Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - Australian and USA citizen - so 2 passports

I'm now a USA citizen as well as a Australian citizen. I'm a little confused about which passport to hand over when.

I've read that you have to leave and enter a county on the SAME passport.

So I would leave LAX on my USA passport, but the check-in staff check that you have a visa, and I don't as I'm an Australian citizen. Do I just flash them my 2nd passport?

At Australian customs, I use my Australian Passport.

Leaving Australia, I leave on my Australian passport, but check in staff want to see a visa/green card for USA, which I don't have as I'm a citizen. So do I show them both?

Arrive in USA, I use my USA passport.

Is this correct?

THanks.

I'm in exactly the same boat, so let me help you out.

You don't need your US passport at until until the return journey. So put it away and keep your Aussie passport out. At check-in at LAX you show Australian passport. To board plane you show Australian passport, when you land in Australia, you show Australian passport.

When you're getting ready to leave SYD, you need both. At check-in at SYD, you show US passport, no Aussie at all (will just cause confusion). You fill out the green depature card using your Australian passport info, you show your Australian passport to immigration, then you put away your Australian passport completely, and show your US passport to get on the plane. Then you show your US passport at LAX.

I'm in exactly the same boat, so let me help you out.

You don't need your US passport at until until the return journey. So put it away and keep your Aussie passport out. At check-in at LAX you show Australian passport. To board plane you show Australian passport, when you land in Australia, you show Australian passport.

When you're getting ready to leave SYD, you need both. At check-in at SYD, you show US passport, no Aussie at all (will just cause confusion). You fill out the green depature card using your Australian passport info, you show your Australian passport to immigration, then you put away your Australian passport completely, and show your US passport to get on the plane. Then you show your US passport at LAX.There is no prohibition on having two passports and so no reason not to show both. For immigration purposes, you should arrive and leave on the same passport (US or Australian, depending on where you are) but you may need to produce both at check-in. If you try and check in at SYD with just your US passport, you'll immediately run into a problem (or you should do) as there is no Australian visa associated with that passport and thus, prima facie, you entered the country illegally. You have to show them your Australian passport to explain how you got into Oz. If you show them a foreign passport and there's no valid visa associated with it, you'll get a question - my Oz visa was associated with my old U.S. passport so when that got filled up and I had to get a new one, I had no problem coming into Oz as I just showed Immigration both the old passport (which had the physical visa in it) and my new one. However, every time I left, QF would have a problem because my current U.S. passport (which they needed to see to put me on a plane to the U.S.) had no Australian visa associated with it (because my visa, although valid, was associated with my old passport number), so they would have to go off and call someone. I now have a new visa, associated with my (new) passport so that problem no longer happens.

Your response is wonderful - in theory.

I gave the OP a recitation of the way it actually works.

And, no, you don't need to hide either passport, but putting it away helps eschew confusion.

Your response is wonderful - in theory.

I gave the OP a recitation of the way it actually works.

And, no, you don't need to hide either passport, but putting it away helps eschew confusion.If you can get QF (in Australia) to check you in based on a US passport that has no Australian visa associated with it, then more power to you. Every time I did it with my new-passport-no-associated-visa, (and that's been multiple times so this is not "theory", it's what actually happens) there was a 'problem' and it took a phone call to get clearance from immigration that it was ok to let me leave. Obviously, YMMV.

I'm in the same boat also, except that I'm on a New Zealand passport. As I travel on UA/NZ from LAX to CHC via SYD, I follow stevenshev's steps exactly and have never encountered a problem. I do not have an Australian visa associated with my US passport and this has never been questioned at check in in SYD. If it were, then I would just flash my NZ passport to show that I entered Australia legally.


I'm in exactly the same boat, so let me help you out.

You don't need your US passport at until until the return journey. So put it away and keep your Aussie passport out. At check-in at LAX you show Australian passport. To board plane you show Australian passport, when you land in Australia, you show Australian passport.

When you're getting ready to leave SYD, you need both. At check-in at SYD, you show US passport, no Aussie at all (will just cause confusion). You fill out the green depature card using your Australian passport info, you show your Australian passport to immigration, then you put away your Australian passport completely, and show your US passport to get on the plane. Then you show your US passport at LAX.

