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Travel with Dual Citizenship / Passports in different Name

Sulu

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Jun 8, 2017
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Seeking advice on how to travel given the following scenario.

I hold dual nationality Germany and Britain, they happen to be different (legal) names yet I am fully aware that presenting both passports at the same time would cause immigration nightmare.
I also prefer not to disclose to either country my other citizenship.

If I fly direct, I know I can just pick the document to the corresponding country, but there is a chance that I might be asked to show my flight tickets which would show the discrepancy (especially if it's a round-flight ticket).

Q: Do the airports use a tally system whereby comparing the list of passengers to the persons who actually come through the immigration gates ?

Q: When flying between these countries, should I "split" the flight via another country ? (As suggested here, Case 4: I have two passports/nationalities. How do I use them when I travel? )

Q: Is it good practice to do i.e. booking from UK to G using UK id, then upon arrival in G presenting the G id ?

Q: Is there a reliable way to frequent these two home countries without exposing too much of my privacy with regards to my whereabouts and length of absence ?


Many thanks if someone can answer some of these questions!
 
Last edited:
Seeking advice on how to travel given the following scenario.

I hold dual nationality Germany and Britain, they happen to be different (legal) names yet I am fully aware that presenting both passports at the same time would cause immigration nightmare.
I also prefer not to disclose to either country my other citizenship.

If I fly direct, I know I can just pick the document to the corresponding country, but there is a chance that I might be asked to show my flight tickets which would show the discrepancy (especially if it's a round-flight ticket).

Q: Do the airports use a tally system whereby comparing the list of passengers to the persons who actually come through the immigration gates ?

Q: When flying between these countries, should I "split" the flight via another country ? (As suggested here, Case 4: I have two passports/nationalities. How do I use them when I travel? )

Q: Is it good practice to do i.e. booking from UK to G using UK id, then upon arrival in G presenting the G id ?

Q: Is there a reliable way to frequent these two home countries without exposing too much of my privacy with regards to my whereabouts and length of absence ?


Many thanks if someone can answer some of these questions!
If you are truly a citizen of Germany and you UK you can enter each country freely with each passport and stay as long as you want ( i think now it's one year with Brexit, not sure...) Pick one passport name, buy ticket show it at the border, arrive at other country show it exit airport, pick your other passport and do whatever you like to do, but upon exiting country you must show passport you entered and so forth. You ofcourse for no logical given reason, want to mix passports on arrival, as if hmmmm you have some serious reson to do this and depending your serious reason there are answers to this also, what to do and what not to do, not to end behind bars :P but for your safety stick to the easy answer, show one passport each trip back and forth....
 
The reason being, that upon scrutiny I would not be allowed to keep both identities due to name difference. So I am trying to prevent trouble by keeping them 'separated', i.e. one country should not know about my other ID.

And I get worried because technically speaking they may be able to use the footage from the bio-metric cameras at airports and correlate that to the list of passengers that have been processed by immigration - a discrepancy would stand out easily if the results don't tally up... But do they actually do something like this ?
 
The reason being, that upon scrutiny I would not be allowed to keep both identities due to name difference. So I am trying to prevent trouble by keeping them 'separated', i.e. one country should not know about my other ID.

And I get worried because technically speaking they may be able to use the footage from the bio-metric cameras at airports and correlate that to the list of passengers that have been processed by immigration - a discrepancy would stand out easily if the results don't tally up... But do they actually do something like this ?
Too much TV....
 
Germany does not allow dual citizenship. So I exactly understand, why you feel this to be a problem.

To your questions:

Q: Do the airports use a tally system whereby comparing the list of passengers to the persons who actually come through the immigration gates ?
All EU countries are using a sytem, where all airlines sent passenger details to a country where he flies with all personal data. So if you are flying from London to Vienna by British airways, Austrian border authority will know about you in adanve. They will receive informations, which you provide to airlines. The most of huge international airports has modern computer systems. Anytime you enter airport, and first camera pick you, you reveice temporary ID number. And every other camera provides all information about your movement, where you gom what you do.. And in a background, there is a modern analytical systems which makes decision, if you are a risk for airport security.. So if you check for a flight to destination A, go through passport control, but in real borad a flight B, they will send armed guards to move you our of airplane and arrest you. But there are some ways how to solve it. Just buy 2 tickets for 2 different flights, at very similar times. Make online check in. Do not use a check in desk. Pass immigration. Use a mobile boarding pass. In a printed boarding pass, in some countries, they are used to make colour marks, or sign it, ... but not on mobile boarding pass. They can not scratch display of your cellphone,.

