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Thread: UK /US passports

  1. #1
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    Default UK /US passports

    Hi,

    Travelling to UK in 2013 with both kiddies (6/7). We all have US passports with our PR stamped in them but are all entitled to UK passports. (Hubby and I were born there) Is it worth getting new UK passports to use to enter UK? I know that as a US citizen you do not need a visa to visit UK.

    Thanks.


  2. #2
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    For sure you're ENTITLED to visit the UK on your US passports. I suppose you MIGHT have a slightly faster passage through immigration on UK ones, but even the homecoming UK citizens' queue is usually pretty lengthy - up to you whether the outlay is worth the chance of a marginally shorter wait.

  3. #3
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    Legally, you have to travel on the same passport for the duration of your travel, so, if you depart NZ using your UK passport, you are supposed to re-enter on that passport... Unless you intend to pay to transfer your PR to your UK passport, what's the point??

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by G-Mo View Post
    Legally, you have to travel on the same passport for the duration of your travel, so, if you depart NZ using your UK passport, you are supposed to re-enter on that passport... Unless you intend to pay to transfer your PR to your UK passport, what's the point??
    Not sure whose laws you are referring to. I have travelled extensively using two passposts for different countries (I can legally carry three different country passports) and have always just grabbed whatever passport was quickest to hand or was for the country I was entering. Not once did I have a problem, except in Israel, where they have a problem with everything and everyone. I have since stopped carrying multiple passports as the $£ cost of maintaining them every 5 years (in some cases) is not worth it.

  5. #5
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    You got lucky.

    You are supposed to depart and return on the same passport. I was in Peru with an Argentinian couple who live and work in the US and have US passports, but flew in to Peru on their Argentinian ones because they didn't have to pay... When they flew back to the US, they were put on a plane back to Peru because they hasn't exited on their US passports.

    My wife is a travel agent and visa specialist, and most people have no clue, but it can get you in serious trouble.

  6. #6
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    When I was in India, there was a rep there for one of the tour companies, Australian, who carried both Australian and UK passports, and used whichever was advantageous for entering in and out of different countries... He entered Nepal on his Oz passport and tried to re-enter India with his UK and was detained for a little over 24-hours and fined.

    (I think it was Nepal, otherwise it was Bangladesh.)

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by G-Mo View Post
    Legally, you have to travel on the same passport for the duration of your travel,
    Never come across that one. Whose law would that be? I mean, which country?

    As I've said on other threads of this nature here, we always enter a country with that passport if we are citizens. We do tend to leave the country with the same one, too, but doesn't necessarily have to be that way. I have, for example, entered Germany on a German passport and left it on a UK one. That didn't work with the NZ one, though, so the children entered on a German one and we tried to leave on the NZ one, that didn't work.

    Within the EU, you can obviously travel all over the place, and end up in completely different countries to the one you entered Europe via, without anyone ever checking your passport. I don't think there is 'a' law that governs this across countries.

    Daniela

  8. #8
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    A little off original post but does anyone know if you travel back to the UK with one of you (child) on a NZ passport (rest on UK) can you still go through the UK line or do we all have to go through the other line?

  9. #9
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    Cut and paste job:

    From the US State Dept: Most U.S. citizens, including dual nationals, must use a U.S. passport to enter and leave the United States. Dual nationals may also be required by the foreign country to use its passport to enter and leave that country.

    From the Australian Citizenship Dept: As an Australian citizen you must always leave and enter Australia on an Australian passport. If you also have a passport from another country you can use that for travel once you have left Australia.

    From the NZ Immigration: NZ Citizen travelling on a foreign passport

    As a NZ Citizen, you may have dual (or more) citizenships and hold valid passports for more than one country.
    You can travel on any valid passport, however to re-enter NZ as a citizen of NZ, you must either

    • show a valid NZ passport at the border, or
    • have a valid Returning Residents Visa in your other passport (issued prior to 29 November 2010); or
    • have an Endorsement indicating NZ Citizenship in your foreign passport.

    If you do not have any of these documents at the border, you will be assessed as a citizen of the country of your other passport, not as a NZ citizen, and you will be required to meet the visitor entry requirements (these may include having a return ticket, and/or having a temporary entry visa in your passport) of that country.
    If visitor entry requirements are not met, it may result in you being refused entry to NZ. To prevent this, make sure you have organised your entry documentation prior to your travel, as per the first paragraph.

    This answer was last updated on 30 July, 2012.

    It doesn't appear that the UK has a similar requirement.

    Perhaps it's the airlines that prefer one to travel on one passport but since various countries require their citizens to enter and leave under that nations' passport, it seems it would be impossible to enforce.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Georgebulldog View Post
    A little off original post but does anyone know if you travel back to the UK with one of you (child) on a NZ passport (rest on UK) can you still go through the UK line or do we all have to go through the other line?
    No problem (although, sometimes the UK line is longer!)

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