mr-moose said:
I'm quite interested in this thread and the replies so far too. I have dual Australian/U.S. citizenship. I was born in Australia and have U.S. citizenship via my father who was born and raised there.
I have travelled to the U.S. a few times but only once using my U.S. passport (as I was seconded to work there for a few months and it was easier than getting a visa). Every other time, I've gone through on my Australian passport purely because I don't want to go to the short line while my wife is stuck in a huge slow moving queue with three kids.
If I go to the U.S. with my Australian passport, how do they know you have U.S citizenship, and even if you do, what if you don't have a current U.S. passport? Can they deny entry even if you have a valid visitors visa or whatever travel documents you require?
Beware: there is more than a little misinformation posted in this topic.
An American citizen cannot be denied entry into the U.S. . . . but of course, the traveler seeking entry needs to show he or she is a U.S. citizen to be entitled to entry.
Statements like "it is illegal for a U.S. citizen to enter the U.S. on a foreign passport" are nonsense. Literally nonsense. A person cannot "enter the U.S. on a passport."
On the other hand, it is a crime to make a misrepresentation to a border officer when seeking entry into the U.S. Whether or not presenting a foreign passport when entering the U.S. constitutes a misrepresentation of status would depend on all the particular circumstances involved in the transaction. While omissions can constitute misrepresentation, whether failing to disclose one's U.S. citizenship in any aspect of the entry process (ranging from custom declarations to any interview with border officers) constitutes an omission that is a misrepresentation will, again, depend on all the particular circumstances and the specific representations made in the context of the specific occasion.
It would be a misrepresentation (and illegal, a crime) to deny one is a U.S. citizen if in fact one is a U.S. citizen.
It would be a misrepresentation (and illegal, a crime) to be deliberately misleading about one's status.
However, merely presenting a foreign passport when a U.S. citizen is seeking entry ordinarily would not be misrepresentation. And entering the U.S. when given permission to enter would not be illegal.
U.S. policy is to recognize only the person's U.S. citizenship if the person is a U.S. citizen, no matter what other citizenship that person has.
As such, border officers can be very cranky with U.S. citizens who present a foreign passport or who do not have a current form of U.S. identification which meets the requirements for international travel. Admonitions are common. Lengthy referrals to secondary examinations, during which the traveler can be aggressively questioned and admonished, are not uncommon. It seems likely that a record of the warning is made and that subsequent instances can be more strained, sometimes to the level of outright hostility.
The problem is that border officers have wide, wide latitude, and travelers can be detained for a rather substantial period of time even if the reason is merely to verify the identity and status of the traveler. So, any American who has already been admonished that he or she needs to present their U.S. passport (or other authorized form of identification, such as the cheaper card the U.S. passport office will issue, or certain other forms of enhanced identification), could anticipate a rather ugly and fairly lengthy delay the next time.
But in the meantime, it is not a crime to present your Australian passport. Just be aware that at some point it is likely the U.S. authorities will connect your Australian passport with your identity as a U.S. citizen, and confront you about presenting your U.S. passport . . . how that will go, when it happens, can vary from a relatively modest warning to the possibility of a more or less hostile
interview. (Note: the latter can happen to just about anyone . . . a long time ago now, in the wake of near-hysteria at the borders following 9/11 and largely due to a mistaken impression an inexperienced PIL officer had, aggravated by an odd coincidence of circumstances, I personally experienced an incredibly hostile interrogation and detention for the purpose of verifying my identity, even though I presented a U.S. passport and other U.S. identification, including drivers license and a state issued professional identification card. And all a person can do in that situation is be patient, calm, and answer questions as accurately and reasonably as possible, and wait, and it can take a long while, a very long while. Remaining calm is not always easy when an armed officer is shouting at you with his face no more than a few cm away.)
By the way, there should be no reason why you cannot get in the same line as your spouse is limited to, and then in the interview/documents check present your U.S. passport. That is the better approach, and of course the one that U.S. policy mandates.
Clarifying a common misconception about dual citizenship: in many, perhaps most countries, there is no such thing as "dual citizenship."
In particular, many countries, the U.S. and Canada included, do not formally recognize "dual citizenship" as a status, and more or less do not formally recognize that their citizens have citizenship in any other country. I am using "recognize" in a formal sense here, comparable to how a person licensed to practice law in Ohio is not recognized as a lawyer in Canada even if an official in Canada sees that the individual is a lawyer in Ohio.
As such, both the U.S. and Canada recognize, in the sense that they acknowledge or see, that some of their citizens have citizenship in another country. But there is no formal recognition of that status. If a person is a U.S. citizen, the U.S. in particular will not recognize any right to the assistance another country might provide its citizens. For example, generally a Canadian detained by authorities in the U.S. has a right to the assistance of the Canadian embassy (Mahar was denied this, with complicity from CSIS, thus entitling him to a huge settlement for compensation). If, however, the Canadian is also a citizen of the U.S., there is no right to assistance from the Canadian embassy.
Moreover, there are many American laws which apply to American citizens no matter where in the world they are located, no matter what other citizenship they have. Like prohibitions governing travel to Cuba. It is illegal, subject to certain exceptions which were recently expanded, for a Canadian citizen to travel to Cuba if that person is also an American citizen (likelihood of actual enforcement is way down compared to a decade or more ago).
Basically, what it amounts to (somewhat oversimplifying things), is that while the U.S. acknowledges many of its citizens have citizenship in other countries, the U.S. will treat its citizens as if they are exclusively U.S. citizens.
