Norri

US I agree with but I've never heard of any such rule for the UK.

MariaSF

I was told, when I got my German citizenship certificate, that I *must* use my German passport to enter the EU and my original Brazilian passport to enter Brazil. "You can't enter a country as foreigner and have citizenship of that country at the same time." or something to that effect...

Also, I had to sign a document recognizing that the fact that they allowed me to keep my Brazilian citizenship was an exception granted to me, but other people in the same situation may not be granted the same benefit.
By the way, this was just for show. This benefit is becoming the rule; I actually did not ask for it. When I applied for German citizenship, I checked the box saying I was willing to give up my original one. But the clerks asked something like "Really? You don't want to have anything to do with Brazil anymore? (wink wink)?". So I erased the check-mark and that was it, no questions asked.

AA_EXP09

Even for the EU there are exceptions (Romania and Poland have different visa rates, despite both of them being in Schengen, as well as the UK which is also a EU member state.)

User Name

As a general rule, that's nonsense. In your specific case, nonsense also (at least on the EU end. I have no knowledge of Brazilian rules).

In general, the states that mandate that you enter using their passport if you are also a citizen of that state are the exception, rather than the rule.

MariaSF

I'll relay your message to the immigration officer next time I visit my former hometown in Germany.

JohnMacWW

I wonder if these rules are actual regulations or laws in the United States (or in other countries) or just customs or internal policies put out by the department or agency and subject to the whim of the current head of that department etc?

User Name

Why?

User Name

Some US Bureau of Consular Affairs content on this:

http://travel.state.gov/content/trav...tionality.html

lhrsfo

My source was an Immigration Officer about three years ago. I used to have a "right to permanent abode" stamped in my US passport, and use that passport when returning from the US. On that occasion, I had just renewed my US passport and this officer refused to stamp the new one, advising that I should come and go on my UK passport. I didn't question it because it makes perfect sense.

lhrsfo

It's never been mentioned in over 100 trips. Not all countries stamp passports anyway.

JohnMacWW

Excellent, thanks.
So they wrote:
"U.S. national may acquire foreign nationality by marriage, or a person naturalized as a U.S. national may not lose the nationality of the country of birth. U.S. law does not mention dual nationality or require a person to choose one nationality or another."
Thus what they say is that, while "nationality" is defined in U.S. law (Section 101(a)(22) of the Immigrationand Nationality Act (INA) there is nothing in the law about dual or even multi-nationality.
They also say that:
"In order to lose U.S. nationality, the law requires that the person must apply for the foreign nationality voluntarily, by free choice, and with the intention to give up U.S. nationality."
They do not give a citation to that, but I suspect it is right there in the INA also. Their discussion goes on talk about using passports etc, most with a discussion around whether or how one could express an "intention to give up U.S. nationality." That is what you want to avoid, I guess, when you have two nationalities (unless of course you want to rid yourself of your U.S. nationality).
Now that my wife has her Italian citizenship I am applying for mine (since I am married to an Italian.). This gives me comfort that I can do so without surrendering my U.S. citizenship. We will maintain residence, accounts, etc in both countries and, it seems to me that by entering and exiting the U.S. on your U.S. passport you are helping to express your continuing committment to comply with U.S. laws and, well, be an American.

AA_EXP09

But they presumably share travel information with the USA/other nations (I know that using smartgate in Australia will send a message to the UK or SIS that you indeed entered Australia as your passport has been verified. In my case I have also entered Australia with an APEC card + foreign passport ineligible for smartgate. There was no stamp, though my passport was scanned and verified by the chip details in the passport.)
As well as the EU (i.e. I enter Spain. I travel to Germany. I go back to Spain and take a TATL. Passport stamps will only show I went to Spain.)

LoneTree

Romania is not in Schengen. Since neither is the UK, it seems normal that those two are considered separately.

Christopher

Some countries require their citizens to use the passport of that country to enter and leave the country. The US is one, Australia is another, I believe that South Africa is another.

Other countries don't have this rule - the UK is one of these, for example; it merely requires that the documentation used for entry is sufficient for the purpose of the trip.

As two which of two passports to use when travelling, the best thing to do is to think about the purpose of the passport inspection. If I had a US and an Italian passport and I was travelling to Italy and wanted to use my Italian passport to enter Italy, I'd check in at the US airport with my Italian passport, probably use my US passport when going through security (there are no emigration passport controls), show my Italian passport at the aeroplane door if asked for it, and enter Italy using my Italian passport. On a return trip, I'd check in using my US passport, present my Italian passport at the formal passport control, show my US passport at the plane door, and enter the US using my US passport.

As to the suggestion that the only reason for having two passports is to facilitate tax evasion, that is both ridiculous and insulting to the millions of people who legitimately hold two passports becase they have dual citizenship and who have no thought of tax evasion or anything else illegal.

Christopher

As a dual British-US citizen, you could still get a certificate of entitlement to the right of abode in your US passport, but not at the airport - you'd need to apply through a British embassy/consulate (or the passport office if in the UK). However, unlike previously, it is no longer possible to get the certificate if you also hold a British passport, since the two are certifying the same thing (from an "immigration" point of view).