Originally Posted by
Xyzzy
Good luck in getting the US passport issued! It sounds as if you're taking the right steps and it's just a matter of time...
Y
u will have no problem whatsoever leaving the US with the German passport in the airline record. The US has no exit controls and the fact that that passport was never used to enter the US will not matter. Do not, however, try to enter the US with that passport. You'll need an ESTA for it and as a US citizen one can't get an ESTA so you won't even be allowed to board. That's not to mention the fact that to enter the US, citizens are required to use their US passports -- the same way Germans are required to use their German passports when entering Germany.
The US has systematic electronic exit controls for common carrier flight departures from the US. But the systematic electronic exit controls are not a show stopper for US dual-citizens flying out of the country on the non-US passports. Even with some manual exit controls — primarily those for customs/export controls — it’s not a show stopper.
Increasingly often, there is an additional systematic electronic exit control by way of biometric exit control to be experienced when flying out of the US. While US and most Canadian passport users can opt out of this, most other adult foreign passport users cannot opt out of that. But this shouldn’t be a big concern either for a US minor using their non-US passport to fly out of the US.