British Expat Forum

Is it possible to travel to the UK on my British passport and return on my American passport?

The reason I ask is that I understand I have a maximum stay in the UK of 6 months if I travel on my American passport. My mother is now close to being 90 years of age and I might want to stay longer than 6 months as she becomes infirm. I'm not sure how either agent would view my passport seeing that I was leaving on my British Passport and coming back in to the US on my American assport.

Perhaps there is no longer a maximum stay of 6 months now in the UK.

So the bottom line is, can both passports be used on travel?

Respectfully

Johnny

Good question. You can certainly use two passports of different nationalities on travel - I've done it myself.

The key thing to remember is that any country will expect you to leave using the same passport that you entered with.

So by all means leave Country X on Passport A (assuming that you entered Country X on Passport A in the first place) and enter Country Y on Passport B.

But don't then try to leave Country Y on Passport A - because they'll have no record of your entry on that passport. If you've entered on Passport B, you should leave on Passport B.

It may happen that you'll need to renew the passport that you entered a country on. If so, then (say you used Passport B) you'll probably need to produce the replacement for Passport B as your valid passport, and the expired Passport B as your evidence of legitimate entry. But don't be tempted to put off renewal of Passport B and leave on Passport A instead - it's likely to set alarm bells ringing.

Thanks Dave --
I was struggling to try and figure out what you explained - have valid US
and UK passport. Based in US and trying to travel to India with a valid visa
on the UK passport.
i.e. exit US with US passport; enter India with UK passport and valid Visa
then exit India with UK passport and enter US with US passport

Didn't think there should be any problems?

That's what I was suggesting, certainly.

The only thing I would add in your particular case is that the airline check-in counters may find it a little strange if you present them with your US passport - they're checking to see whether you've got a valid visa for the country you're entering, because if you haven't, then they may possibly be fined for carrying you there.

(This is of course subject to the immigration laws of the country you're travelling to. Several countries allow visa-free entry to certain countries' citizens for a certain amount of time; others have facilities to issue visas on arrival; others insist that you have a valid visa before you arrive.)

In your case (and in any case where you need a valid visa to enter your destination country) you're probably better advised to show the check-in staff the passport you're planning to use at the other end of your flight. But you should still show the passport control officials the passport you used when you entered the country you're in the process of leaving (ie their country) - since they're interested in knowing whether you're in their country legally.

So for your circumstances, you show the check-in staff the UK passport with the Indian visa; you then go through passport control and show your US passport (the one you used to enter the US with).

I'm not an immigration official, so the usual disclaimers apply. But that is my understanding of the procedure, at least.

Luckily, I think there is no problem traveling to the UK with both a Canadian and UK passport. Does anyone know if they are totally interchangeable for someone traveling to the UK from Vancouver? I'm planning a trip in the Summer but I don't have all the details yet.
I'm going to do a bit of skiing at Whistler first and then do some sight-seeing in London. I'm a little concerned about whistler accommodations though.

Cheers