Which Passport to Use When Traveling Internationally?

March 30, 2024 8:07 AM

My spouse is a dual citizen, US/Canada. He's been American his whole life and lived in the US his whole life. He recently established that he is also Canadian and has been by birth. He now has a Canadian Certificate of Citizenship and a Canadian passport, in addition to his US passport.

Now we are taking a 2 week trip from our home in the US to Canada (flying). We can't figure out whether he should carry both passports, declare dual citizenship at the borders, etc. I'm hoping some of you have lots of experience in this area, and can answer this question. Thank you!

posted by happy_cat to Travel & Transportation (16 answers total)

Best answer: I'm dual citizen, and I use the US passport for entering the US and the Canadian passport for entering Canada. So yes, carry both.

(They don't really care that you're dual citizen, but they do care that you're a citizen of the country you're entering)
posted by elizabot at 8:22 AM on March 30 [17 favorites]

Yes, as elizabot said, carry both passports and when you enter each country use their passport. I accidentally used my Canadian passport to enter the US and the US agent was extremely unhappy about that (me being a US resident).

For many years I just had a US passport and flew in and out of Canada for visits with no problem, but I recently re-upped my Canadian passport and very much enjoy the savoir faire of using both.

You don't have to declare yourself as dual citizen.
posted by nanook at 8:38 AM on March 30 [1 favorite]

US citizens need to "enter and leave" the US with their US passport. I've never met anyone who knew what "leave" means in the absence of exit controls.

I'm a UK/US dual citizen living in the US. I tell the airline I'm a US citizen and enter my destination country with the more convenient passport. In most cases, this is the US passport (removing the risk of a computer puking), with the exceptions being the UK (though my understanding is that I am not required to enter on the UK passport; other countries obviously vary), formerly the EU and countries that charge US citizens but not UK citizens for visas (the latter arises in South America, where several countries are in a tit-for-tat visa fee battle with the US and no one else). Every other dual citizen I know does the same (substitute UK as appropriate).
posted by hoyland at 8:58 AM on March 30

Best answer: 100% if you are a citizen of the country you are entering, then use that country's passport to go through immigration. My partner, who holds three (!) passports, posed this same question to different immigration officers of those three countries, and that was their answer.

Yes, this means your husband needs to carry both passports when going between the US and Canada, which is kind of annoying but such is the life of a dual citizen.
posted by tinydancer at 9:08 AM on March 30 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Agreed with everyone else. I exit US on proof of a US passport, and use my Canadian (why the fuck is it so expensive? And only 5 years) passport to enter Canada.
I officially became a Canadian citizen at around 5 years old (also lived in the States my entire life) and have a sweet ID card that looks fake (laminated).
posted by atomicstone at 9:10 AM on March 30 [1 favorite]

One of my former partners was a dual citizen. He traveled with both but only used the Canadian one since he was a Canadian resident, and still always always had trouble with customs officials understanding. Gave me rather a dim view of the profession, I have to admit. Dual citizenship is not that uncommon but, well, just ask for a supervisor right away when you see the confused panic set in.

Pro tip - use the one that corresponds to your residency.

We laugh that we may not weep...
posted by ananci at 10:04 AM on March 30

I am a dual citizen of the US/Canada. Since my US passport expired over the pandemic shutdown, I use my Canadian passport solely. I have never been questioned about this when I cross the border, coming or going. (I do present as a white woman, so YMMV.) I rarely travel to the US unless it is for family so I don't feel inclined to have a US passport, tbh. As far as I am concerned, I am a Canadian citizen as my life is here and I do not plan on ever living in the US again.

BUT -- if the other posters are advising to take both, go ahead. It never hurts!
posted by Kitteh at 10:07 AM on March 30

Best answer: I think one takeaway is that if you are a dual citizen of both the US and Canada, and are wanting to downsize to only one passport, it needs to be the passport of the country you permanently reside in. That way when you, say, visit Canada on a US passport, you are entering Canada as a visitor. And vice versa. Having both passports and using them appropriately means you are entering as a citizen of that country (not a visitor).
posted by nanook at 10:27 AM on March 30 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I have two very "good" passports. When travelling somewhere very far or that has, for example, dangerous weather or other circumstances, I use the same passport as my wife so that we may be evacuated together if it should come to it. Pooling back and forth in Europe and North America I use my other one usually as the date is longer and is my heart's nationality.
posted by Iteki at 10:35 AM on March 30 [1 favorite]

US/NZ dual citizen, enter the US on my US passport, enter NZ on my NZ passport. I generally travel to 3rd countries on the NZ passport as that's where I live. So far immigration staff have handled this all fine.

So yep, carry both, and it won't require any special declarations.
posted by inexorably_forward at 1:53 PM on March 30

Response by poster: Thanks everyone. He'll carry both. I especially appreciate atomicstone's response as I was also wondering which passport to show when boarding the plane, not only when arriving in the destination country. I wanted to do it the way you described, and appreciate knowing that this has worked for you.
posted by happy_cat at 2:41 PM on March 30 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I think one takeaway is that if you are a dual citizen of both the US and Canada, and are wanting to downsize to only one passport, it needs to be the passport of the country you permanently reside in.

If you are a dual citizen of both the U.S. and Canada, except in certain circumstances, you must enter the U.S. on your U.S. passport. Not being a resident of the U.S. isn't an automatic exception:

Except as otherwise provided by the President and subject to such limitations and exceptions as the President may authorize and prescribe, it shall be unlawful for any citizen of the United States to depart from or enter, or attempt to depart from or enter, the United States unless he bears a valid United States passport.

8 USC §1185(b)

If you are a U.S.-Canadian dual citizen carrying a U.S. passport, Canada does not strictly require a Canadian passport, although they say you do need proof of your Canadian citizenship.
posted by grouse at 8:39 PM on March 30 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Bear in mind that when you fly home from Canada to the US, in many (most?) Canadian airports you will go through US customs in that Canadian airport. Despite that it's in Canada, those are US immigration officials. Though I'm not American so I haven't done this, I believe that's when you would show the US passport. Whereas entering Canada, you would clear Canadian customs as usual on arrival.
posted by lookoutbelow at 9:49 PM on March 30 [1 favorite]

Just a note to add that post-pandemic the rules changed so that you actually cannot get on a flight into the US without a US passport if you are a US citizen. It used to be much more lax. I go into the US on my US passport, into Canada on my Canadian. When I travel internationally from Canada, I go on my Canadian passport but bring both, as it makes it easier to access consular services if needed.
posted by warriorqueen at 4:39 AM on March 31

Consider the situation where you return home without the passport of the nation where you reside. On what visa would you enter? Would you get a tourist visa? What would you do when it expires?

My whole family is dual US/UK, so this is how I explained the urgency of keeping both passports up-to-date.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 8:37 AM on March 31

I’m a dual citizen for the US and UK. In the past I entered the UK using my UK passport. Every time I tried to use the electronic gates, I would have it rejected and have to see one of the officers. I think the reason for that is the airline had my US passport on file. Recently I’ve used my US passport and had no problems with the electronic entry.

I also went to Ireland from the US when the UK was still in the EU. I used the UK passport to enter Ireland. When I was leaving Ireland to head back to the states and was going through immigration there, the US agent questioned how I got into Ireland with no record. I said I had dual citizenship and he understood, but it can be confusing.

I’m not going to flip my passport number just to use the right passport in the future.
posted by jvbthegolfer at 8:44 AM on March 31