"and a young American girl who wanted to travel for 2 weeks is gonna be punished"

There are many laws which are worth breaking once you apply simple rules of morality,consequence and context. Speeding for one, in view of the fact that the limits are based on the mechanical capabilities of cars from the late 1950s.

Visa regulations in today's context are not the sort of regulations that you would want to start abusing.

I arrived at JFK at the age of 19, at the end of my first year at Uni, to stay for 6 weeks with my BF's family... I was a pretty naive looking 19 year old. I had all the correct paperwork...I think that you needed a visa then. Immigration was a pretty unpleasant experience, having a name fired at me and asking if it meant anything to me, telling me not to get married while I was there, and I could hear other people having a worse time than me. Made me incredibly nervous. This was nearly 30 years ago.

I arrived at Prestwick airport at the age of 20 for a 3 week vacation. It was my first time to Europe, my first vacation without my parents, and my first ride in a plane. I was bombarded with questions at immigration, needed to show how much money I had in traveler's checks, show return ticket home, questioned about where I was going and what I was going to do and if I had a job at home. I was told not to try to find work. I was very nervous too!

Travelgourmet - Europeans have to pre-register their trips with ESTA and have to pay for the privilege of doing so. That to me is a form of visa.
US citizens do not have to do something similar to enter Europe.

I worry about the morals of someone like the OP, and what her affect her attitude has on her daughter. It's OK to break the law, because you're young and pretty and American?

Now excuse me, there is a violent jihadist at the door trying to convert me to Islam, and wanting me to take him to the hospital for free health care.

Hetismij : ESTA is free. How come you had to pay for it?
But I agree, now there is Secure Flight, Americans do not have retinal pictures taken when they enter Europe and European immigration officers are generally polite :-)

"I arrived at Prestwick airport at the age of 20"

Our local airport and I am sorry for your experience. I don't think that border officials have any concept that they are supposed to be the first smiling face that any traveller meets.

We arrived very late in Nassau last February. The band was playing (as always). The cruise ship flights from around the world had just landed and the queues were at least an hour. Our flight to Marsh Harbour left in 35 minutes - I asked a border guard if anything could be done. Just got ya mon. A minute later a border official appeared and escorted us through customs to the BahamasAir desk without checking our passports. Just got told to get a move on as they were boarding.

They may have crap security but they don't have a terrorism problem.

Pvoyageuse, ESTA is not free - you have to pay $14pp to register nowadays.

You're right! It's new (September 2010). I got mine last year and it was still free.

"and talking to the Italian consulate COST MONEY (last time they charged my daughter almost $10 for a phone consultation...............)".

Did you expect it to be free?

Info re ESTA charges http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10899968

To go back to the subject of two passports, if both passports have a visa waiver for the Schengen zone, it would indeed be possible to use the loophole of exiting the Schengen zone on the first passport and re-entering on the second passport. While this would be morally dubious, I do not see why it would not be perfectly legal.

Re 2 passports, it's definitely illegal - as the entry is for the person not the passport. Whether it is detectable is another question

"Hetismij : ESTA is free. How come you had to pay for it?"

It's not free, it costs $14

<i>Europeans have to pre-register their trips with ESTA and have to pay for the privilege of doing so. That to me is a form of visa.</i>

I presume that you complain as loudly about the Australian equivalent? You may consider it a visa, but the European governments do not consider either the ESTA nor the ETA as visas.

I also presume you object to the entry forms one must fill out to enter Singapore? Naturally, you also object to the forms US citizens must fill out to enter the UK? And your complaints are the same as when the ESTA was called the I94 form?

Charging for the ESTA is boneheaded, I will grant you, but I tend to view it as just another tax. I mean, the British government charges a coach passenger $70+ more in taxes than the US government charges on the ticket, so I would call it even.

"Worst case scenario for suspected overstaying upon departure: Questioning can take long so she misses her flight. Then there might be a fine, plus the obligation to book and pay a new ticket for the next available flight, at highest cost of course as it is last minute, and an entry in passport and Schengen data system that keeps her from entering Schengen again for several years."

Worst case scenario also involves being held in jail for a period of time while they decide what to fine you. The marked passport will make her a "person of interest" not just to Schengen people but to many other countries

I have a UK and CDN passport and just wanted to let you know that they are both in the international systems. I entered the USA on my UK passport in Oct 2010 and was questioned whether I have another passport (I didnt even mention my CDN passport to the officials). Of course I said yes, and they wanted all those details as well to see if they matched what was in the system. This was my first time entering the USA using my UK passport - so they were somehow able to link the two of mine without any info from me.

I'm sure there are all kinds of ways around these laws that can be used to accomplish what your daughter wants to do. The fact is there are rules in place - whether you agree with them, or whether you think they should apply to young American students is besides the point. They are what they are. The fact is that only your daughter can decide whether she wants to abide by the law and only your daughter that will be held responsible for the consequences. If she is seen to have broken the laws you can count on her passports (likely both of them if she has used both at some point) to be flagged in the international systems and that this will lead to intense scrutiny if/when she ever tries to enter the schengen area again.

Is it worth it - up to your daughter to decide if she wants to chance it. Me? I'd not play games with immigration authorities and play by the rules.

It took me more than 15 years to even get the same name on both of my passports (because my adoption was not recognized in Europe), so I was definitely two different people depending on which passport I was using.

TG - I have no problem with ESTA forms. Fine by me. I do object to be charged for them though when Europe doesn't make a similar charge.
I still filled in the I94 as well as ESTA last time I flew to the US (April 2009). And answered a million questions at the airport - most of which were identical to the ESTA/I94 forms. Then stood in a queue for well over an hour to be fingerprinted and photographed on arrival.

We didn't bother with the US this year.

<i>TG - I have no problem with ESTA forms. Fine by me. I do object to be charged for them though when Europe doesn't make a similar charge.</i>

Kind of. Sort of. The UK taxes on a business class flight can easily exceed $200. France also charges more in taxes than the US does. You'll excuse me if I am not overly moved by complaints about a once-every-two-years charge for $14. Doesn't mean I don't think it is stupid, but I think complaints about the cost lose sight of the big picture.

<i>Then stood in a queue for well over an hour to be fingerprinted and photographed on arrival.</i>

I've stood in queues that exceeded 1 hour when entering the UK on numerous occasions. The longest was an over 2 hour wait, which was especially annoying, as the flight from CPH was less than the wait time. On the plus side, our luggage was waiting by the time we made it through immigration. I've also been photographed in Thailand, Korea, and Japan, and fingerprinted in Japan.

My issue isn't that the US system isn't a bit of a PITA, but the way people misrepresent the US system as somehow uniquely burdensome, when it is not.

Lots of people have two passports, I don't think there's anything unusual or that would cause suspicion.

It's the mother's attitude on this thread of 'what the heck why can't my very special darling American daughter ignore the law and overstay a the legal 3-month entry limit since she's just a student kicking around europe having some fun?" THAT is what is weird here.

suze - exactly that is the point.