General Topic Heading- Second Passports
A reader wrote me: “Outside of the US nobody cares about dual nationality or people crossing their borders with multiple passports in their possession.”
Grandpa Answers:
That is true as far as it goes.
Even in the USA dual nationality and carrying two passports when entering and exiting the USA is legal & not a problem. However, a USA passport holder may enter or leave ONLY with his USA passport. He will have no trouble if caught carrying a second passport —
But ONLY if the facts on the 2 passports match.
You no longer lose USA citizenship just because you also hold another passport. Years ago the rule was otherwise, but it isn’t any longer. Many Americans have dual citizenship—legally.
However, in the case of a certain client of mine, — two passports were discovered in his pockets or luggage, There was a birthplace or birth-date conflict, and this was quickly observed by border control officials in either France or UK (two different cases!).
I can tell you for a fact that 2 clients who came to me with problems were actually held in custody for relatively long periods (I mean around 60 days!) until immigration sorted out what their “real identity was”…Fortunately, neither was a fugitive or known criminal ! So they were released with a warning and their passports with the misinformation were confiscated.
The problem could have been avoided, by following the simple rule, never travel with 2 conflicting identity papers of any sort- driving licenses, voter cards, i.d. even credit cards.
In the USA those chaps would have probably served 1 year prison terms for the crime (a crime only in the USA) of possessing or obtaining fraudulently obtained documents (of any kind)..
Why were they held in custody in France and England? Obviously with a birthplace or birth-date conflict at least one of the PPs was fraudulent.
You can’t change birth place or birth date without FRAUD.
Will you get caught and jailed? Maybe yes, if you carry conflicting ID documents around with you and get searched.
NAME CHANGE IS ANOTHER ISSUE. In English speaking countries, you can change your name legally & pretty easily. For any of my book buyers, I will gladly send the appropriate name change forms free upon request.
Name changes, legally done in a country where it is permitted, with a “deed poll” or equivalent will be fully recognized (and is NOT fraud) in places where you can’t change your name like Germany, France, Italy.
OK name changes can be done, if your name change in Italy is approved personally by the PRESIDENT…This happens every 30 years or so. In France, name changes can also be done if your parents name you “Kunnilingus DuPont” i.e. an obscene or “inappropriate” name. At any time thereafter, the misnamed kid can get a change. Otherwise NOT! Usually in France, all names must be chosen from a list of Christian saints unless there is a certification that the kid is not Christian. Then he can be named Mohammed, or Hu Flung Dung, etc.
Anyway if you disagree with any of the info above I would like to hear from you—with citations please…Remember I “Grandpa” am the guy who went to law school, and I am the guy who actually has had to get people out of deep doo-doo sometimes…I DO KNOW what has really happened with PP conflicts,
While some talented liars can dance their way out with a good cover story, it depends on the examining border officer. A hardnosed one will just have the guy with 2 conflicting birthplaces or dates thrown into the POKY.
One exception I have noted: If the person’s real birth date in the USA was 12/1/1950, & because of different ways of expressing this same number sometimes it gets reported as December 1st 1950, and sometimes European style as 12 January 1950. I won’t go into detail, but a date mistake like this is easily understood and not something that might cause a big problem.
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