British passport holder born in the US

[E. Cosgrove]

My friend was born in New York to British parents and returned to the UK when she was 2 years old, she holds a British passport and has travelled to the US using a visa waiver on 3 previous occasions.

On the first 2 occasions she had no problems at all, but last year Virgin Atlantic were reluctant to let her board the flight saying that she did not have the correct documentation and having been born in the US she needed another form.

After some discussion and heated debate they finally allowed her to board and on arrival in the US she had no trouble with immigration.

Since her return she has had little success in finding out if she does indeed need any more documentaion to allow her to travel. The US embassy will only tell her that she does not need a visa and is entitled to travel under the visa waiver scheme.

She is due to travel to Florida with me in Nov and I am concerned they may not let her on the plane. Can anybody throw any light on this?

[Snapper]

Liz, wouldn't that give her dual nationality, and a US passport as well as a British one?

[E. Cosgrove]

Apparently as she never returned to the US nor applied for a US passport after leaving her right to US citizenship lapsed when she was 18.......she is 50 in 2 years time[msnwink] <blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Snapper
Liz, wouldn't that give her dual nationality, and a US passport as well as a British one?
[/quote]

[steph_goodrum]

Liz
I seem to remember someone else coming across this recently with their mother being told she MUST apply for a US passport to enter the US even if she did not apply for citizenship. She was in the same situation after leaving US in early childhood and all the Embassy istructions indicate that if you were born in the US the only acceptable means of entry into the country is with US passport.

It doesnt mean she has to give up her UK one though.

[E. Cosgrove]

Thanks for that Steph, I havetrawled through the US website and found the appropriate page eventually, so she is going to apply for a passport. What happens then when she arrives in the UD, is she classed as a US citizen, does she go through the lane for US citizens?

[dbrook]

My daughter was born in the US and holds her own passport and has never had any problem Liz. Maybe it's because she is under 18 and travels with us?

My husband has phoned the Embassy to ask about dual citizenship as she is 18 tomorrow and they have said that age is not a factor and if born in American your American citizenship applies irrespective of age. They have suggested though that before she travels to America next time that she gets a US passport.

[E. Cosgrove]

Yes Diane, I think that is the wisest thing to do, I followed the information in this link http://www.usembassy.org.uk/cons_new/visa/index.html
Sue is going to apply for a passport, it says it should only take 15 days so she has plenty of time. She is quite horrified at the thought of being a US citizen as she considers herself British through and through and doesn't even travel to the US very often.
Hope it doesn't get too complicated as her parents were both British citizens but she returned to th UK when their marriage broke up. Her father is now a US citizen although she has little contact with him.
I presume she will enter the US using her US passport (assuming she is granted one ) but will be able to re enter the UK using her British passport. It's all very complicated isn't it?

[steph_goodrum]

Liz
Once she's got it I think it gives the best of both worlds as she is a "local" on entering both the US and UK.

[sunseeker]

Not sure she will be able to enter the US on one passport and then return to the UK on the other. A friend of mine has dual nationality UK & Australia, he can only enter the UK on his Australian passport and then use the same one to leave back to OZ. He did use his UK passport when we went for a trip to France.

Dave

[blott]

This all sounds pretty complicated to me!

Which passport to use

Section 215 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1185) requires U.S. citizens to use U.S. passports when entering or leaving the United States unless one of the exceptions listed in Section 53.2 of Title 22 of the Code of Federal Regulations applies. (One of these exceptions permits a child under the age of 12, who is included in the foreign passport of a parent who has no claim to U.S. citizenship, to enter the United States without a U.S. passport, provided the child presents evidenceof his/her U.S. citizenship when entering the United States.)

Dual nationals may be required by the other country of which they are citizens to enter or leave that country using its passport, but do not endanger their U.S. citizenship by complying with such a requirement. http://usembassy-australia.state.gov...r/dualnat.html