Foreign passport and US passport

S

saf

Active Member
My friend, who became a US citizen recently and got her new US passport, has a question. Can she use her Japanese passport (her country Japan doesn't allow dual citizenship) to travel to another country (India) since unexpired Indian visa is on her Japanese passport? or Will she need an Indian visa on US passport since Japanese passport became invalid when she became a US citizen?
 
USGC485 said:
My friend, who became a US citizen recently and got her new US passport, has a question. Can she use her Japanese passport (her country Japan doesn't allow dual citizenship) to travel to another country (India) since unexpired Indian visa is on her Japanese passport? or Will she need an Indian visa on US passport since Japanese passport became invalid when she became a US citizen?
Click to expand...

Legally: If the original country does not allow dual citizenship, the Japanese passport is invalid as soon as she took oath. So she should not.

Real Life: This seems to be a borderline case that it might not be noticed by India or Japan. If she has to formally renounce Japanese citizenship and surrender passport, even then they may not check the stamps. She might get by.

Advice: Go pay for another visa or ask them to transfer visa. They usually transfer visa from expired US passport to new US passport pretty cheap, so try to tell them the story of transfer rather than a new visa. Maybe they will buy it.


Last, India EXIT is not as easy as EXIT from US. They check your visa to make sure you have papers to go to the destination. If she is coming back to US, she will need to show a US visa on a Japanese passport, or a GC along with the Japanese passport. I presume none of these will be easy to show. Actually, that might be the deal breaker.
 
Don't they check your US passport when you enter the US?. A trip outside the US with no stamps in the passport is sure to cause some hiccups at entry.
 
If She has unexpired Japanese passport, she could use valid indian visa on expired passport with another unexpired Japanese paspport to travel back and forth but if she has valid Japanese passport,if not it makes it complicated to go around this. She better get new visa on the US passport or transfer the visa from Japanese passport to US passport if her Japanese passport has expired. Obtaining another citizenship does not automatically revoke her Japanese citizenship. Japanese law allowes you to hold two or more nationality for 2 years after obtaining new citizenship if you are 20 years old or older and if under 22 you are allowed to hold as many as nationality you want up to 20 years old and after that they give you 2 more years(up to 22 years old) to decide to hold or renounce Japanese nationality so she should be okay.After all Japan's government is not involve on this indian visa problem and Indian government does not care if she is dual national and this won't have anything to do with Japanese government so she can discuss the problem openly with Indian embassy or consulate.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
sanjoseaug20 said:
Legally: If the original country does not allow dual citizenship, the Japanese passport is invalid as soon as she took oath. So she should not.
Click to expand...

My first comment was based on the OP's statement that Japan does not allow dual citizenship. Looks like there is a 2 year window in which you can do such things, and hence pls ignore my previous comment.
 
Oh, okay. Then she should be okay if her Japanese passport is still valid. she can enter and exit India with Japanese passport and enter and exit US with US passport.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I TOTALLY AGREE WITH mh66ii

my daughter is a dual citizen of both US AND JAPAN, SHE USE BOTH PASSPORTS , SHE USE US PASSPORT TO ENTER USA AND JAPANESE PASSPORT TO OTHER COUNTRIES
 
hey, How is it going?
I am going on christmas for about 10 days.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I'm in Egypt right now and I used my italian passport to enter.
I will use my italian passport to enter Israel as well (since it has israeli stamps already).
I actually wrote the US Consulate in Milan to inquire about using my italian passport abroad and my US passport to enter the US (I use the israeli stamps as an excuse).
They replied to me that not only this is totally legal, but it also makes sense.
 
sarrebal said:
I'm in Egypt right now and I used my italian passport to enter.
I will use my italian passport to enter Israel as well (since it has israeli stamps already).
I actually wrote the US Consulate in Milan to inquire about using my italian passport abroad and my US passport to enter the US (I use the israeli stamps as an excuse).
They replied to me that not only this is totally legal, but it also makes sense.
Click to expand...

From the US govt point of view, you are only required to enter and exit the country with your US passport.
 
Sure, but what is the deal with being on your own if you enter Bad Country with Bad Country's passport versus entering Bad Country with a US passport? in the event something Bad [tm] happens, will the US Embassy of Bad Country help in this case?

Many countries, for example, have restrictions on what can and can not be photographed, and if someone takes a picture of something that should not be photographed and ends up as a "guest", will the US send the cavalry or a "please use a US passport next time and don't forget to file your taxes" lettergram?
 
Many countries, for example, have restrictions on what can and can not be photographed, and if someone takes a picture of something that should not be photographed and ends up as a "guest", will the US send the cavalry or a "please use a US passport next time and don't forget to file your taxes" lettergram?
Click to expand...

If you're in a "bad" country (what is *that*?) and you do a very stupid thing, the US can and will NOT help you, regardless of what passport you used. If you go to jail and are prosecuted outside of the US, a US passport (~"but i'm an american, you can't do this to me"~) will not help you. The only thing the US consulate/embassy can help you with is getting a lawyer at your own expense. That is it.

(And, uhh, I don't know what you've been photographing or what "bad" countries you're talking about... North Korea? With a US passport you aren't even usually allowed into N. Korea to begin with...)
 
I was photographing the Ryugyong Hotel in North Korea when these 12 dudes showed up :eek:...

No, seriously, I'm talking more "wrong time wrong place" type events, natural disasters or emergencies, or things like losing your passport(s), etc, etc, essentially all the services provided by the Bureau of Consular Services, US State Dept.
 
If you enter a third country with your non-US passport, the ability of the US Government to provide consular services may be limited as the host nation may not recognize your US nationality.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top