Q: When flying between these countries, should I "split" the flight via another country ? (As suggested here, Case 4: I have two passports/nationalities. How do I use them when I travel? )
The best way is to fly via country, where is not implemented data exchange agreement. There are non in EU. If you need to fly from London to Frankfurt, you can fly London-Cairo by British airways and Cairo-Franfrust by Lufthansa. Never use airlines from the same alliance.

Q: Is it good practice to do i.e. booking from UK to G using UK id, then upon arrival in G presenting the G id ?
No. Airline will send details to a Germany border agency with your UK passport details. When you enter by German passport, it will allow you to enter. But investigation will be started. Because German authorities will see, that someone from UK, with british passport boarded a flight do Germany, but never pass immigration check. And it will be very easy for them to find a reason..

Q: Is there a reliable way to frequent these two home countries without exposing too much of my privacy with regards to my whereabouts and length of absence ?
Yes. Fly all the time via countries out of EU, which does not use automatic data exchange. Use airlines from two different alliances everytime..
 
Germany does not allow dual citizenship. So I exactly understand, why you feel this to be a problem.
Under certain circumstances its is allowed, for example if you still have "interest" in germany, a good reason for that is family, or if the country of your other citizenship makes it almost impossible to return the passport for example Iran doesn't take back citizenship or Thai which makes it super hard.
 
Under certain circumstances its is allowed, for example if you still have "interest" in germany, a good reason for that is family, or if the country of your other citizenship makes it almost impossible to return the passport for example Iran doesn't take back citizenship or Thai which makes it super hard.
You are right.. It does not change an fact, that if Germen authorities will know about second citizenship, they will do everything possible to have a German one cancelled. No one wants to have that trouble. You can imagine how you explain to a judge, why you should have a German citizenship and why a judge should issue an exemption decision..
 
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You are right.. It does not change an fact, that if Germen authorities will know about second citizenship, they will do everything possible to have a German one cancelled. No one wants to have that trouble. You can imagine how you explain to a judge, why you should have a German citizenship and why a judge should issue an exemption decision..
True indeed. Dual citizenship is a nightmare for every goverment.
 
Can someone explain to me the benefits of these Second passport programs. Since, you have to use the same passport when you book the flight, enter(need to match with flight details) and leave the country(exit controls).
Seems like the second passport is redundant and cannot be used(especially if it is under a different name)?
 
Can someone explain to me the benefits of these Second passport programs. Since, you have to use the same passport when you book the flight, enter(need to match with flight details) and leave the country(exit controls).
Seems like the second passport is redundant and cannot be used(especially if it is under a different name)?
It is not legal to have a passports woth a different name. Every person can have just a one legal name. If you have a passport with a different name, it means that you have changed your name. Every civilized country in this world has law which says, that your passport is invalid in case of your name change. And you are obliged to inform a country authorities about your new name, provide evidence of legal name change from a second country and apply for a new passport with your new name.

Having more than one citizenship makes a huge sense.. Passport is not your ownership. It is ownership of the country. In case if your country of origin cancels your passport, you have no way how to escape if you do not have a possport from another country,...
 
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There are international databases of lost passports, stole passports, fake passports, identities of people who travelled or tried to teravel with lost, stolen or fake passport..
There is no mutual database of world names..
Almost nothing can prevent you when you have a real passport. If one of the countries will not know about your second name and your second passport. Doing it is not legal, but if you know what to do and you are doing it correctly, there is a chance to not be caught.
Problem is EU. If you have a German passport with one name and russian passport with a second name, Germany will be informed in case if you enter EU by russian passport in any EU country. So if you will fly to Paris with a russian passport and you will show german ID also to do not have to have a visa in a russian passport, french immigration authorities will inform german authorities..
 
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The passport are relatively the same in regards to travelling.
I would use the UK passport for the rest of the world and keep the German for entering and leaving Germany. Never enter or leave Germany with the UK passport.

Plus having 2 names is always a bonus