Consular Assitance
 

Okay, so a weird, but quick question. I know if you are a dual citizen and enter one of your countries of citizenship you are not entitled to the consular protections of the other country. But what about if you enter a third country?

Here's my example.

J'ai un Aussie passport and a US passport.

If I enter Israel on my Aussie passport (stamps, etc.), will the US Embassy still provide me Consular Assistance if I need it? Will the Israelis give me access to the US Embassy if anything goes wrong? Or only to the Australian embassy?

Also, by the way, any advice on whether I'm better off entering Israel on my well-used Aussie passport which has lots of stamps from boring places as well as a few fun ones (China, Russia, South America), or on my completely empty (save for US stamps) US passport? The reason I ask is that I plan to travel to Dubai in a few months and want to recieve the least harassment in both places, so would appreciate recommendations on which passport to use where.

I don't think the consulate will check to see your stamps ;) . IIRC Israel is a country where you can request they not stamp your passport as they are aware that some countries will not permit you to enter with Israeli stamps. Dubai I believe *can* be one of those countries....

I don't understand what kind of harassment you are trying to avoid in Dubai. Just avoid getting the Israeli stamp in the passport and it won't make any difference for most people unless you are planning on landing into trouble.

FWIW or not worth, DXB immigration hasn't cared to check for Israeli stamps on many of our entries recently; and last month they even actively skipped over Israeli stamps in US and UK passports.

The UAE (Dubai) could care less if you use an Australian or US passport to enter. But the UAE establishment is more closely aligned with the US than with Australia; and influence of senior current and former US officials is greater in Dubia than current and former Australian officials' influence. US influence vis-a-vis Israel is greater too. So I guess that would mean use the US passport in both places and avoid getting the Israeli stamp out of an "abundance of caution" -- "caution" that's not even necessary for most when it comes to visiting or transiting Dubai.

1. If you request, when entering Israel, they will not stamp your passport, they will stamp a special piece of paper that you will have to keep with you until you depart.

2. Even with Israeli stamps DXB doesn't care as long as you have a US passport. Traveling on an Israeli passport is another story.

Israel is a free country. The US Embassy is located in the center of Tel Aviv, just on the sea shore and there isnt any kind of limited access to it, except the extra security. Show them your US passport and they will let you in. Israel will not limit your access in any way or kind.

If you wish to get services from any consulate in the west bank - there you might have limited access ... :D

I requested this at the passport control in TLV so that I wouldn't need to get another passport when I visit BEY next time. They did indeed stamp my passport after grilling me for an hour about my intent to visit TLV during the "war". :td:

In a more general sense, have those of you with multiple passports encountered any extra interrogation? I've been debating whether I can push back a US consulate visit for extra pages a bit by using a fresh passport. If, hypothetically, SIN basically fills up my US 48-pager and I present another passport with no stamps in it at HKG, the immigration officer will know I had to use some other document to get to that point. I just don't know whether anyone cares -- or, worse, if it's not permitted under the laws of some jurisdictions.

The only grilling I've gotten has been from USCBP at LHR when I checked in for my outbound to the US on a US passport and for my return to the UK on an Aussie passport (I had to because of Visa placement). They thoroughly inspected both passports and questioned me for a bit. No biggie. Otherwise, no issues. No questions from US immi about the fact that I have nearly no stamps in my US passport and the ones I have are only US stamps, and no questions from anybody else.

HKG hasn't generally cared if arriving with an empty passport. The US has a lot of people who enter back into the US with zero stamps in their passport and that's not what causes the issue.

My biggest issue is too many stamps and stamped pages .... but that can be a good thing sometimes too. ;)

My old passport has the Liechtenstein stamp on the first visa page. On two occassions, I've had to explain to the immigration office that Liechtenstein is a real country. :(

:D

I was there a few times earlier this year this too, but never managed to get a stamp. How did you get your Liechtenstein stamp?

It was a few years ago, on my old passport. I was in Zurich on business for a couple of weeks. My local friends and I took a train and then a local bus to Liechtenstin.

IIRC, we went to the national tourist office in "downtown" Vaduz. They do charge a small fee for this. There were quite a few people(all toursits, obviously) waiting in line to get their passports stamped!(from a country that has no immigration control!) :)

I was quite impressed with lady who stamped my passport. She did it very carefully and the stamp was perfectly centered on the visa page, not even off by one degree. It was the "most beautiful" stamp in my old passport... unlike how the real immigration officers who put stamps all over my passport, some even upside-down...:D

Edit: Google is your friend... I did a little search for you, here are some photos you may be interested in:

http://www.hobotraveler.com/181_61_l...ortstamp.shtml

Thanks. I've seen the stamps in other's passports in more recent years but don't have one myself. I had thought tourists going there were going there to send stamps or get postmarks noting that they were in Liechtenstein. I didn't realize people also go there to line up to get passport stamps. :o