Austrian passport and US entry
 

Hey chaps,

In the past I had always used my South African passport to enter the US but that requires obtaining a visa etc.

I do however have an Austrian passport. I was born in South Africa and my Austrian passport was issued here. It is MRP and was issued in 2002 and my photo has been glued AND NOT printed in. The photo and data is covered with a bit of hard, clear, sticky plastic.

It DOES NOT have a microchip. I have failed to get an answer I want out of the Americans and the Austrian consulate here assured me it is fine. I have no ties to Austria apart from some very distant relatives.

Is this passport legible to enter the US or should I just apply to the Americans for a new visa on my South African passport?

Microchip won't be an issue, the photo thing might.

I would contact the U.S. Embassy and see what they say.

Does it have a machine readable zone?

http://singapore.usembassy.gov/faq3.html

When you contact the US embassy all they do is email you links to their website.

Yes it does have a machine readable section.

That's all you need for the VWP. The glued photo is OK as far as CBP is concerned. (Also required is passport expiration at least 6 months beyond the end of your intended stay).

Is it not thou the highest rate of rejection is the inability to prove ties to the country the passport is being issued from?

I have been to Austria only 3 times in my life.

Meh. A simple explanation of your dual citizenship should suffice if the issue comes up-- and I sincerely doubt it will

You were born in SA but have dual citizenship??? How did that happen? Normally you have to give up one to get the other in Europe.

I know that it is possible since I have it too but it only applied to kids who were born abroad and had foreign passports. End of the 80's they were required to take up SA citizenship at age 12 if they were in the country prior to 1974. This was done to prevent the boys getting foreign passports to skip the draft back then. Did you by chance already have your foreign passport before and have to re take the SA citizenship?

I was born in the US and have a dual citizenship with a European country. I've never had to give up my citizenships, nor have I ever been given anything resembling a hard time when renewing my Euro passport.

Who told you that? I've never heard this... and I am someone whose passport and country of residence don't match either. Never had a problem entering the USA... never even got asked about it.

Austria doesn't forbid dual citizenship to those who acquired it by birth (i.e., having been born in a foreign country).

All of my stuff is legal, South Africa once tried to force everybody with dual citizenship to give it up. The embassies said to their respective nationals we won't tell if you don't. You had to get state permission and then the SA gov said OK you can have dual citizenship.

I know someone who has a . . .

• German Passport
• South-African Passport
• USA Passport

. . . and has no problems traveling.

Hi,

Here's a link to the Department of Homeland Security's list of requirements for the Visa Waiver Program:

http://www.dhs.gov/xtrvlsec/programs...mage_0021.shtm

Cheers,

GenevaFlyer

The german to SA passport is sort of legal. Normally you have to give up your german passport when taking up another citizen ship. However in the late 1980's the South African gov was seeing a large number of young men getting foreign passports by vertue of proxy. The British was really big at that if you had a grandparent from the UK you qualified. This mean't the boys could dodge the draft. As a result SA passed law requiring all children to take up SA citizenship at the of 12 even if they wer not born in the country. I was caught up in this mess too.

Since my german passport was my birthright (I was born in germany) ,and the german gov was not a part of this regulation, the german gov decided that I could not loose my birthright because another country was forcing its citizenship upon me. So one the morning of my 12th bithday I went to the german consulate handed over my german passport and was given a note saying as of now I was not in poscession of a german passport. I then went around the corner to the post office (they handled gov. business back then) handed over the note and picked up my new documents. They you went back to the german consulted to pick up your old passport and off you went. The kids with these docs did the following - within the country you used your SA docs leaving the country and outside you would always use your german / international docs.

While it was still unclear weather or not I would loose my birthright there were plans in the pipline for me to move to grandparents and finish school there if the german gov had decided that I would automatically loose my birthright. 10 year down the line I was glad to still have my german passport.

However the US bit is as far as I know only correct if the person was born in the US since a US citizen never looses his/her birthright even if they take up another citzenship - it is however from the german side you are required to give it up if you want to take up german citizenship. So your friend is possibly also one of these special cases.

Honestly? It's none of CBP's ....ing business what your ties to Austria are. If the US has a problem with you having dual South African and Austrian citizenship, then they need to take it up with the appropriate authorities in Austria and South Africa, not take it out on you by harassing you at the border.

South Korea forces kids that have dual citizenship to give up their other citizenship at age 18 to retain South Korean citizenship, probably for the same reason South Africa did the same. But it works against them because 99.9% of them gave up their South Korean citizenship and then proceed to leave the country (and some parents fly out to places like the US and Canada that grant jus solis citizenship to have kids) ;)

Given its relatively safe borders, why did South Africa even have a draft in the first place?

Back then it wasn't so quite. Angola, Mosambique just to name 2 hot spots of the time. SA was in the thick of things back then and thats why the draft was so important. Afterwards in the 90`s it was to try and curb the brain drain that was causing problems for the economy (although the propaganda would never fess up to that)

You have to remember back then conscription was limited to a small fraction of the population (i.e., white males) and the apartheid government had to sustain minority rule in the country.