Carolinian

My wife is a citizen of three different countries, all of which allow multiple citizenship, including the US. She has passports from two of them. There is nothing at all wrong or illegal about that.

An old girlfriend also was a citizen of three countries and had passports from all three. She had her original South African citizenship, plus a Greek citizenship obtained through her father and a Dutch citizenship obtained through her mother.

Members of parliament in the country where I work all have diplomatic passports as well as regular personal passports. If they cease to be members of parliament, they will lose their diplomatic passports, so why should they have to give up their personal passport and pay a new fee for a new one if they cease to have the diplomatic passports?

There are lots of legitimate reasons to have more than one passport.

RNE

Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution:
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

New Canadian Citizenship Law:
A new law amending the Citizenship Act came into effect on April 17, 2009. Among other things, the law gives citizenship to some people who have never been citizens. This includes people who:

1. were born outside Canada on or after January 1, 1947
2. are in the first generation born abroad and
3. were born to a Canadian citizen.

My mother was a Canadian and my father an American. I am a natural born citizen of the United States. And, by virtue of my mother's citizenship, I am also a Canadian citizen. I have a US passport. I don't have a Canadian passport, merely because I don't want to pay the $75 application fees. Otherwise, I would have two passports, quite legally. FWIW, a passport is not necessary to be a citizen of a country. I am a Canadian citizen because Canadian law says I am.

UK Traveler

Depending on one's job, you may have two passports here in the US. My SO has his personal passport and his US government issued passport. Can't use personal for work or work passport for personal.

FlyingHoustonian

Ditto, I have a blue tourist US passport and maroon Official US Passport, and my Italian tourist passport due to my dual citzenship. Fairly common and not illegal. All current US issued passports are linked anyway.

Ciao,
FH

MoreMilesPlease

You may find that, in your example, you need to apply for your Canadian citizenship to be granted. Just showing up in Canada and say you're Canadian probably won't cut it. Canada will require that you provide proof of being eligible for its citizenship before giving you the official rights of a citizen.

You are correct that a passport is not a requirement for being a citizen of a country. But there are official documents that you need to have that show you are indeed a legal and recognized citizen.

JTPictureman

I have two, both US passports. I had to apply for a visa to India and China at the same time I needed to travel to South America. The passport office gave me a second good for two years.

RNE

Why pick on Canada? Showing up in ANY country without documents is problematic.

No need to worry; I don't plan to stroll into Parliament and demand the keys to the country.

MoreMilesPlease

You gave a specific example and I responded to your post. I wasn't picking on Canada I was simply responding to specifics you outlined. You said you had Canadian citizenship by virtue of birth but gave no indication that you had ever applied for the citizenship or had any legal recognition of your assertion of citizenship.

My point was that just because you may qualify for citizenship, you still have to go through the legal process to gain the citizenship. Same as in other countries, does that make you feel better?

soitgoes

If you have citizenship, you have citizenship. Applying for a passport or other form of citizenship recognition is very different than applying for citizenship/naturalization.

Something like 3/4 of US citizens do not have passports. They show citizenship, usually, with birth certificates. Not having a passport doesn't make them non-citizens.

MoreMilesPlease

Absolutely correct.

And the poster I was responding to said they had automatic Canadian citizenship by one parent but held a US passport. If a person has never resided in the country and does not hold a birth certificate from that country, they may still qualify for citizenship. However, there would be official paperwork granting official recognition of that citizenship. Just saying you qualify for citizenship does not mean you hold that citizenship.

I know many people who legally qualify for Irish citizenship, have never lived there, and have no desire to claim the right of citizenship. I doubt the Irish government considers these foreign nationals with no official application for Irish citizenship as citizens. Probably he same goes for most countries under these circumstances.

RNE

At best, your point is inane because it applies to all countries. It's like saying, "don't forget to put your pants on in Canada."

At worst, your dependent clause (above) belies your ignorance. You say, "My point was that just because you may qualify for citizenship, you still have to go through the legal process to gain the citizenship. [emphasis added]"

FALSE. Parliament and the law are clear on this point. I AM a citizen of Canada upon the passage of that law, because I meet the tests therein. I "gained citizenship" at that point, not after any "process", as you claim.

Now, back to the topic you hijacked: passports. Yes, of course documenting one's citizenship is a typical prerequisite to getting a passport. (My parents had to do that for me when I was 12.) Of course Canadian passports are not handed out on the streets like shopping coupons. Why do I waste my time?

erik123

It goes further than that - many countries (e.g. in the Middle East) will consider you a citizen (e.g. for conscription) even if you have never started the process of legalizing that citizenship.

sarahjintexas

I'm an Australian by birth. I married a US citizen. I have lived in the US for 10 years and am now getting US citizenship. My Aussie passport is in my maiden name. My US passport will be in my married name. The Australian govt makes it a PITA to change my name on my passport to my married name.
I actually came across this thread because I was wondering if I booked tickets which name I should use. I am very grateful I didn't have to deal with the OP on the phone....

kebosabi

Sometimes visa requirements are much more relaxed than others. Take for example a person with both US and Japanese citizenship going to China.

If he/she wishes to enter China as an American citizen, he/she needs to pay $140 for a single-entry 30-day visa. Everytime he/she wants to come back to China, he/she needs to pay $140 again and again.

If he/she wishes to enter China as a Japanese citizen, he/she pays nothing as Japanese citizens are granted entry into China visa-free for up to 15 days, which can easily be reset by just going to Hong Kong or Macau and coming back the same day.

$140 vs zero, you do the math.

jpatokal

I recently met a guy who has four (4) passports, all in the same name and from the same country. And he needs them all: on an average trip, he carries two with him, while the others are back at HQ collecting all the visas he needs for his next trip...