GUWonder

US government websites speak in such generalities that they end up misleading people. They tend to dumb things down so much that most people are mislead away from knowing what is all lawfully possible -- actually to most US citizens.

Most US citizens can lawfully go to Canada or Mexico without a US passport and return to the US without a US passport. [Unfortunately, the USG has required that the US and US-serving airlines require passports or passport substitution documents for air travel to those two countries too, but both of those countries still allow in US citizens without a passport even if the arrival is by air.

sfosuw

What are the exceptions?
According to 22 CFR 53.2-
" A U.S. citizen is not required to bear a valid U.S. passport to enter or depart the United States:

(1) When traveling as a member of the Armed Forces of the United States on active duty and when he or she is in the uniform of, or bears documents identifying him or her as a member of, such Armed Forces, when under official orders or permit of such Armed Forces, and when carrying a military identification card; or

(2) When traveling entirely within the Western Hemisphere on a cruise ship, and when the U.S. citizen boards the cruise ship at a port or place within the United States and returns on the return voyage of the same cruise ship to the same United States port or place from where he or she originally departed. That U.S. citizen may present a government-issued photo identification document in combination with either an original or a copy of his or her birth certificate, a Consular Report of Birth Abroad issued by the Department, or a Certificate of Naturalization issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services before entering the United States; if the U.S. citizen is under the age of 16, he or she may present either an original or a copy of his or her birth certificate, a Consular Report of Birth Abroad issued by the Department, or a Certificate of Naturalization issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; or

(3) When traveling as a U.S. citizen seaman, carrying an unexpired Merchant Marine Document (MMD) in conjunction with maritime business. The MMD is not sufficient to establish citizenship for purposes of issuance of a United States passport under part 51 of this chapter."

I don't think any of the above is applicable to the OP.

Furthermore, according to 18 U.S.C. §§ 1541 to 1544 which provide criminal penalties for offenses related to passports, visas, and related document-
"The statutory maximum term of imprisonment for violations of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1541 - 1546 is 10 years."


The fact is He/she shall be and will be treated as a foreigner if the USC chooses to enter the US using a foreign passport. If a USC wants to exercise his/her right as a citizen, he/she will abide to the law and enter the US using a valid US passport.

Ari

Additionally, CBP can "admit" a citizen as a citizen without a valid US Passport. Just because a US citizen flies in on a VWP passport with an ESTA doesn't mean that person has to be admitted as an alien; CBP can admit that person as a citizen if they are satisfied of citizenship.

GUWonder

The "exceptions" are so numerous and conditioned that it would involve putting together a treatise after collecting a bunch of lawyers from State and DOJ.

They which you mentioned above are just a fraction of the "exceptions" that aren't even exceptions.





There are so many misleading elements in the above that it is but amusing to see them all in one place.

A US citizen entering the US on a non-US passport has all the lawful rights of a US citizen who has only ever used a US passport. Entering on a non-US passport into the US is not a general surrender of US citizenship rights or obligations.

US citizens can abide by the law and return to the US without even using a US passport to enter the US. Having a US passport frequently makes it easier to be admitted (back) into the US, but it is not required to be admitted into the US as a recognized US citizen at a US port of entry.

Valid US citizens get prosecuted by DOJ for merely returning to the US without a US passport and then get locked up in prison for up to ten years? I have seen the US intelligence and law enforcement legal community get creative in trying to have its way over US citizens, but that is not how it goes.

Indeed. It happens daily, multiple times a day.

CBP can also clear for entry a US citizen into the US without knowing the US citizen is a US citizen without granting the government a lawful right to strip away any and all such US citizens of the rights of US citizenship or the obligations which may come by way of US citizenship.

sfosuw

Would love to know where you got that statistic from. Perhaps you work for CBP or DHS and can confirm that is their procedure or is that what you think they can do?

The passport requirement and the consequences of violation are written black and white in the Code of Federal Regulations. Often time people think they know the laws better than people who enforce the laws.
I respect your freedom of speech, so feel free to mislead others into violating the laws.

GUWonder

Do you really believe that DHS/CBP are the only people who know how things work for US citizens and that somethings related to US citizens at US POEs occur daily and more than once a day?

This subject has nothing to do with our freedom of speech. .

I know a lot of the people that work or have worked on enforcing federal laws, even in terms of how to get creative enough to torture people abroad without ending up prosecuted in the US. Yes, some of them even talk to me about the concerns that at some point their international travel may jeopardize their freedom due to their workings for the USG on establishing policy/policy guidance.

Do us all a favor and try to provide even one example of a prosecution and conviction of a US dual-citizen for merely entering the US without a valid US passport at any point in the last twenty years? Given that a growing number of US dual-citizens have been unable to get US passports but are still lawfully traveling internationally, you should have ample chances to show the validity of your "concern" for the OP's acquaitance with an expired US passport. [The US recession has lead to a spike in people who are blacklisted from US passport acquisition/renewal. ]

notyouravgjt

Here is the simple answer instead of worrying about it. Go to the embassy and get an emergency passport. Explain the situation they will be able to issue you a travel document that will work as a USA passport.

