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I am holding Indian and Portuguese passports, I'm currently in India.

Now I have to travel to the UK, I can't travel on my Indian passport because I would need a visa to travel to the UK. My Portuguese passport I can't show at the airport and immigration in India.

So my plan is the following, please advise:

  1. Book my ticket on my Indian passport and travel to Doha using visa on arrival facilities
  2. After arriving at Doha airport switch to Portuguese passport get entry and exit from Doha to the UK by booking flight from Doha to UK

My question: Since I will be exiting on my Indian passport and the departure stamp will be on it, while switching to my Portuguese passport at Doha airport, will the immigration official ask for my departure stamp on the Portuguese passport? Will this be a problem at Doha airport while traveling to the UK?

Ari Brodsky
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Shanur Karol
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  • I disagree that this is a duplicate - in my opinion it's not. The differing factor here is that the OP would need to use their Portuguese passport to travel from India, yet is unable to do so for political / other reasons. – Aleks G Jul 17 '19 at 15:14
  • A different point to make would be that dual nationality in its normal sense is not allowed by India, therefore it could be argued that the OP is acting illegally - and thus this question should be closed as asking to facilitate an illegal act. – Aleks G Jul 17 '19 at 15:16
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    Yet another case where a very specific question is going to be closed out as a dup of a generic answer that does NOT answer the question that is actually being asked. Do the people voting to close think that SE shouldn't have specific questions? Or did you not do the research to check if the dup'ed answer fits the exact situation? Or are most of you just sheep following the first person who marked the "possible duplicate"? – Doc Jul 17 '19 at 15:32
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    @Doc I've thought about this some more and I think you're right. Voted to reopen. The OP is clearly aware of the strategy in the linked question, and is asking a specific question about what to do at immigration at the intermediate airport. – Michael Hampton Jul 17 '19 at 15:57
  • Maybe an ignorant question but why can't you show both passports in India? I have dual nationality as well (neither of them Indian) and use the following methodology: both passports at check-in (flight crew can choose which passport they want to use for the flight), security & passport check the local passport (of the country I'm exiting) and upon entry use the then local passport (of the country I'm entering). Neither passport checks ask for entry/exit stamps though I do use the biometric entry/exit points so never have to deal with a human person at those checkpoints. – yetanothercoder Jul 18 '19 at 06:50
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    As some have noted, there is a relevant answer. If they follow that answer, they would enter Quatar on there Indian passport (there is a visa waiver for 30 days), take the onward flight and enter the UK on the Portugese passport. It is unclear why they would want to enter Doha on their Portugese passport specifically -- the strategy is about having your Indian passport stamped there to avoid problems on return. – averell Jul 18 '19 at 07:06
  • I will be booking onward flight to UK from Doha on Portuguese passport , i am still not aware that while getting entry to Doha airport do i need to see immigration or can i go to transit way to board the next flight to uk and collect the boarding pass at doha airport? – Shanur Karol Jul 18 '19 at 07:26
  • I will be booking onward flight to UK from Doha on Portuguese passport , i am still not aware that while getting entry to Doha airport do i need to see immigration or can i go to transit way to board the next flight to UK and collect the boarding pass at Doha airport? i cant travelling on Portuguese passport because airline can stop me for not having exit visa on Portuguese passport Please help me. – Shanur Karol Jul 18 '19 at 09:27
  • @ShanurKarol - did you read the answer that I have linked, specifically Scenario "C"? This would apply to you, it seems. – averell Jul 18 '19 at 17:23
  • Possible duplicate of: https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/52100/i-have-two-passports-nationalities-how-do-i-use-them-when-i-travel?noredirect=1&lq=1 – JonathanReez Jul 18 '19 at 19:10
  • Eventually someone is going to ask why you have tried to keep the Indian passport and not obtained an OCI card. If it happens in India, that will probably be a bad day. – Michael Hampton Jul 19 '19 at 05:58

2 Answers2

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As I have noted, there is an answer that explains the general principle

Your “complication” is that, even if you booked the flights on one ticket, you cannot check in for the flight to the UK on your Indian passport, as you have no Visa. You can check in for Doha, as you could enter there on your Indian Passport.

Whether or not you need to leave the transit area will most likely depend on wether there is a check-in counter for your connecting flight in the transit area (which may depend on the flight and airline, I’m not familiar with Doha specifically).

In case you do need to go through immigration, better use the Portugese passport. The Indian should work as well, but you’ll end up with multiple sets of stamps, which might raise an eyebrow on your return to India.

It is very unlikely that immigration will check if you left on the same passport, and if they notice it us unlikely that they care, there is no law that I know of that prevents you from showing any valid Passport (in Doha) that you choose.

In any case, you must check in for the next flight with your Portugese passport. The airline won’t care what stamps it has as long as it is valid for the UK.

When you arrive in the UK, you show the Portugese passport.

On the way back, you repeat the procedure but now you should go through immigration in Doha, even if you don’t have to. Use your Indian passport. This way you have it stamped when the Indian immigration checks it.

averell
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If we assume that you will have to pass through immigration for some reason (which you may not actually have to do) and that Qatari immigration officers want departing foreigners to show the same passport they used when they entered (which is probably the case), the question boils down to this:

Do Qatari immigration officers check passports against the manifests of arriving or departing flights?

If the answer is no, then you can use either passport. If the answer is yes for arriving flights, no for departing flights then you should use the Indian passport on your way from India to the UK. If the answer is yes for both then you may have a problem.

However, I have flown several times from the US to Bosnia and Herzegovina by way of the European Union. I have always shown my EU passport in the EU and my US passport in Bosnia, and it has never been a problem in either place that the other passport was the one on the manifest. This doesn't say much about Qatar, obviously, but it does show that such checking is not universal.

Furthermore, Qatar should not much care about your two passports nor about your visa status at your destination (that is normally only the airline's concern). If you show the Indian passport at the exit check on your way to the UK, they probably won't even notice that you don't have a visa for the UK. If they do, you can explain that you also have a Portuguese passport, which you will use there. Unless Qatar has some diplomatic agreement with India where it has undertaken to detect Indian citizens traveling with other countries' passports, that will be the end of the matter.

One other word of advice: I once checked in for a flight from Nairobi to the EU with my EU passport. At the gate, we were asked to show our passports with our boarding passes before getting on the plane. The security agent took my passport and became very concerned. I realized I had handed him my US passport, so I said "I also have this other passport, if that makes any difference," and showed him my EU passport. He immediately relaxed and pointed to the security sticker on the back of the passport. His role, it seems, was to double-check not only the identity of the people boarding the plane, but that they had been given the appropriate sticker at the security screening.

(This trip started in Rwanda, by the way, where I had used my US passport. Rwanda also did not care that I had shown my US passport at the exit check after checking in for the departing flight using my EU passport.)

If you get such a sticker on the back of one passport, you will probably have to show that sticker to someone else at some point. Trying to peel it off and stick it to the other passport is probably not a good idea.

phoog
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