Dual Citizen - Passport Application Abroad

[himher 634]

(laughing) Guess im a lawbreaker. I recall departing the united states from alaska and entered the united states in washington state with a drivers license and birth certificate.

Didnt have a passport.

Funny thing about being a USC is that at the end of the day no agency has the authority to deny US entry to a US citizen.

Vince Bond, a spokesman over at U.S. Customs and Border Protection on a similar question:

“Federal officers will not deny entry to any valid US citizen. Travelers may experience delays while CBP officers possibly refer them to secondary inspection so that their identity and admissibility can be positively determined.

Our officers have enforcement discretion to make the determination whether to allow a non-compliant traveler to proceed into the United States , with a written warning to obtain the proper travel documents, or to refer them to the secondary inspection area. The warning document explains that the traveler is not compliant with the requirements of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) and explains what documents are acceptable and how to obtain them. Lots of information about this process is on www.getyouhome.gov .

I am thinking that worst case is that they can put you in secondary inspection but have no authority to deny entry.

Downside - They without a doubt do have the authority to sweat you a little down in secondary before they do let you in.

Below is some info I found. Don't know how strictly this is enforced.

US passport requirements (22 CFR § 53)

Section 215(b) of the INA [8 USC § 1185(b)] requires, in general, that any US citizen who is either leaving or entering the US must be in possession of a valid US passport. This requirement applies even in the case of a dual citizen travelling between the US and his other country of citizenship.

§ 1185. TRAVEL CONTROL OF CITIZENS AND ALIENS

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/8/1185.html

Citizens

Except as otherwise provided by the President and subject to such limitations and exceptions as the President may authorize and prescribe, it shall be unlawful for any citizen of the United States to depart from or enter, or attempt to depart from or enter, the United States unless he bears a valid United States passport.

[ceadsearc 516]

To Canada, you mean? Until recently a passport wasn't required for US citizens to come and go from Canada, so you probably were not breaking the law.

Also, naturalized citizens can lose their US citizenship do I would presume they could probably be denied entry as well, unlike US-born citizens.

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

(laughing) Guess im a lawbreaker. I recall departing the united states from alaska and entered the united states in washington state with a drivers license and birth certificate.

Didnt have a passport.

1) You are talking Canada and that probably happened before July 2009?

2) Most importantly, you did NOT misrepresent yourself to a US federal agent as a foreign tourist by using a foreign passport when leaving the U.S., which is what the O.P. is guilty off.

[himher 634]

I highly doubt that the OP misrepresented his citizenship status to a federal officer on his way out. I further doubt that he was asked anything or that he had any contact at all with immigration while leaving.

No matter how it shakes out, under 8 CFR 235 and at the end of the day there is no authority to remove a US citizen at inspection and if one claims to be a USC then he/she cannot be removed until the case is reviewed at a level above the admitting officer.

There is also no penalty outlined for travelling without a passport. The below summarizes (in law) what was earlier shared by cutting/pasting the border patrol officer. If you have proof of US citizenship, authority to determine your status as port of entry ends as soon as that proof is verified. No passport - you are inspected as an alien and the officer is required, under law, to verify your claimed status.

So as per the border patrol officer's comments - if you declare yourself to be a USC on entry, passport or not, the officer is required to check your claim. If your claim is verified, then he is prohibited by law from removing you.

I removed the parts about non-verified status. Those are the parts that basically say if you claim to be a USC and you are not you are %$%#ed. <laughing> you may have a bit of a stay while verification is done BUT travelling with no passport earns that anyway.

(b) U.S. citizens. A person claiming U.S. citizenship must establish that fact to the examining officer's satisfaction and must present a U.S. passport if such passport is required under the provisions of 22 CFR part 53. If such applicant for admission fails to satisfy the examining immigration officer that he or she is a U.S. citizen, he or she shall thereafter be inspected as an alien.

(iv) Review of order for claimed lawful permanent residents, refugees, asylees, or U.S. citizens. A person whose claim to U.S. citizenship has been verified may not be ordered removed. When an alien whose status has not been verified but who is claiming under oath or under penalty of perjury to be a lawful permanent resident, refugee, asylee, or U.S. citizen is ordered removed pursuant to section 235(b)(1) of the Act, the case will be referred to an immigration judge for review of the expedited removal order under section 235(b)(1)© of the Act and §235.6(a)(2)(ii). If the immigration judge determines that the alien has never been admitted as a lawful permanent resident or as a refugee, granted asylum status, or is not a U.S. citizen, the order issued by the immigration officer will be affirmed and the Service will remove the alien. There is no appeal from the decision of the immigration judge. If the immigration judge determines that the alien was once so admitted as a lawful permanent resident or as a refugee, or was granted asylum status, or is a U.S. citizen, and such status has not been terminated by final administrative action, the immigration judge will terminate proceedings and vacate the expedited removal order. The Service may initiate removal proceedings against such an alien, but not against a person determined to be a U.S. citizen, in proceedings under section 240 of the Act. During removal proceedings, the immigration judge may consider any waivers, exceptions, or requests for relief for which the alien is eligible.

