Dual US/Russian which passport?(split)

[Jeff and Tatiana 0]

I just want to confirm a few items before I purchase my wife's tickets.

 

She is now a US Citizen, but she has a Valid Russian Passport.  

 

Her name is the same in both passports, so that is not a issue.

 

The questions are:  Does she just present her Russian Passport when arriving in Moscow?  There will be no questions?

 

Then when she arrives back at USA she just presents her USA passport?  No problems?  Has anyone done this?  How did it go?  Was it recently someone has tried this/done this?  I am just trying to get a feel.  Obviously I can get her a Visa for Russia on her USA Passport, but she does have a valid Russian Passport, so I would think it would be no problem, but wanted to get thoughts.

 

Thank you,

 

Jeff Owens

 

[Just Paul 4,595]

12 minutes ago, Jeff and Tatiana said:

The questions are:  Does she just present her Russian Passport when arriving in Moscow?

Yes

13 minutes ago, Jeff and Tatiana said:

Then when she arrives back at USA she just presents her USA passport? 

Yes

 

13 minutes ago, Jeff and Tatiana said:

Obviously I can get her a Visa for Russia on her USA Passport

Visas are not issued to citizens of the country they are "visiting"

[Ontarkie 14,221]

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[DaveAndAnastasia 2,092]

Yeah; if you have a Russian passport, you have to use it to enter Russia.

If you have a US passport, you have to use it to enter the US.

 

For anywhere else, it's up to you, but in most countries you'll want to use the US passport, as there are far more visa-free countries with a US passport.

[Art25 44]

I just traveled to Russia in June with dual citizenship (US/Russia).

 

Leaving US.

Present Russian passport at check in desk. When boarding plane plane present Russian passport and boarding pass.

 

Arriving in Russia. 

She will only present Russian passport to customs.

 

Leaving Russia.

Present both passports in customs. They will check her US passport and put stamp in Russian passport.

 

Boarding Plane in Russia.

Only present your US passport and boarding pass. 

 

Arriving in US.

Only present your US passport.

 

Thats it.

Edited September 3, 2019 by Art25

[Dashinka 24,493]

My wife and I just did this, but in her case the names are different.  Anyway, all flights in the name on her US Passport, presented both the US and Russian passports at check-in since we transited through China without a Chinese visa (needed to show onward flight and document to allow us into the destination country, Russia), arrived in China, presented US and Russian passport to Chinese immigration as well as for the check-in for the flight to Russia.  Arrived in Russia, only Russian passport necessary.  She heads back in a few days, but if all goes well, she should only need her Russian passport at the immigration control in Russia upon exit, and her US passport at all other points (Chinese immigration, and US immigration).

 

 

[Juniper 62]

On 9/4/2019 at 6:44 AM, Bill & Katya said:

My wife and I just did this, but in her case the names are different.  Anyway, all flights in the name on her US Passport, presented both the US and Russian passports at check-in since we transited through China without a Chinese visa (needed to show onward flight and document to allow us into the destination country, Russia), arrived in China, presented US and Russian passport to Chinese immigration as well as for the check-in for the flight to Russia.  Arrived in Russia, only Russian passport necessary.  She heads back in a few days, but if all goes well, she should only need her Russian passport at the immigration control in Russia upon exit, and her US passport at all other points (Chinese immigration, and US immigration).

 

 

Thank you for this post Bill & Katya.  So I have a question for you.  Assuming in your case that her Russian Passport uses her pre-married name and her US Passport uses her married name, what you are saying is that all airline tickets used her married US Passport name and she entered Russia using her Russian Passport with her pre-married name that does not match her married name on the airline tickets.  Does this situation really work in your case? Did she also have her marriage certificate with her to show her name change (was that necessary)?  Did she have an apostille stamp in her Russian Passport with her new married name?

 

Basically, she could enter Russia with her Russian Passport that has her pre-married name that is different from her name used on her airline tickets for all the flights?  This is information I would really like to understand.  Thanks again.

