Originally Posted by
ESpen36
In fact, it could cause problems for you on the return if you depart the USA on a non-US passport and try to re-enter on a US passport. All of your departures and arrivals (by air) show up on the passport control officer's screen, and if you are re-entering without showing a departure, you might get sent to secondary for some questioning.
It happened to a friend of mine who went by land into Mexico and then flew back. The CBP computer didn't have a record of his departure, so he was detained briefly while he explained how he had left the country without having his passport swiped.
Originally Posted by
Aldoman
The U.S. has no departing procedures (Unlike others like Schengen countries or Japan, Korea or whoever), the documents check is for the agent to cover her a** and not get fired because the ariline had to pay the return ticket to a possible deportee (some countries do refuse entry VERY strictly if you have less than 6 months left in your passport).
It would appear, based on ESpen's friend's experience that we have defacto exit control from the requirement that airlines submit the manifest with PP numbers to CBP. Further, at some airports (I've seen it personally at RDU), CBP officers check passports of people boarding planes.
Originally Posted by
polonius
A lot of confusion on this thread, but most here seem to have it right:
1) the USA does NOT check your passport on departure
2) the check by the AIRLINES (not the government) on check-in for a departing flight is to establish that you have the proper documents needed to ENTER the DESTINATION country, nothing to do with your EXIT from the USA
But you forgot the fact that DHS and CBP require that airlines submit the manifest.... and they use that information to check various lists (and can deny the ability to travel or remove folks from planes). As noted above, I've seen the jetway checks at RDU by CBP personnel, and I've seen CBP people walk through an aircraft at CVG inspecting documents for departing intl passengers.
Taken together, the US has departure control, even if it's not structured the same way as some other countries.