If you find yourself in that privy niche category of ‘multiple passport holder,’ you might face a conundrum each time you travel. Which passport should you whip out? And when?
If you’re like me, you’ve used the length of the cue to decide which national you should be in that moment. If the U.S. Passports cue is shorter, well then that’s the passport you use. Let’s face it, who wants to wait in a long cue of people? However, this logic doesn’t, unfortunately, always work.
An EU/US multi-national friend of mine insists: “Whichever country you’re in, use that passport.” She claims she was traveling to Holland once and was yelled at for using her US passport. However, when I followed her ‘country-centric’ rule and whipped out a British passport at Heathrow when departing for the US I too was reprimanded.
So, what to do? Using a common circumstance, if you are, for instance, an EU/US passport holder, leaving the US from, say JFK and heading to Paris for a living stint, use your US passport when departing JFK. Upon arrival at Charles de Gaulle, use your European Union passport. However, when you return to the US from Paris, at CDG Airport use our US Passport (otherwise you’ll be required to furnish a Visa to the agent).
So, to summarise:
- Step 1: US to EU in US Airport= U.S. passport
- Step 2: Arrival in EU at European Airport= EU passport
- Step 3: EU to US in European Airport= US passport
Therefore, the only foil or confusion in the country-centric model is Step 3–as you’ll want to avoid having to provide an officer with a Visa!
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