[Swissdiver]

[quote quote=932644]Question – whilst clearly there is a reason for a person to apply for 2 passports, can any one provide a comment as to whether its legal to enter a country on one passport and leave on another, especially as the second passport may be from another country?[/quote]

I can’t speak about the UK rules. But for Swiss citizens, we are not allowed to travel with both passports at the same time. The company requesting the second one commit to keep one in its safe.

[GivingupBA]

[quote quote=932644] …….can any one provide a comment as to whether its legal to enter a country on one passport and leave on another, especially as the second passport may be from another country?[/quote]

It’s hard to comment on that because you don’t specify the country and I guess countries may differ regarding this. However, I wouldn’t try it myself: because when I enter or leave places they always seem to do some kind of computer scan or check of my passport, which presumably might raise an alert/ question at immigration when I leave the country. And I don’t want that.

Therefore if for example I wanted to enter say country A on one passport and leave on another, I would check with the immigration of country A before I travelled as to whether they allow it. Just my 2p. worth.

[SimonS1]

[quote quote=932644]Question – whilst clearly there is a reason for a person to apply for 2 passports, can any one provide a comment as to whether its legal to enter a country on one passport and leave on another, especially as the second passport may be from another country?[/quote]

If 2 UK passports, for the UK it’s fine. I do it every trip, only because the chip on my main passport does not work.

If two different country passports then to my knowledge its legal to leave (say) US on one passport and enter (say)
UK on another.

I would not recommend using two passports to enter/leave one country. Even if legal, common sense suggests with entry/exit stamps it might create more trouble than its worth and trying to be clever might just cause problems.

[capetonianm]

I do know that at one time anyone who had a ZA passport was obliged to enter and leave the country using it. There were various different interpretations about how that worked in practice, when you returned from another country but didn’t have a visa/stamp in your passport to corroborate that.

On departure I suspect that it was only the airline who were concerned if you had the necessary documentation for them to board you, so they would ask for your foreign passport, whereas the ZA border people probably weren’t concerned when you left. They always seemed to be half asleep anyway, although I did once get threatened with a fine for a technical overstay.

[K1ngston]

[quote quote=932644]Question – whilst clearly there is a reason for a person to apply for 2 passports, can any one provide a comment as to whether its legal to enter a country on one passport and leave on another, especially as the second passport may be from another country?[/quote]

Martyn, I can only give you a practical response from a colleague who has an Australian and British passport! He recently had to renew his work visa on his Australian passport meaning he could not travel and tried to go out on his British passport and actually got into problems because of it. This was Malaysia but is consistent throughout Asia so I would guess you need to arrive and leave with the same passport into most countries ……

[DavidSmith2]

I would also fully endorse this approach. I am dealing with visas for a number of W African countries for visiting staff and it is always good to get a written clarifiaction from the relevant Embassy/High Commission.

Last week I few BA from LHR to Ghana. My ticket was booked on my normal UK passport but my Ghanaian visa is in my (valid) UN Passport. The BA check in staff were very concerned and the matter needed to be checked twice before they would issue my boarding pass and then let me board.

[GivingupBA]

[quote quote=933927]….My ticket was booked on my normal UK passport but my Ghanaian visa is in my (valid) UN Passport. The BA check in staff were very concerned and the matter needed to be checked twice before they would issue my boarding pass and then let me board.[/quote]

Yes, I’m not surprised they were concerned – is it not the case (I’m not sure about this) that if you had been refused entry to Ghana, BA would have had to fly you back and might also have been fined?

At HKG once, I had a one-way ticket from HKG to New Zealand (my plan was to buy an onward ticket after arrival), and the CX staff would not check me in for my flight to Auckland until I showed them an onward ticket (luckily I knew the rules about this and had booked an onward one-way flight from AKL and printed out the e-ticket – it was in my suitcase – which I never used and intended to, and did, cash in later). An almost identical thing happened to my wife last month checking in at HKG for a flight to Seoul (for which she was similarly prepared: she was allowed to board). Airlines naturally take these kinds of situation very seriously.

[DavidSmith2]

Yes, indeed. And I was not quibbling about the need to check at all – just underlining that BA, and many other airlines, are very hot on this nowadays, exactly because they would have to repatriate anyone denied entry. My only concern is that some staff seem very poorly trained on these issues. That was not the case this week, but I have had a few experiences with visas/passports where the staff seem to be unaware of (for example) which countries are members of the EU and what the visa requirements actually are for the country they are checking in.

I am also a little surprised that no one ever asks for yellow fever certificates for travel to countries where it is mandatory. But perhaps the liability of airlines in that situation does not apply in the same way as visas.

[GivingupBA]

[quote quote=933945]Yes, indeed. And I was not quibbling about the need to check at all…. staff seem very poorly trained on these issues…[/quote]

Yes, thanks and of course I know you are not quibbling, experiences like these are useful to others because it helps us all to travel well. (And it’s useful to hear that “BA, and many other airlines, are very hot on this nowadays”). Sorry to hear about “very poorly trained staff”, though.

[Johnnyg]

DavidSmith2

[quote quote=933945]I am also a little surprised that no one ever asks for yellow fever certificates for travel to countries where it is mandatory. But perhaps the liability of airlines in that situation does not apply in the same way as visas.[/quote]

On my visits to Sierra Leone last year I was asked to show my Yellow Fever cert at KLM check in at AMS and Lunghi, also by RAM in Casablanca and Lunghi. I was informed that I would not be allowed into the country if I had no proof. In addition before entering the terminal from the aircraft everyone had to wash and Sanitize their hands.

[Author]

Posts