travel as dual citizen with multiple passports

[fh2000]

I am a dual citizen. When I travel to home country, I always use my US passport to purchase ticket and to show TSA before leaving. I then use my home country passport to enter home country. I later return US with my US passport.

There is an article with how this works:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/dual-citizenship-how-travel-safely-multiple-passports-nuccio-cpc

This summer, we will again fly back to home country. While there, we will visit another country then back to home country. When summer is over, we will fly back to US.

My question is: is my US passport only needed when we leave for the summer, and on returning when vacation is over? Will I need to show all other countries that I also visited while I am out of US (getting all those other countries' stamps on my US passport for example)? Or US custom actually do not check where you have been as long as your US passport is valid and legally allowing you to return?

 

[Sarah in SC]

We traveled through a number of countries with dual passport holders and they used the most convenient passport (in their case, UK). I would say that I have not seen much review of our stamps at US re-entry, but we have global trusted traveler.
I think if you need visas for any countries, you may have to decide which passport will make it easiest to obtain them.

 

[bmcgonig]

I use the US passport to exit and enter the US when I go to Europe. The US immigration guys don't seem to care and have never asked me where I was upon return. Use the most convenient one when outside US.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[Scubamax]

The rule is if you are are a U. S. citizen entering into the USA from another land you must produce your USA passport, even if you have others in your name. The CBP officer at the border may ask what countries you visited, but highly unlikely that you would be asked to produce stamps, and even so, just show them the stamps (if any) from your other passport...it is no big deal. (If you are traveling on an EU passport within the EU zone you may not get stamped).

When leaving the USA I don't think TSA really cares which one of your multiple passports you use, they are just looking more for identity check/verification.

 

[rodi]

My husband and children are dual US/Italy citizens.

You must use the US passport leaving/entering the US.

Legallly you must use the Italian passport entering/leaving Italy. (They have a law).

That said - I know folks who use their US passport everywhere - because they want the full protection of the US consulate if they get in trouble. If the US government doesn't know you're in a country and a US citizen, you're hanging in the wind if you run into trouble.

 

[Scubamax]

If the US government doesn't know you're in a country and a US citizen, you're hanging in the wind if you run into trouble.

Sorry, not true. Knowledge of the U. S. State Department of your whereabouts is not a requirement for U. S. citizens being able to seek assistance from Uncle Sam while overseas. As long as you are a U. S. citizen, even if you enter another country with a non-U.S. passport, you will have the local U.S. embassy or consulate at your service.

Also, if you enter a country with a U. S. passport, its naive to assume the local U.S. Embassy/Consulate "knows" you are there. You can however register with the State Department prior to your travels overseas, with your travel details...then they will be able to have an idea in case they need to get ahold of you or if there is a local situation which could impact U. S. citizens.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Yes, that is the STEP program, scuba, and I highly recommend using it. It also puts you on the email list for consular alerts (and also hilarious invitations to things like "hot dog day" on the 4th of July at the US embassy in UB, Mongolia).
I like for them to count me among the citizens if a country "goes south" while we are visiting, in hopes they'll save me a seat on the last plane out!

 

[fh2000]

Thanks for all the replies.

We will definitely use US passport to exit, and enter US.

I know North Korea or Cuba are restricted to US citizens. How about China? If we visit China, for example, using non-US passport (visa is so much cheaper), will we set ourselves up trouble on returning US if somehow government finds out and question our intention?

 

[Alan]

Dual US/UK passport holder here and I use the one that is most convenient (eg shortest lines) for the country I'm visiting, but always have my US passport on hand when leaving the US in case I'm asked to present it. Some countries such as Australia have exit controls where immigration officers check that the departing folks have valid documents (e.g. passport and/or visa) for their time in country.

We did a one-way cruise to the UK last month and I asked the cruise line ahead of time what dual citizens like ourselves should do since we need to leave the US on our US passports but since our stay in the UK was going be over 6 months our US passport would not be valid for entering the UK. (Online you can enter the details for 1 passport) They told me to present both passports at check-in which we did. However, 2 days before arriving in Liverpool we got a letter giving us an appointment to go through UK immigration 2 hours after we were due to dock. Other UK only citizens received a shore pass and didn't need to go through border control so we tried to do the same but the ship personnel refused and insisted we go through immigration on board because they had sent our US passport details to UK border control. At 8am we waved to DW's brother and his wife who were waiting for us in a parking lot and we didn't get off until 9:30. (The immigration officer jokingly asked us what we were doing in line and waved us through)

Lesson learned, in future we'll only present our UK passport when cruising to the UK but have the US passport on hand if asked for it. With airlines I always just give the airline my UK passport details when flying to Europe, but I made the mistake of actually asking the cruise line ahead of time what dual passport holders should do.

 

[cathy63]

Thanks for all the replies.

We will definitely use US passport to exit, and enter US.

I know North Korea or Cuba are restricted to US citizens. How about China? If we visit China, for example, using non-US passport (visa is so much cheaper), will we set ourselves up trouble on returning US if somehow government finds out and question our intention?

This is a technicality, but you don't actually use a passport to exit the U.S. When you show your passport to the airline employees at the airport, what you are doing is demonstrating that you will be allowed to enter the destination country so they won't have to bring you back on the next flight. There is no need to show a U.S. passport if you are also a citizen of the destination country. Just show the passport you're going to use when you get there. It proves both that you are the person named on the ticket, and that you will be able to pass through immigration when you arrive.

If you are leaving the U.S. via plane, then you also need to prove your identity to TSA in order to get past the airport's security checkpoints. You can do that with various forms of photo ID or any nation's passport. No need to use your U.S. passport there either.

U.S. citizens are not restricted by the U.S. government from visiting or moving about in China. You can use any passport that the Chinese will accept to visit their country and the U.S. government will not care even if they find out. However, unlike the U.S, you actually do use a passport to exit China. Upon departure, you must present the same passport with the visa that you used to enter the country to the government officials before they will allow you into the departure area.

 

[fh2000]

This is a technicality, but you don't actually use a passport to exit the U.S. When you show your passport to the airline employees at the airport, what you are doing is demonstrating that you will be allowed to enter the destination country so they won't have to bring you back on the next flight. There is no need to show a U.S. passport if you are also a citizen of the destination country. Just show the passport you're going to use when you get there. It proves both that you are the person named on the ticket, and that you will be able to pass through immigration when you arrive.

If you are leaving the U.S. via plane, then you also need to prove your identity to TSA in order to get past the airport's security checkpoints. You can do that with various forms of photo ID or any nation's passport. No need to use your U.S. passport there either.

U.S. citizens are not restricted by the U.S. government from visiting or moving about in China. You can use any passport that the Chinese will accept to visit their country and the U.S. government will not care even if they find out. However, unlike the U.S, you actually do use a passport to exit China. Upon departure, you must present the same passport with the visa that you used to enter the country to the government officials before they will allow you into the departure area.

Thanks, Cathy.

This is all very clear to me now. I use US passport to get on the plane since my home country does not require visa for US citizens. Once I land, I go straight to the facial recognition counter and stick my home passport. There is no personnel and often no line. It takes few seconds to get in the country.

 

[Sunset]

I always use the other country passport when entering that country, since it's pretty hard for them to refuse entry to a citizen vs a visitor.

For the same reason I show my US one when entering the US.

I carry dual wallets as well, which does look odd at the border when they asked for some other id, and I pulled out a second wallet to find it