Youngtraveldude

JJeffrey

If you're moving to the Netherlands then why not just use your Dutch passport for both this time? The fact that it's a one-way booking shouldn't have any bearing on anything. In any event this is the AA forum, this type of question will be much better answered over in one of the travel forums.

AlwaysAisle

One thing I can think of is having one way ticket to Netherland and departing the U.S. using the U.S. passport, TIMTIC data base AA has may indicate you need ongoing or return ticket from Netherland.

Departing the U.S. using Dutch passport with one way ticket to Netherland, you should not have that problem.

jordyn

Because the US requires that you enter and leave on your US passport if you have one. (Although...metaphysical question: what does it mean "to leave the US" since there's no exit immigration controls? But I always check in for ex-US flights with my US passport based on this requirement.)

I think it should work fine to check in on your US passport and then hand over your Dutch passport to the immigration authorities when you land. Having said that, AlwaysAisle is correct that AA may not let you check in this way on your US passport. In theory AA should be able to take note of your Dutch passport to allow you to check in while still keeping your US passport on record, but about 80% of the time in this scenario the AAgent doesn't know how and just replaces the US passport data with the other.

Youngtraveldude

Thanks both! Super helpful.

JJeffrey

I've flown one-way tickets to Europe and Asia countless times on my US passport and never had to show any kind of proof of return or onward ticket, etc.

C46

If you travel TO the country, you should use the document of that country, for that journey.

Going to the Netherlands, use the Dutch passport the whole time - going to the U.S., use the U.S. passport.

If using the U.S. document to Europe, the agents might inquire about your intended period of stay.

Nuhusky

Fly each routing on a single passport. I have dual soon to be triple citizenship and got myself into trouble in Australia. Entered on my U.K. passport and left on my Canadian. Immigration couldn’t find me in the system, not a big deal but delayed me checking into my flight by about 15 min while they sorted things out

george 3

My son with US citizenship resided in Brazil for five years under their form of "green card" program. When he traveled to Sao Paulo from New York, he used his US passport with Brazilian residency card. He marked on his reservation that he was a resident of Brazil so both were required. Upon his arrival in Brazil he showed both at their immigration. You might consider showing both of your passports upon arrival in Amsterdam (?) just to be safe.

dantheflyingman

My wife is a dual American-Irish citizen. Our strategy for flights to and from the EU is:
On flights from US -> EU: check in for the flight on the US side with her US passport; use Irish passport to clear immigration on the EU side
On flights from EU -> US: check in for the flight on the EU side with her US passport; use Irish passport to clear exit immigration on the EU side; use US passport to clear immigration on the US side

It's possible TIMATIC will barf up something about no return ticket if you check in with your US passport. If that happens, just check in with your Dutch passport.

aztimm

Since this isn't an AA question, I'll move over to the Travel Safety & Security forum.


aztimm

thetaxman

Agreed. Always use US outbound and inbound. I have US/UK dual nationality and have never had an issue arriving into the UK on my UK passport having never logged it into any airline API system. When its US to Not 2nd country of citizenship, I use whatever works best from an immigration perspective at the second location.

Often1

Always best to check the specific journey. In this case, there is no reason to worry about using either.

1. The US does not have an exit immigration / passport control barrier. Air carriers check documents solely to assure that the passenger has the documents necessary for arrival because the carriers are subject to large fines and returning the undocumented passenger if they louse up.
2. A check of TIMATIC reflects that with a one-way ticket US-Netherlands on a US passport, there is no validity requirement. On a Dutch passport it goes without saying that there is no such requirement.

Thus, OP's son can "travel on" (whatever that means) either passport on departure and should use his Dutch document on arrival.

Nominal requirements of USN's traveling on US passports have not been enforced for 30+ years.

1P

Never ever show both passports together. It's an open invitation, at best, to further investigation by an officious customs agent who may want to know whether you are entitled to hold both, at worst, to confiscation of one or even both passports. In these days of terrorism and fake passports, anything that arouses suspicion will result in trouble for you.

The rule is: always show the passport of the country you are flying to. This is especially important when flying to the US. Then you always need to present your US passport when leaving the other country since the airline will need to know that you have permission to enter the US.

But when flying from the US you don't need to show that you have US citizenship. You can, and if it bothers you, then by all means show your US passport when leaving the US, but there is no actual necessity to do this. At present, the US records documentation of everyone entering the country. It does not record documentation of those who leave, so when you show a passport on leaving the US all you are doing is proving to the airline that you can travel internationally on some form of passport, not telling the US government that you are out of the country. (The only people who want to know that are the IRS if it's for any length of time.) That's why, when you enter the US, if you see an agent they will ask you how long you have been away since they do not have that information. In your case, since you are moving to the Netherlands, the least problematic thing to do when visiting the US is to tell them how long you have been away and say that you have a temporary posting overseas.

The only exception to the above would be if you were flying from the US to a country where US or Dutch citizens required a visa to enter that country.

mvoight

It does happen on rare occasion. I was asked about it at LHR once when I told them I was staying one day.