If you can get QF (in Australia) to check you in based on a US passport that has no Australian visa associated with it, then more power to you. Every time I did it with my new-passport-no-associated-visa, (and that's been multiple times so this is not "theory", it's what actually happens) there was a 'problem' and it took a phone call to get clearance from immigration that it was ok to let me leave. Obviously, YMMV.When I'm leaving Australia to travel to the UK, I show the airline my British passport (which has no record of my being in Australia or Australian visa attached to it) and I have never had any problem. However, if they asked my Australian passport is at the ready.

For a dual US—other citizen, there is a potential problem when leaving the USA since it is the responsibility of the airline to collect I-94s and I-94Ws and the like (though I'm not sure if visa-waiver nationals still get an I-94W...). If I were in this position, though, I'd just show (in this case) the Australian passport to the airline check-in agent; if the agent queried this, I'd say that I was also a US citizen, and be ready to show my US passport if asked.

The only reason for not showing both passports at once is to avoid confusion, not to hide anything.

I'm also in the same boat and can back up stevenshev. This is exactly what I have been doing since I was born.

Often at check-in at LAX, I will be asked for my I94 or Green Card. Usually I just tell them I hold a US Passport, and that is the end of it. On some occasions they want to see it.

If you can get QF (in Australia) to check you in based on a US passport that has no Australian visa associated with it, then more power to you. Every time I did it with my new-passport-no-associated-visa, (and that's been multiple times so this is not "theory", it's what actually happens) there was a 'problem' and it took a phone call to get clearance from immigration that it was ok to let me leave. Obviously, YMMV.

That's one problem I haven't even anticipated, nor encountered.. (yet).

I've never had an issue just checking in at SYD with the US passport. UA agents have never asked to see my Australian passport at that point, which should be in the record from when I left the US for Australia anyway.

Actually, after my last flight from SYD, the US immigration agent got a confused look on his face when he brought up my details after being handed my US passport. (Maybe they search for the itinerary info before they bring up the passport record?) Thankfully not a big deal - he just asked me if I was a dual, I answered yes, and he said that United still had my Australian info in the record - this despite my having checked in with the US passport. He was fine about it, and was as perplexed as I was about why the airline wouldn't have put that info in. (I could have muttered something about SYD having a lot of contract staff, but I thought better.. :D )

I have AUS and US Citizenship as well. Here's a clear recipe to follow, which basically summarizes everything above I think. If you don't do it as below, you could cause delays and/or get in trouble. Remember, check-in agents need to see you have permission to enter the country you are flying to. Security/Customs and at the Gate they went to see the passport of the country you are currently in.

ARRIVE @ US: Use US passport upon entry

LEAVING US:

- AT CHECK-IN: Show Australian passport only when checking in, as they need to see this and verify that you have permission to enter Australia.

- AT SECURITY/GATE: Use US passport.

ARRIVE @ Australia: Show Australia passport

LEAVING Australia:

AT CHECK-IN: Show US passport to show you have permission to enter the US

AT CUSTOMS/GATE: Show Australian passport

I have AUS and US Citizenship as well. Here's a clear recipe to follow, which basically summarizes everything above I think. If you don't do it as below, you could cause delays and/or get in trouble. Remember, check-in agents need to see you have permission to enter the country you are flying to. Security/Customs and at the Gate they went to see the passport of the country you are currently in.

ARRIVE @ US: Use US passport upon entry

LEAVING US:

- AT CHECK-IN: Show Australian passport only when checking in, as they need to see this and verify that you have permission to enter Australia.

- AT SECURITY/GATE: Use US passport.

ARRIVE @ Australia: Show Australia passport

LEAVING Australia:

AT CHECK-IN: Show US passport to show you have permission to enter the US

AT CUSTOMS/GATE: Show Australian passport


Thank you everyone. I now know what to do. It makes sense that LAX check-in don't care about my USA passport. When I had a green card they never wanted it. On the return at Brisbane, they always wanted the green card...

I'll try it and see. My son is entitled to dual citizenship too...I just haven't done the paperwork yet, so we'll both need to follow the same procedure.