Travel with US Passport, no?

J

Jojo72

Registered Users (C)
Ok silly question. Say I become Citizen and get my Natz Cert but I have dual Citizenship now. Say I wait to get my US passport, but all of the sudden I have an emergency and need to travel. As I will be a dual Citizen and retain my old passport can I still travel from and to the US with my other passport or DO I NEED to travel ( especially re-enter ) the US with a US passport??:confused:
Any takers? :D
 
I assume the answer would be no. Because your original nationality would no onger have an alien status in the Us.
 
US Passport is a must

Jojo72 said:
Right, and there is no other way to prove you are a US Citizen but with a US passport. So NO right?! Gotta have that US passport to re-enter :D
Click to expand...

Jojo72,

Just wanted to clarify that you must have a valid US passport to enter in the US. Nat certificate is no good incase you're thinking that it works like a GC or a valid document to get you in. No way. If there is an emergency, you can get your passport made at the passport agency (mostly in big cities like Houston, LA, NY, Boston, Miami, DC & Chicago). You can obtain the passport the very same day as long as you drop off your application first thing in the morning.
 
Jojo72 said:
Ok silly question. Say I become Citizen and get my Natz Cert but I have dual Citizenship now. Say I wait to get my US passport, but all of the sudden I have an emergency and need to travel. As I will be a dual Citizen and retain my old passport can I still travel from and to the US with my other passport or DO I NEED to travel ( especially re-enter ) the US with a US passport??:confused:
Any takers? :D
Click to expand...

Hi Jojo,

You're other option in case of an emergency would be to go ahead and depart the US, and then go to the nearest US Embassy/Consulate when you are ready to return. There, you can apply for a temporary-US passport - I believe it is valid for 1 year to assist you with your return. This is where your Natz Certificate would be useful to prove your citizenship. Also, the good thing is that once you return to the US, you can send that passport in and get a fully valid (10 year) passport since you pay the full price at the US Embassy/Consulate. Be sure to check the US Embassy's web site in your home country to verify the process.

Regards -
 
Last edited by a moderator:
LolaLi said:
Hi Jojo,

You're other option in case of an emergency would be to go ahead and depart the US, and then go to the nearest US Embassy/Consulate when you are ready to return. There, you can apply for a temporary-US passport - I believe it is valid for 1 year to assist you with your return.
Click to expand...

This is actually a good suggestion and while it may work, if it were me, I would think it would be too risky. My brother who was naturalized 2 years before me had to get a temporary passport in Costa Rica as his US passport was stolen while he was vacationing there. It was valid for a year, but in his case, he was "replacing" a passport.

I imagine in a serious emergency I would do it, but as of right now, I can't think of ANY emergency that would warrant that. The most serious emergency might be a death of a parent, but even then, I would try and get a rushed passport to leave.
 
Agreed

derekleewo said:
This is actually a good suggestion and while it may work, if it were me, I would think it would be too risky. My brother who was naturalized 2 years before me had to get a temporary passport in Costa Rica as his US passport was stolen while he was vacationing there. It was valid for a year, but in his case, he was "replacing" a passport.

I imagine in a serious emergency I would do it, but as of right now, I can't think of ANY emergency that would warrant that. The most serious emergency might be a death of a parent, but even then, I would try and get a rushed passport to leave.
Click to expand...

I agree with derekleewo all the way.
 
Ditto, this is a moot point that we keep debating every once in a while. There are ways to obtain an emergency passport, and most people don't have such an emergency right after the naturalization ceremony. If the situation is of such emergency that there is absolutely nothing to do before your trip, then I guess all bets are off, people do desperate things in desperate times, and you would go out of the country and then try to figure out how to come back after you dealt with your emergency. It might take more effort to straighten things out after leaving the country. Just look at it from the point of view of the embassy. Could it be a forgerer trying to get into the U.S. with a forged naturalization certificate. They only know you are outside of the U.S. and have to figure out if you have the right to go into the U.S. They are going to be skeptical and it might take some work to convince them. Again, mostly a moot point, I still haven't seen this kind of situation described in the forum.
 
what if your other passport is from a country that is part of
the visa-waiver program for entry into the US?

