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Is it possible for a dual national who happens to be a citizen of two countries to travel between two countries who can accept only national IDs upon entry from their own nationals, and hence not require stamps to their passports (either because they're not stamped by their own authorities either because they're not necessary)?

Let's say I'm a citizen of Belgium and the UAE, and both countries require only national ID(s) from their respective citizens to enter. Can I simply switch between national IDs, in a proper manner of course?

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In general this should be possible.

Some countries might have restrictions on the use of ID cards. For example, the US passport card is for use as a travel document only for land and sea travel to Canada, Mexico, or the Caribbean. Such a country might not permit its citizens to use the ID card when arriving from certain countries.

But most countries recognize an obligation to admit their own citizens, so the adverse consequences of violating such a restriction, if any, probably won't include denial of entry.

One must also convince the airline to allow travel with the card. Airlines use a database called TIMATIC to check these requirements. TIMATIC notes that both Belgian and UAE citizens can enter with an ID card, so in this case it should be possible.

The US seems to have a somewhat problematic and poorly documented requirement that departing passengers be in possession of a passport. Any country that has such a requirement might pose a problem to such a traveler, but I recall reading a report here about a European who managed to fly to Europe from the US with her ID card, after some discussion with the airline's ground staff.

As an aside, a Belgian can also avoid stamps from EU and Schengen countries by presenting the Belgian passport.

phoog
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  • Yes I had verified with Timatic before asking this very question. I also know that there are countries do not allow It, so I asked about a specific scenario in specific conditions. –  Sep 04 '19 at 13:55
  • Thanks for the answer. By the way regarding the case you have said has been reported, the airline should verify whether the document is valid for entering the country destination from anywhere, NOT for the country the traveler is in because the same thing can be raised about a permanent residence of a PR who has to go back in his PR country, because the PR card has no value in his country of origin, but the airline staff is forced to let him in because the document is valid for the destination. That's the same thing. –  Sep 04 '19 at 14:02
  • Even if there are particular cases that certain travelers can enjoy in, such as less restrictions than usually faced and using less papers than those required in normal scenarios, those travelers might find difficult to discuss and make the staff understand that they enjoy that particular privilege or right. This is insane sometimes, especially in the third world Arab country I'm from, if I show my EU national ID at check-in and tell them that Europe allows entry with only the ID, they'll question it and make me use my passport instead, even if I can do the former. –  Sep 04 '19 at 14:16
  • @name the airline is required to follow the laws of all countries in which it operates. If a country has a law requiring departing travelers to have a passport and airlines to verify this, then the airline has to comply. A permanent resident in your example generally has two documents, the other one being the document that he or she used to enter the country of departure. In most cases this will also be necessary to clear the departure country's exit controls. – phoog Sep 04 '19 at 14:18
  • Of course it has to verify, but what I was meaning is it has not the right to be stricter than the country of destination's laws in terms of documentation upon entry. If a simple national Id is enough, than they do not have the right to require a passport just because it is the general norm for the rest of the nationals. –  Sep 04 '19 at 14:37
  • @name but it's not only the country of destination: it may also be the country of departure that imposes documentary requirements for departing travelers. It's not common, but the US does apparently have such a requirement, or at least CBP thinks it does and tells airlines that it does (pdf). – phoog Sep 05 '19 at 16:25
  • Of course, but the entry requirements are consistent with the exit requirements. If I can enter a country with national ID as a citizen, I can do samewise upon exit. If I want to leave Italy as an Italian, as far as Italy is concerned, I can do it with national ID only, then it's up to me to verify and be certain to have the documents for the destination country. The U.S is not one of those countries I take on board, but GCC and EU are one of these areas allowing so, so why would they want to know where a national goes if they don't check their passports in the first place? –  Sep 05 '19 at 17:39
  • I know that there are countries requiring their own citizens to enter with a passport, but I'm talking about other countries who allow this kind of thing. –  Sep 05 '19 at 17:40
  • I'm talking about the step at check-in. Of course a EU citizen cannot show the CBP a national ID upon exit, because they have to show the passport they entered with, in order to show the entry date, and because ID is not valid. But what I do want to understand is why the check-in wants a passport if they already know that a traveler of that country has the right to enter with ID in the first place. –  Sep 05 '19 at 17:47
  • The main assumption is that the country of departure DOES allow departure to national with ID as well. –  Sep 05 '19 at 18:01