LisaValencia

I have citizenship in and passports from the U.S. and Canada. My question involves traveling on one passport or the other. I plan to go to Costa Rica on my U.S. passport but I may want to go to Cuba, for which I will need my Canadian passport. Will this cause problems going from one country to the other? What disadvantages and advantages might I have with two passports and how could I best use this? Thank you.

thursdaysd

I have US and UK citizenship and live in the US. I have to leave and re-enter the US on my US passport, but I generally use my UK passport for the rest of the trip. If I'm going to Europe it obviously makes sense to use the UK passport, and for a number of other countries the visas are cheaper. However, I've never tried changing passports in the middle of a trip. Is there any special reason for using your US passport rather than the Canadian for Costa Rica?

LisaValencia

Thank you, Thursdaysd. I could use my Canadian passport when I go to Costa Rica from the U.S. I guess. I do not have a Canadian address and so my thought was that it might confuse the officials - a person with a U.S. address and a Canadian passport.

I don't remember if, when you enter a new country,does the one you are leaving stamps the passport or not? If I changed passports in the middle of a trip would the border agent ask how I got to the country I was leaving without having my passport stamped?

thursdaysd

" I don't remember if, when you enter a new country,does the one you are leaving stamps the passport or not?" Impossible to generalize - depends on the passport and the country, but I would expect that if you're stamped in you would be stamped out.

"If I changed passports in the middle of a trip would the border agent ask how I got to the country I was leaving without having my passport stamped?" Quite possibly, which is why I haven't tried it. However, when I was leaving Australia for the US I gave my US passport when I checked in, and was asked how I had entered the country. I had thought the airline would be concerned about how I was getting into the US, but they also wanted the entrance and exit to match.

I would think that there are plenty of people with Canadian passports and US addresses. Before I became a US citizen I traveled extensively with a UK passport and a US address with no problems.

dfr4848

I don't have a firm answer for you, but think whether your passport has or has not been stamped may not make much difference these days. Many countries these days scan the passports using the bar code on them. So the record of your entry or exit is in "the data base". {I'm not sure agents even pay attention to stamps these days} I don't know how much different governments share this data base info, but these days it might be scary to find out how much they do.

If you break the cycle or tracking and use a different passport during your trip, there may be travel gaps in one of the passports. This may raise some red flags and you might get to visit those fun people who deal with these sort of things.

If you use your US passport from US to and from Costa Rica, then use your Canadian passport Costa Rica - Cuba - back to Costa Rica in between, this may not be an issue. But I'm not sure, just giving you some thoughts on this. May not be worth it to find out.

FWIW, all of our friends who have dual citizenship use just one passport for each trip.

LisaValencia

Thank you. That is something to think about. The use of the bar code would explain why my passport has not been stamped at the airport but always at the land border. The technology at the international airport is probably more advanced.

And that "blank space" on the passport is worth considering, too. I want to be as innocuous as possible in this type of situation. I think I'll do as your friends do and only use one per trip.

Is it illegal to have two passports?
And would that apply to all countries?

janisj

It is OK to have 2 passports and lots of people have dual citizenship/passports. Carrying two passports on the same trip is OK too.

But - the ban against travel to Cuba really has nothing to do w/ which passport one uses. It is legal for most Americans to travel to Cuba. It is illegal for them to spend any money there.

Even if you are a Canadian citizen, the "American citizen" side of you really can't legally visit Cuba unless you get on an authorized/licensed tour - like an educational seminar or w/ a humanitarian org.

janisj

Oh - and if one is Cuban-American, then they can travel legally.

thursdaysd

"Oh - and if one is Cuban-American, then they can travel legally. " Only within strict limits!

From travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1097.html

"OFAC will issue specific licenses authorizing travel-related transactions incident to one visit lasting no more than 14 days to immediate family members who are nationals of Cuba per three-year period. For those who emigrated to the United States from Cuba, and have not since that time visited a family member in Cuba, the three-year period will be counted from the date they left Cuba. For all others, the three-year period will be counted from the date they last left Cuba pursuant to the pre-existing family visit general license, or from the date their family visit specific license was issued."

anita63

I'm curious as to which half will go to Cuba? Top or bottom?

janisj

thursdaysd: I didn't mean Cuban-Americans can automatically travel to Cuba. I added that as an afterthought since that is just another way someone could travel there legally. But I seriously doubt the OP is Cuban-American or she would already know how that works . . . . . .

librarygirrrl

All my family have British (EU) and Canadian passports.

However one year my parents decided to enter N. Ireland using their British passport (since the EU line was much shorter)When they re-entered Canada using their Canadian passports, officials were confused and unhappy since there were no entry stamps for N. Ireland on the Canadian Passport. Officials didn't like not knowing where exactly they'd been visiting.

I use my Canadian passport to cross the Atlantic and then use my EU one internally in Europe since usually the line-ups at entry points (if there are any) are shorter.

Betweentwobridges

In CR it is a good idea to carry a copy of your passport and entry stamp with you at all times. If you are stopped by the police and do not have your passport or a copy with your entry date or are beyond 90 days from your entry date it can cost you money. The Canadian passport would be the one you would want to use to visit Cuba.

shangrila

I have dual citizenship in US and Hungary. I live in the US. In June this year when we traveled to HU the HU customs asked if I have dual citizenship. I said yes, he said I should enter the HU on my HU passport, it would be easier on me. I have also changed in the middle of trips. Leaving US on US pp. Arrive into HU on USpp. Leave HU on my HUpp. and visit Tunisia on my HU pp.

Good luck hope you figure it out.