British Expatriate Network

Hi all,
This is very urgent. We are meant to be flying to US tomorrow for holiday (Disney etc)
Never had a problem before.
My sister in law, who is full UK citizen etc and 45 yrs old was stopped by Virgin security tonight during the twilight check in. She was born (her parents were working in the US in 1963) in New York. Her father (also UK citizen) got her a US passport when she was born. This expired when she was 3 so 1967. (He may have aslo asked to become uS citizen (not mother) - we do not know as he died 15/20 yrs ago).
The Virgin security said that because she had a US passport (even from 1963 and expired) she may not be able to fly.
Dont know what to do. Never had a problem, this is 6th trip. Never been stopped. She was never a US citizen. Whe have 14 hrs to solve the problem. US embassy no help.
Anybody know what to do. Please !!!! :|

It sounds like they may be worried about her being refused entry to the US because she is entering the US on a British Passport when she it a US citizen. The US likes you to use an American passport, the airlines are responsible for ensuring that all the passengers they carry should be OK to enter the US.

THey may be being over-cautious, or the US immigration may be cracking down. The most important thing to do is to find out why they are worries about this, then ask them to check with US immigration to see if it will be a problem.

I hope it goes OK for you, but it sounds like she may in future need to get a US passport or renounce her citizenship and carry proof.

I think US citizens are supposed to file tax returns too.

Good luck, and please come back and let us know how you got on.

Thanks Monster

Problem looks like solved. This is a major issue that is bubbling under the service for nayone (possibly) who has any countries name (instead of passport country) in their passport.
Best advice seems to be dont volunteer this info as they will not know from your passport. They may i the future reuire proof from people but thats another day.
Thnask again
because I am now travelling for a month I will not have easy access to reply to nay new posts but thanks to anyone

"Don't volunteer" is excellent advice, applied to many situations. )

My US passport has a UK birthplace. It was required in the application. I never had any problems.

The dont volunteer advise is excellent expecially when applied to interaction with beurocrats .
*
they are trained to ask *set* questions of which there is *set *answers or do a laid out system of operation ,these are inbedded in their brain and any diversion from them puts it in utter confusion .

I learnt a long time ago if you are going to come in contact with any form of govt beurocracy to take with any info you THINK you might need ,but only answer each question with a simple* yes /no * if possibe.
dont ask them anything else , be polite smile, and dont volunteer info that was not asked for .

keep it simple they understand that and you should,nt have any problems I never have

if you enter the US as a US Citizen on a foreign passport, you are basically renouncing US Citizenship via de facto action.

B/S once again how would they know you was a american citizen if you didnt tell them ...?????

much the same situation as when you go to obtain american citizenship you dont reliquise your british citizenship CUS THEY DONT ASK .....
When you approach a road junction and want to turn right on red ... if it does,nt say you cant ..YOU CAN

You are misinformed. British and US citizenship do not work in the same way. The US has certain requirements of their citizens -like entering and leaving on a US passport, filing taxes even when expatriated- that the UK does not. If you are a US citizen by birth and do not follow these guidelines, then the worst that is likely to happen is that you will be jailed if you return. But if you are naturalized and are using the nationality of another country, they can consider that to be a way of renouncing.

You don't relinquish your British citizenship when you become a US citizen because it is not possible for the US to enforce that as the UK does not make the same requirements of their citizens. You can stand there and tell the US embassy you renounce your citizenship, you can watch them burn your passport..... but unless you go into the embassy in person and do it, you'll still be a British citizen. And if the US forced you to do that, you'd probably find it wouldn't count anyway. They just don't work in the same way.

You ask how they know... not only do they use all the fancy ID numbers and such to track foreigners entering their country, they also still do basic searches based on name, DOB, place of birth etc. A friend of ours has the misfortune of sharing a name with a suspected terrorist. He is stopped every time, despite the fact that he's using the same passport so they must have a record of how often he has been stoppped and cleared.


In the case here, she has a US place of birth listed. Should she lie? It's mandatory to have your place of birth listed in a passport. It's illegal to lie. In these days of "heightened security" this will raise flags. Record check shows no renouncement of citizen ship, therefore she should be using an American passport. However, rather than arrest her or inform her of the requirements, refusing entry so they don't have to deal with it is an option. And I think this will be what give Virgin cause for concern, because if she's refused entry, they have to bring her back at their own cost and hassle. And I think they can even be fined.

I just like saying the words "De Facto."

when the US immigration officer swipes your British passport and finds you were born in New York


It might prompt him to ask no?