Edited December 12, 2011 by himher

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

English, the final frontier!

Not being removed = deported.

True, a U.S. citizen cannot be deported.

Not being admitted = not allowed to enter.

A person without proof of U.S. citizenship may be refused entry.

For that reason, when you, for example, lose your U.S. passport while getting a full body rub down by that hot 13 year-old Thai girl in Phuket, the U.S. consular folks don't tell you to fly to the U.S. with your Polish passport and the claim U.S. citizenship at the P.O.E.; instead, they keep you in Thailand until your story checks out and the issue you a newly printed U.S. passport. Why?

Because you'll need that f*cking passport in order to enter the United States.

Approach the Mexico/US border, whether in Brownsville or Tijuana with a U.S. birth certificate and a bottle of Tequila and demand admission to the U.S. They'll turn you around and kick you in the a** so hard, that you can guess the brand of the boots by the profile imprint on your buttocks. In that case you'll be trotting back to the US consulate in Juarez and politely apply for a US passport. No passport, no entry to the US. Period.

[NickD 203]

A key factor being overlooked here is that a naturalized citizen is not the same as a natural born citizen. Naturalization is not final with over 5,000 cases pending with possible deportation. Most with leaving out some minor detail with all those questions at the rear of the form.

Then this "naturalized citizen" broke the law by leaving the USA without a US passport, a hell of a way to start off.

Yet another variable has nothing to do with how good or sincere an immigrant is when coming over here. The big variable is how does the government of that home county get along with our government! Even though a person has no choice where they were born, where they were born makes a huge difference. I see no place of birth for this individual was provided.

[himher 634]

(laughing) so you say.

Back to the final frontier of English:

Standing at an immigration counter at an airport: Arrived in the United States

Denied entry and ordered to depart: Expedited removal from point of entry

Place where expedited removal orders are issued: At point/port of entry

Just to further train you on some basic english terms:

Expedited removal is the process by which a non-U.S. citizen can be denied entry and physically removed from a U.S. Port of Entry You are right. It is a form of deportation. You are also right in that US citizens cannot be deported.

22CFR: An officer cannot order expedited removal at entry to someone who claims to be a US citizen until the claim is verified or the order is reviewed by an immigration judge.

Once the claim is verified - the officer's jurisdiction ends.

Which matches exactly what the border patrol officer stated was policy (in fact he stated that the officers are given leeway to verify the claim before kicking it to the judge)

You claim it is a crime. NOW: Go out and find the penalty (there isnt one, you know why? entry/exit for US citizens is considered a protected right). Filing taxes late is a crime too. Filing taxes late if you don't owe anything garners no penalty.

Now go back to english class.

English, the final frontier!

Not being removed = deported.

True, a U.S. citizen cannot be deported.

Not being admitted = not allowed to enter.

A person without proof of U.S. citizenship may be refused entry.

For that reason, when you, for example, lose your U.S. passport while getting a full body rub down by that hot 13 year-old Thai girl in Phuket, the U.S. consular folks don't tell you to fly to the U.S. with your Polish passport and the claim U.S. citizenship at the P.O.E.; instead, they keep you in Thailand until your story checks out and the issue you a newly printed U.S. passport. Why?

Because you'll need that f*cking passport in order to enter the United States.

Approach the Mexico/US border, whether in Brownsville or Tijuana with a U.S. birth certificate and a bottle of Tequila and demand admission to the U.S. They'll turn you around and kick you in the a** so hard, that you can guess the brand of the boots by the profile imprint on your buttocks. In that case you'll be trotting back to the US consulate in Juarez and politely apply for a US passport. No passport, no entry to the US. Period.

Edited December 14, 2011 by himher

[NickD 203]

They, (the DOS) tells you to make copies of your passports and leave those with friends or relatives that you can contact in the event you lose your passport. So I have copies of my kids and grandkids passports in my computer and in like manner, they have copies of ours.

Being extra cautious, printed out color copies that both my wife and I carry with us. Yes, our citizenship can be verified, but how long? When dealing with our government, could take ten years. Just standing in line for three hours to board a stupid plane seems like an eternity.