If I was originally from Germany(as an example), my German
passport would get me into the US visa-free. Let's say that I
become a US citizen on July 1. Then I discover the very next
afternoon that I need to fly back to Germany for some sort of
emergency. Definitely no time to get a US passport at such
late hours, so I hop on that evening's flight from New York to
Frankfurt, using my German passport. Can I return to the US
with my German passport?

I'm guessing the answer is no... but what if I fly back from
Germany to a Canadian city, say, Montreal... then take the
train from Montreal back to New York City.... Will my US
naturalization certificate and US driver's license be enough
to get me across the land border between Canada and US? :confused:
(since the US govt does not yet require passports for land
border crossing)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
quietmouse said:
what if your other passport is from a country that is part of
the visa-waiver program for entry into the US?

If I was originally from Germany(as an example), my German
passport would get me into the US visa-free. Let's say that I
become a US citizen on July 1. Then I discover the very next
afternoon that I need to fly back to Germany for some sort of
emergency. Definitely no time to get a US passport at such
late hours, so I hop on that evening's flight from New York to
Frankfurt, using my German passport. Can I return to the US
with my German passport?

I'm guessing the answer is no... but what if I fly back from
Germany to a Canadian city, say, Montreal... then take the
train from Montreal back to New York City.... Will my US
naturalization certificate and US driver's license be enough
to get me across the land border between Canada and US? :confused:
Click to expand...

For your first question the theory says no, that you shouldn't use the German passport, that you have to use a U.S. passport to come back into the country as you are already a citizen. However, I wouldn't be too surprised if the scheme worked in practice. I know this works traveling to other countries, and would believe that it might work trying to get into the U.S.

For your second question, for now it would still work if you use your driver license and naturalization certificate. This is going to change in the future, when the document plus driver license won't be enough to cross a land border.

However,
 
The same goes for using your foreign passport to travel to Cuba (via Canada) and then using your US passport to reenter the US. I wonder how the the US would know that you ever went to Cuba , unless of course that information was shared by Canadian customs which wouldn't surprise me in this post 9-11 age.
 
Bobsmyth said:
The same goes for using your foreign passport to travel to Cuba (via Canada) and then using your US passport to reenter the US. I wonder how the the US would know that you ever went to Cuba , unless of course that information was shared by Canadian customs which wouldn't surprise me in this post 9-11 age.
Click to expand...

IMHO, it does not matter which passport you use to enter Cuba.
It is against the law(unless you get prior authorization from the
US govt)... period. I personally do not agree with the decades-
old US embargo against Cuba, but it it the law. (if I don't like
following laws, I can just go back to my old country and live
like animals again... :D )
 
Thanks for all the good answers

Thanks all :) I quite enjoyed reading all your informative answers. I have come to the conclusion that the best thing is to simply apply for a US passport as soon as one is naturalized. I love the fact US passports are valid for 10 years. My Dutch passport has to be renewed every 5 years:rolleyes:
 
quietmouse said:
IMHO, it does not matter which passport you use to enter Cuba. It is against the law(unless you get prior authorization from the US govt)... period.
Click to expand...

If memory serves me correctly, the US cannot forbid you from traveling to Cuba. I believe that they CAN forbid you from spending US currency there, or engaging in commercial transactions in Cuba.
 
The hell with the outdated US embargo that doesn't make any sense. I still plan on going back to Cuba again one day on my foreign passport.:)
 
TheRealCanadian said:
If memory serves me correctly, the US cannot forbid you from traveling to Cuba. I believe that they CAN forbid you from spending US currency there, or engaging in commercial transactions in Cuba.
Click to expand...

I have a friend who traveled to Jamaica and, once there, decided to take a boat to Cuba. Her party was stopped by local immigration officials, so she presented her U.S. passport (a highly stupid move). The officials stamped her passport with a Cuban immigration stamp. Upon her arrival back in the U.S., she was detained by DHS. She was subsequently fined $10,000.

I guess the U.S. cannot PHYSICALLY stop you from travelling to Cuba, but they can make it a very expensive trip!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top