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I am a UK national citizen and I am travelling for 5 months through Myanmar, India and finally Indonesia. I have 2 valid passports - an Irish and a UK passport. I have my Myanmar and India visa on my UK passport and my Indonesia visa on my Irish passport. I am at a loss of how I can exit India on my UK passport but enter Indonesia on my Irish passport and whether there is even a way of doing this?!

I will have entered India on my UK passport so must exit on this. I then need to fly to a middle destination such as Kuala Lumpur, Malayasia before flying to Sulawesi in Indonesia. I will need to collect my bags at Kuala Lumpur and re check in so in that sense I will have to clear immigration both ways than just catching a connecting flight.

On entering Malaysia, at this point can i show my Irish passport on entering to get an entry stamp or is this not allowed since I would have technically come into the country on my UK passport as registered by the plane ticket?! I would then exit Kuala Lumpur on my Irish passport and enter Sulawesi on my Irish one?

I am a little confused on what is legal and allowed - please help!

Chloe
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Chloe
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2 Answers2

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Many countries do not require you to show a passport in transit.

In general when you arrive in a country by air it's not necessary to use the same passport you used to check in with, but it's probably simpler to do that in case they check the passenger list.

Crucially for your question, when you leave a country it's not generally necessary to use the same passport to check in that you show to immigration officers on exit.

Most importantly, it's no business of any airline, nor of any country other than the UK or Ireland, that both countries allow multiple citizenship. If you're ever in a situation in which you need to show both of your passports, you can do that. For example, this could happen if you're in a country where the airline is required to verify your documents on leaving in addition to their having to verify your documents for the destination, and your visas for the two countries are each in a different one of your passports.

When you check in for your flight from India to Indonesia, you will show the airline your Irish passport because it has your Indonesian visa. You will show your UK passport to the Indian passport officer, though, because you used it to enter India.

phoog
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Here is the process that has worked for me so far (although not in this specific example). Let's assume you have arrived on passport A and want to get to your destination using passport B.

  1. Always enter and leave a country on the same passport. It's not always required but good practice.
  2. When checking in for the flight, hand the check in agent both passports and tell them that you are leaving on passport A and entering your destination on passport B. In some cases they really need to know so they can file their paperwork properly. In the unlikely case that the agent looks really confused, ask politely to speak to a manager/supervisor.
  3. If there is any exit immigration use passport A
  4. At your arrival immigration use passport B

I haven't run into a case yet where a passport was required at the transit location, but I'd use passport B unless it's not permissible in which case things get complicated

Hilmar
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