[Dashinka 24,493]

22 minutes ago, Juniper said:

Thank you for this post Bill & Katya.  So I have a question for you.  Assuming in your case that her Russian Passport uses her pre-married name and her US Passport uses her married name, what you are saying is that all airline tickets used her married US Passport name and she entered Russia using her Russian Passport with her pre-married name that does not match her married name on the airline tickets.  Does this situation really work in your case? Did she also have her marriage certificate with her to show her name change (was that necessary)?  Did she have an apostille stamp in her Russian Passport with her new married name?

 

Basically, she could enter Russia with her Russian Passport that has her pre-married name that is different from her name used on her airline tickets for all the flights?  This is information I would really like to understand.  Thanks again.

Yes, I did not mention that she does always travel with a copy of the marriage certificate, however, no one has ever asked for it.  At the airlines check-in desk, they did not bat an eye at the name differences on the passports, and Russian immigration did not care either, I don't think they even looked at the boarding pass when we entered, and even though Katya also showed her US passport at Russian immigration, again they had no interest.  Last year, the first time we traveled after Katya got her US passport, we did it the opposite, purchasing the tickets in her Russian passport name, and that worked as well.  This is the way we did it when she traveled when she only had a GC.  We did investigate changing her name on her Russian passport, but that process is long and arduous requiring her to update her internal passport first.

 

I hope that helps.

[Juniper 62]

5 hours ago, Bill & Katya said:

Yes, I did not mention that she does always travel with a copy of the marriage certificate, however, no one has ever asked for it.  At the airlines check-in desk, they did not bat an eye at the name differences on the passports, and Russian immigration did not care either, I don't think they even looked at the boarding pass when we entered, and even though Katya also showed her US passport at Russian immigration, again they had no interest.  Last year, the first time we traveled after Katya got her US passport, we did it the opposite, purchasing the tickets in her Russian passport name, and that worked as well.  This is the way we did it when she traveled when she only had a GC.  We did investigate changing her name on her Russian passport, but that process is long and arduous requiring her to update her internal passport first.

 

I hope that helps.

It helps immensely in knowing what we should do ...  which is to just leave the Russian Passport name unchanged because it matches Russian domestic passport name and matches Russian bank/asset name.    Thanks very much.  Just in case, like you said, it's good to have a copy of the marriage certificate handy for name change document proof.

[Neonred 3,562]

On 9/2/2019 at 10:51 AM, Jeff and Tatiana said:

  Obviously I can get her a Visa for Russia on her USA Passport, but she does have a valid Russian Passport...

 

 

 

Just to be clear, no she can't get a visa to Russia in her USA passport.

 

Not unless she officially renounces her Russian citizenship.

 

Informantion above for entering and exiting Russia with USA and Russia passports is correct.  Very easy.

Edited September 6, 2019 by Neonred

[Ksenia_O 696]

On 9/2/2019 at 9:46 PM, Art25 said:

I just traveled to Russia in June with dual citizenship (US/Russia).

 

Leaving US.

Present Russian passport at check in desk. When boarding plane plane present Russian passport and boarding pass.

 

 

The US passport should've been used, leaving US

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/travel-legal-considerations/Advice-about-Possible-Loss-of-US-Nationality-Dual-Nationality/Dual-Nationality.html

 

U.S. nationals, including dual nationals, must use a U.S. passport to enter and leave the United States. 

 

Edited September 6, 2019 by Ksenia_O

[Neonred 3,562]

18 hours ago, Ksenia_O said:

The US passport should've been used, leaving US

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/travel-legal-considerations/Advice-about-Possible-Loss-of-US-Nationality-Dual-Nationality/Dual-Nationality.html

 

U.S. nationals, including dual nationals, must use a U.S. passport to enter and leave the United States. 

 

Won't be allowed to board the plane showing a US passport that does not have visa to visit Russia.  Need to show the Russian passport.