passport was also shown. When they had shown a US passport, if a visa had been required for the destination country, and it was the other country/region of citizenship, the foreign passport was shown.
 
When I fly to Toronto from Chicago, I show my US passport at check in. I switch to my Canadian one at Pearson airport only. On the way back I show my US passport at check in and at US immigration, which takes place at Pearson airport itself.


natur08 said:
This is why I was thinking of using the US Passport upon check in leaving the US. Has anyone actually done this and experienced their reaction?
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natur08 said:
I was always asked for the GC when I showed my EU Passport upon check in leaving the US. The airline serves as an informal exit check, since they forward I-94s for processing unless you have a GC.
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It's only an exit check if you have an I-94. You don't, so simply say so.
 
natur08 said:
Thanks for your responses, cafeconleche & TheRealCanadian. I agree that, obviously, I do not want to volunteer the dual citizenship status unless asked.

When I traveled in the past with my Green Card, I was always asked for the GC when I showed my EU Passport upon check in leaving the US. The airline serves as an informal exit check, since they forward I-94s for processing unless you have a GC. This is why I was thinking of using the US Passport upon check in leaving the US. Has anyone actually done this and experienced their reaction?
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If your home country does not require to obtain visa before departure for USC , just show your US passport at the time of departure to airline but showing both passport shouldn't cause any problem.
If your home country accepts dual citizenship you can enter either with US or national passport but keep in mind using US passport will limit your length of stay and national passport will give you right to stay as long as you wish.If they don't honor dual citizenship enter with your foreign passport since US does not have departure stamp it should not be any question or problem and on the way back get your flight boarding pass showing US passport.
In this kind of situation all it matters is if your home country accepts dual citizenship.
 
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Assumption: your country allows dual citizenship AND there are no formalities you have to take after you acquire US citizenship example - you dont have to get special passport from your country for duals etc.

If you are entering US or Canada, you HAVE to enter with your US/Canadian passports ONLY.

Find out if your country has such rule. If it has, and you enter with US passport and later they find you did not enter with your original passport, you will be in trouble.

When you show airline your passport, they will 1- make sure you have necessary permission to enter the country you are going 2. they may forward your document # to the destination too. So make sure you show them the passport you would use once you arrive at your destination.

As others have mentioned, if you are going to EU, showing EU passport means you will have unlimited rights once you are in your country - so you should use that.
 
new_LPR said:
As others have mentioned, if you are going to EU, showing EU passport means you will have unlimited rights once you are in your country - so you should use that.
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Even if the EU citizen is admitted as a US tourist into his own country, he can still stay there indefinitely and have all the rights that other EU citizens have by simply showing a national ID card or the EU passport inside the country. The problem would arise when he tried to use a US passport again to enter the EU in the future.
 
well, how to be here?My husband is naturalized USC. he is Ukrainian. Ukraine doesn't have dual citizenship. When he had green card he said every time he entered Ukraine they were asking about green card to show. this year we are planning to visit Ukraine for the first time after naturalization. I'm thinking: do ukrainian customs have an authority to ask for it? it's an internal US document?
 
König said:
Even if the EU citizen is admitted as a US tourist into his own country, he can still stay there indefinitely and have all the rights that other EU citizens have by simply showing a national ID card or the EU passport inside the country. The problem would arise when he tried to use a US passport again to enter the EU in the future.
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You might be right that EU ID card might give you all the rights but your US Idenity will be overstay if you want to stay longer than permited amount of time and cause headache and confusion upon departure and like you said upon return to EU.
 
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still wondering....

So as I new US citizen ( and an EU citizen), I am gonna take my first trip to the EU since becoming a USC. I have read numerous posts about which passport to show and I am still confused.
They say when you leave the US and check in with the airline, show the EU passport because that is the destination you are going to. So if my plane ticket says that my trip is 2 weeks long, aren't they gonna ask me how I am coming back to the US? On my previous trips as a PR they always asked to see my green card. I do not want to show 2 passports because they say not to do that unless asked. When you check in with the airline, they also put your passport number in the computer. So if I show them the EU passport, and then go through US airport security and show them the US passport, isn't that going to be confusing in case the airport security checks the computer again? They said always show US passport when going thru US security, but show EU passport when checking in with the airline when leaving US.

On the other hand, if I show US passport when checking in with the airline, they will put in the computer that I am a US citizen. However, they have information from the past that I was an EU citizen. So they will know that I am a dual citizen no matter what.

So what do I do to avoid dual citizenship questions?
Anybody that has actually done this and how did it go?
 
marie_travel said:
So as I new US citizen ( and an EU citizen), I am gonna take my first trip to the EU since becoming a USC. I have read numerous posts about which passport to show and I am still confused.
They say when you leave the US and check in with the airline, show the EU passport because that is the destination you are going to. So if my plane ticket says that my trip is 2 weeks long, aren't they gonna ask me how I am coming back to the US? On my previous trips as a PR they always asked to see my green card. I do not want to show 2 passports because they say not to do that unless asked. When you check in with the airline, they also put your passport number in the computer. So if I show them the EU passport, and then go through US airport security and show them the US passport, isn't that going to be confusing in case the airport security checks the computer again? They said always show US passport when going thru US security, but show EU passport when checking in with the airline when leaving US.

On the other hand, if I show US passport when checking in with the airline, they will put in the computer that I am a US citizen. However, they have information from the past that I was an EU citizen. So they will know that I am a dual citizen no matter what.

So what do I do to avoid dual citizenship questions?
Anybody that has actually done this and how did it go?
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Did you see my earlier post?

http://forums.immigration.com/showthread.php?315776-questions&p=2216459#post2216459

If you do it as I described, the airline will treat you as a US citizen in both directions. The German passport checkpoints do not know or care about how you checked into the flight. However, the US side tracks this information very closely for the flight leg coming into the US.
 
I saw it yes, thank you. I was reading stuff on another forum and they advised to do it differently so I was getting confused. I have decided to just check in with my US passport both ways. Thanks again.
 
Interesting thread, I'm in the same situation.

My plan is also to:

- Check in with the airline with my US passport. Since I'll be flying to the EU, they won't ask about a Visa. But if they say anything, I can always show my EU passport
- Enter the EU with my EU passport
- Coming back, check in with the airline with my US passport
- Exit the EU with my EU passport
- Enter the US with my US passport

So basically the only time I will use my EU passport will be to pass through the immigration checkpoint on the way in and on the way out of the EU.
 
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