I’m lucky enough to have dual citizenship, as both of my parents were born in Germany, and I was born in the United States. Sometimes I get questions from readers about the logistics of traveling with two passports, and figured that’s worth addressing in a post, given that I imagine this is something that many people deal with.
Which passport should you provide when you book an airline ticket? Which passport should you show when you check-in for your flight, or when you go through immigration? Do you need to show both passports at every stage of the travel journey? Let me address some of those points…
How I decide which passport to use when traveling
Let me first share how I go about deciding which passport to use when traveling. I generally use my passport from Germany:
- When I’m entering Germany or any other European Union country; that’s because this is the “home” passport for the region, not to mention we’ll soon see an electronic travel authorization rolled out for most foreign passports
- When I’m entering a country where a German passport is advantageous compared to a US passport; for example, some countries have reciprocity fees or require visas for those with US passports, but not for those with German passports (especially with the US passport not being as “powerful” as it once was)
I use my passport from the United States in virtually all other situations, including:
- When I’m entering the United States, both since I have Global Entry, and since entering with my German passport would require an electronic travel authorization
- When I’m entering countries under any other circumstances, since it’s easier for me to get a second passport in the US than in Germany, if I run out of pages
Furthermore, I usually try to use the same passport when entering a particular country, even if it’s not the United States or European Union. For example, I once used two different passports to enter the same country several months apart, and that got me sent to secondary, as it seemed to trigger some alert in the system.
A practical example of passport logistics
Let me give an example of my typical passport “routine” when traveling between the US and Germany. There are a few general things to keep in mind:
- You always need to enter and exit a country with the same passport
- Many countries require you to use your passport from that particular country if you are a citizen
- There’s no shame in admitting you have two passports, if you get confused at any step in the process; you could even proactively present both passports every step of the way
With that in mind:
- It doesn’t matter what passport information you enter into the itinerary when you book, if it’s even required
- When I check in for my flight to Germany, I provide my German passport, since this is the information shared with German authorities, and determines my eligibility to enter the country (and in some cases determines whether online check-in is possible)
- When I land in Germany I use my German passport at immigration
- When I check in for my flight back to the US, I provide my US passport, since that’s what will be shared with US authorities, and avoids me needing an electronic travel authorization
- Then when I go through departure immigration (which is a step that doesn’t exist on the outbound, since we don’t have that) I present my German passport, since it’s the passport with which I entered the country
- Then when I land in the US I again present my US passport, since that’s what I need to get through immigration, and also what has Global Entry
I’ve certainly been absent-minded in the past and accidentally showed the wrong passport, whether at check-in, immigration, or wherever. However, that has always been quickly noticed and corrected without issue.
Bottom line
I’m incredibly fortunate to have dual citizenship, as I have both a US and German passport. Hopefully the above sheds some light on how I decide to use each passport, and also helps anyone who may be trying to figure out which passport to use when traveling.
To anyone else who has passports from two different countries, how do you decide which to use when traveling?
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