Dubai Stu

I would try to avoid using the the passport you are describing if you can avoid it. Israeli customs spots those passports and a few agents have been known to give people grief. They are issue with eight months on them and you can tell the issuance data. I've had a close friend pulled into secondary and grilled about why he needed such a passport, where else he visited, etc. Then again, when your US passport has extra pages added at the US embassy in the UAE and is full of visas from places like Lebanon, Kuwait, Egypt (not a problem in isolation), the UAE (residence visa), Oman, Saudi, etc., perhaps you are better with the disposable passport.

If only the Israeli stamp wasn't so descript.

marineking

Hello guys,

Was hoping if someone could answer this for me or have some type of previous experience with this issue.

I am currently a dual citizen for USA and S. Korea. I understand I am supposed to leave and re-enter the USA with my USA passport.

Unfortunately, I was given wrong advice by someone, and I left the USA with my Korean Passport. Now when I head back into the USA, I understand I should be using my USA passport to enter, but won't they question me about how I am re-entering in the USA, when "technically" under their system, I never left the country since I didn't use my USA passport on my initial flight out?

I plan on calling customs first thing in the morning, but was seeing if anyone knew anything about this type of situation.

SeriouslyLost

Just re-enter on the US passport. 50/50 chance they ask anything. If they do you can either try to explain that you made a mistake or you could just claim that you thought you left on the US passport but you showed your Korean one to the check in agent as well and they must have put the wrong info into the system opps-so-sorry-they-caused-this-problem.

Personally, I'd go for option two as it's more likely to work and less likely to cause US CBP to screw you around as they are wont to do when given the chance. "Trying to explain" is worst possible thing to do if you haven't been asked yet. YMMV, obviously.

rubesl

The U.S. does not have exit controls - showing your passport (Korean) to the airline is so they know you can legally enter the country you are going to, otherwise the airline can be fined if you are refused entry. If you are a U.S. passport holder, even if you hold dual citizenship, you MUST enter the U.S. on your U.S. passport.

bankops

Get a travel paper from the US Embassy is probably the least hassle way to sort it out. You could try and re-enter on your Korean passport, but you would need to have ESTA and you still run the risk of being flagged in the system as overstaying your visa waiver period at a later date.

Silver Fox

You will be fine next time you enter. Do nothing in the meantime. Chances are you will raise a flag where one does not need to be raised.

Fredd

That has been my experience as well. The U.S. does not forbid dual citizenship and the only rule I know of is to use one's U.S. passport when entering the U.S.

I even know of a person who entered at a land crossing using the foreign passport, explaining that the U.S. passport had been accidentally left at home, and was waved through. I'm guessing that would probably be up to the individual discretion of the agent, however.

Dovster

I always, as the law requires, enter the US on my American passport.

When I leave, the check in agent usually asks to see my Israeli passport.

I have never had any problem upon re-entry.

GUWonder

Isn't the most commonly referred to law that asserts a requirement for US citizens to enter the US on a US passport also the very law that asserts a requirement for US citizens to exit the US on a US passport? Yes.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1185

The applicability and power of that often referred to law is rather limited, although neither DHS nor State are willing to highlight the full extent of how its applicability and power is limited under law; its applicability and power is more a function of extralegal, administrative action taken by DHS than of DOJ action in court against a US citizen entering or exiting the country with or without a US passport unless the US citizen has been prohibited by court order or some other law.

The US does have exit controls, however, they don't operate in the way they do in many other parts of the world with physical, fixed exit passport control checkpoints prior to exiting the country (at least by air on a common carrier). We do have electronic exit control checks to a rather large extent when it comes to flights out of the US on common carriers; we also have some gate-area checks for various purposes.

The CBP employees have no legal right to deny admission to a person who is recognized as a US citizen, passport or not; however CBP employees do exercise discretion on whether or not to send such a recognized US citizen, passport or not, to secondary to validate identity and/or citizenship or to otherwise hassle the person/party for complicating matters and/or being in a somewhat more-than-usual complicated situation.

Dovster

Fine, but how does someone actually leave the country on his American passport?

Perhaps it suffices that my passport information was given to Delta when I made the reservation (or, in the case of frequent flyers, is in our records).

I certainly have my American passport with me when I leave the US and perhaps that is enough -- even though nobody asks to see it.

GUWonder

There is a reason why my previous post included the following:

It usually helps to present the US passport when a US government employee -- in person or on a US government form -- asks a US citizen for their passport/passport details. That is what is most commonly suggested for those in your kind of circumstances. Unless you are a US citizen using a non-US passport to try to abscond from the US or otherwise violating a law with explicitly stipulated penalties, not much to worry about 8 USC 1185(b).

Unless you get a CBP gate-area/jet-bridge check just prior to your international flight from the US, it's highly unlikely that any CBP employee will insist on seeing your passport(s) when departing the US. The chances of even such CBP employee making a fuss about 8 USC 1185(b) even if you only provided non-US passport details to the airline when departing the US is highly unlikely as long as you show your US passport to the CBP employees doing those checks. The chances of the DOJ making a fuss over you doing what you do with your passports on departure from the US? I'd bet on them being way lower than the chances of being struck and killed by lightning.

CKDGM

Technically, 8 USC 1185(b) says "it shall be unlawful for any citizen of the United States to depart from or enter, or attempt to depart from or enter, the United States unless he bears a valid United States passport" (emphasis added).

I don't see a definition of "bears" in that portion of 8 USC, so the common meaning of "carries" should apply; if you have it with you (and, presumably, show it to CBP upon request) when departing the US you would seem to be in compliance whether or not it was the passport you showed the airline at check-in.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer, and I'm certainly not your lawyer.

GUWonder

Sounds reasonable on the face of it (before getting into all the "exceptions" to that clause which aren't really exceptions). However, then what to make of the situation where a dual citizen of the US with a US and foreign passport in possession merely presents their non-US passport when dealing directly with CBP to enter or exit the country? The word has the same meaning in both contexts, that of exiting the US and that of entering the US.

bruceba

Best advice by Silver Fox.
You will be fine, the sky is not falling.

mkt

Get an ESTA to get you on the plane, once you're in the US, explain to immigration. You'll be secondaried, questioned, but you'll be let in without problem.

Plan on a long layover if you are connecting.

I've done this returning from the British Virgin Islands.