"In cases where the applicant must travel urgently or has an immediate need for a passport, the Embassy can issue an emergency passport that is typically valid for three months. The emergency passport can be exchanged later for a full validity passport at an Embassy or Consulate overseas or at a Passport Agency in the United States."

http://ukraine.usembassy.gov/passports.html

haniboo

There have been two times that I, as mother, forgot to renew passports for my kids and didn't notice it until 2-3 days before travel. The kids are dual Israeli/US citizens. Once, they made it on the spot. but the second time was more challenging. They didn't authorize emergency passport renewals except for cases of life and death -- and foregoing a cruise with grandma and causing an entire family to change plans didn't qualify.

The kid in question was a minor, 5, if I recall, and this was about 8 years ago. I know check expiry dates fanatically! Anyhow, here is what I did.

I made copies of everything --birth certifs (i think i brought the originals), older, expired passports, anything i could think of that would attest to their being citizens and my children. my husband was not travelling with us so i took notarized copies of his documents and permission for her to travel with me, etc.

we got on the plane, but did have to answer a bunch of questions. it was a huge headache, but it worked out, and we even had a great time on the cruise.

sfosuw

I believe that DHS/CBP are the people that knows more than a random guy on an internet forum. And even IF (that's a big IF) you know more than the CBP officer at the port, it's still the CBP officer who will make the final decision.
The OP only wanted to know whether there will be any problem coming in or not. A few other posters and I already clearly pointed out (with the applicable regulations annotated) that it is unlawful for a US citizen to enter using a foreign passport. So now it will be up to the OP's acquaintance to decide whether to risk violating the law or not.
A few other posters also mentioned they were let-in without hassle in a similar scenario. As someone who works in law enforcement, I can tell you that sometimes law enforcement officers can be lenient depending on the situation. Perhaps the officer would like to spend more time catching an illegal immigrant or even a terrorist (ya, right) than to hassle a ignorant citizen. But it's a gamble whether the OP's acquaintance will encounter a strict by-the-book officer who will pursue this case and press charge (again, the law is 8USC§1185(b) and the charge is 18USC§1541). I'm a fairly frequent international traveler, I've encountered border guards who didn't even bother to raise their heads to compare my face to my passport photo and I've encountered guards who want to know my life story. So there's no guaranteed that the OP's acquaintance will be let-in without hindrance.

Good for you, I don't really care.

As you claim in a previous post that this happens everyday and several times a day. You really believe not one was prosecuted in the last 20 years?

Instead of hijacking this post to express your personal opinion about how the USG is "misleading" its citizens why don't you talk about your personal experience in this situation?

GUWonder

I haven't hijacked this at all. I am speaking from personal experiences on this matter.

Long before there was a DHS/CBP, there was a State Department and DOJ.

You made an assertion about criminal prosecution on this matter. Why not try to use the public court records to try to prove your point and try to disprove what I mentioned? Don't you know that prosecutions and convictions in US federal court on criminal matters involving passports and visas are generally part of the public records accessible to even random guys/gals on the Internet?

A CBP employee cannot lawfully deny admission to the US to a US citizen who presents herself/himself at a US port of entry even if the US citizen only has his/her expired US passport and a current EU passport to present when arriving at a US port of entry. It may take a bit longer to get admitted into the US as a US citizen at the US POE when arriving (although sometimes it can be quicker ), but generally DHS/CBP has no authority to deny US citizens admission when citizenship and identity are readily determinable as is the case with people who have had USCRBA's issued and a recently expired US passport along with a current foreign passport and the USCRBA listed parent traveling along with him/her.

GUWonder

Many a minor US citizen born abroad has entered the US without a US passport. It is quite routine for staff at many US embassies/consulates to issue US passports for people whom they know to be dual US citizens who even traveled already to the US. These natural-born US citizens don't have any fewer rights as US citizens in the US (including at a US POE) than other US citizens at a US POE. Some of these situations are so blatantly obvious to experienced US CBP officers. For example, finding US parent-non-US parent couple with two foreign-born children with a US passport while the other, younger foreign-born child has only a non-US passport to present. The worst stink that happens in such situation is a reference to secondary and an instruction to get a US passport and contact State to work on the paperwork for the US citizen born abroad but without any US passport history. Even in terrorism-related investigations, the USG hopes there has been a passport or CRBA application done with a willful mistake on the applications. Otherwise the DOJ might as well spin its wheels on ice and burn fuel for no good reason.

If DHS/CBP wants to get someone imprisoned, they have to do it with the US DOJ leading the way or with local jurisdiction prosecutors leading the way.

CPPVG

I am a dual-US/Canadian citizen and was completely unaware of this rule until this year. I have been entering the US my whole life on my Canadian passport. Granted I wasn't staying for any length of time, but I was always let in. In fact, I didn't even apply for my US passport until this year....

GUWonder

A lot of dual US citizens have been doing as you. Even without a US passport, a US citizen has the rights to be admitted into the US and may stay indefinitely as can any US citizen residing in the US. No new rule of relevance to this topic has been had for years now.

chx1975

There's no new rule; there's anonymous people on an Internet forum playing lawyer. It's even worse than playing one on television

GUWonder

Indeed.

Anonymity and the Internet sort of run in opposition to one another, but little unmasks fiction faster than posts that make assertions without the benefit of experience.

This is a situation of people communicating with extensive experience in how this works in practice and also how it works according to policy and then of some assuming the worst anyway without having extensive experience in this area.

There are actually a number of FTers known here who also have a history of working in the OLA/OLC/OGC type positions at State/DOJ/DHS/White House. This place isn't as anonymous as some may want.