Originally Posted by
tomusan
I'm in a somewhat unusual situation and wondering how to handle it. I am traveling to India next month and had to send in my US passport to get an Indian visa. I haven't gotten it back yet (Indian visa app process=absolute nightmare), but am flying to Canada next week, which obviously requires a passport. I have dual citizenship so also hold an Irish passport. The question is, can I enter Canada on that one and just fess up to CBP when I get back to the US, or will I wind up getting probed in a back room somewhere (either in Canada or in the US)?
Any thoughts/experience along these lines would be very much appreciated.
The good news: as a US citizen, you technically can't be denied entry to the US.
The bad news: US CBP preclearance facilities at Canadian airports aren't the US, so that may not apply.
If I absolutely had to do this, I'd load up on documents for CBP. Physical copy, preferably color, of your US passport's ID page (this is an absolute necessity -- establishes that your current US passport exists, and gives them a number to look up) plus the kind of documents you would use to prove your US residence and eligibility for a US passport or other US ID: old US passport if you've got one, birth certificate, voter's registration, social security card, driver's license/other state photo ID card, work ID if it has a photo (and even better if it has a US address printed on it), possibly a utility bill if it carries the same address as your DL.
Explain the situation fully and honestly to CBP, expect to be sent to secondary and miss your initial flight, and be pleasantly surprised if you instead get a CBP officer who's willing to play ball. Understand that the worst case here is getting denied entry at preclearance because they don't believe you, getting yourself overland to a pedestrian border crossing and walking across, then finding your way home from there. Then evaluate whether you've absolutely got to go to Canada.
Other option: are you near a
Passport Agency where you could apply for a rush Passport Card? That isn't technically valid for air travel (so you'd still need your Irish passport to board your outbound flight), but it may satisfy CBP at the preclearance post, and once you're past that, your airline likely won't care.