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I searched this forum but didn't quite find an answer for my questions. Here is the situation and I really appreciate everyone's help in advance.

I have two passports, calling it A and B. And I booked a flight from home country to Y, with a transit in X. I will stay one night in X so I will need a visa for X.

On my passport A, I have a visa for country X. I could get a visa on passport B as well but it's super time-consuming and it's hard to squeeze in another application between now and travel.

My passport A does not get me into country Y but my passport B allows me to get into Y without a visa.

So here is what I thought I could do:

  • Check in at home country with passport A to fly to country X.
  • Enter country X with passport A and visa.
  • Check-in at country X for flight to country Y with passport B.
  • Use passport A to clear immigration when exiting X because Immigration will check my visa and chop it.
  • Use passport B to enter country Y.
  • Direct flight from Y to home country so no more issue.

Does it make sense? A few things I'm not sure:

  • When I check-in at country X for flight to Y using passport B, will the check-in desk ask questions, since I don't have a visa on B to stay in X.
  • When I exit X with passport A, will immigration ask me for a visa to Country Y since I don't have country Y's visa on passport A? Can I show my passport B to immigration as well?

Thank you!

Ari Brodsky
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Fosthk
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    Is there anything, such as a country that does not allow dual nationality, preventing you from showing both passports on check-in? – Patricia Shanahan Oct 14 '17 at 03:38
  • If you leave the airport, it's not really transit. You fly home to X and then separately X to Y. – ugoren Oct 14 '17 at 10:13
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    @ugoren that depends on the definition of transit. In many countries, it simply means that your only reason for being in the country is that you're traveling between two other countries. In the US, transit can last up to 29 days. – phoog Oct 14 '17 at 15:21

1 Answers1

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Your suggested scenario is correct (my wife travels as a dual national each year) and there shouldn't be any issues.

When you check-in at country X for your flight to country Y it will most likely be assumed that you are in the country legally so they probably won't ask questions about the lack of a visa in passport B. Even if they did then you would just explain that you're a dual national and show the visa in passport A to prove you were visiting legally.

When leaving country X you pass through passport control on passport A since that is the passport you arrived on, and they may ask to see passport B for proof that you can legally enter country Y (unfortunately my wife can't remember definitively if she usually needs to show both passports, but probably you would only need to show passport B if asked).

The general rule to remember is to enter and exit a country with the same passport.

edit: It may be worth stating what the the countries are for absolute peace of mind. If any of the countries involved have issues with each other (e.g. Israel and Arab countries) then that can be trickier.

MrAndySweet
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