Wife had to show her US passport to leave her home country!

[NikLR 13,220]

I guess I'm just confused as to why she can't enter her home country with her US Passport

I don't know either. Columbia doesn't require a visitor visa for US citizens unless they're staying longer than 90 days.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Because they decided that Colombian citizens must enter on Colombian passports. The US is the same way. If I move to the moon and live there, I have to come back to the US on my US passport, even if moon citizens can come as visitors without visas.

The Op is mad that that's the law, and would prefer to pretend to not be a Colombian citizen anymore. But the US passport has place of birth on it so he can't lie about it.

I don't know what the big deal is. You have to pay a little extra to keep a passport current. Yes, they want your money too.

Edited May 21, 2013 by Harpa Timsah

[Possiblymaybe 371]

Because they decided that Colombian citizens must enter on Colombian passports.

That would make sense then. Can she not drop the Columbian citizenship since she is now a citizen of another country?

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

That would make sense then. Can she not drop the Columbian citizenship since she is now a citizen of another country?

No, that is impossible for people born there. That's the law. Impossible to renounce citizenship.

[Possiblymaybe 371]

Gotcha. Thanks for the clarification!

[B & G 200]

Just like the US wont recognise the any other passport for a US citizen other than the US one, Columbia wont either. Neither country cares that you hold dual citizenship, what they do care about is that you use the correct passport when leaving and entering the specific country.

I wouldn't worry much on where the passport stamp is placed. It can be easily explained and proven by showing both passports.

Yes, it is an expense to maintain 2 different passports, but since there is no other way, you are going to have get accumstomed to it.

I would say that your wife having dual citizenship is a blessing, especially since she still has such close family in Columbia. I would hate to even imagine the hoops she would have to jump through, should she ever need to prove her columbian citizenship to any columbian government agency.

[NikLR 13,220]

I get it now! Thanks for clarifying!

[Canadian/American 3]

I read that you should enter a country with the passport that makes most sense. For example, if you are a dual citizen, which country laws do you want to be in force while in that country? I understand if, for example, you enter say Bosnia with a US passport, in the even of issues you can get the US consulate to assist you but if you enter on the Bosnian passport then the US does not have to or may not lend assistance. That is assuming they allow you to enter on your US passport. More countries are restricting this so they can enforce laws on their citizens.

Because my dual will be with Canada I will just stick with into Canada with Canadian Passport and back into US with US passport. US won't let you back in without a US passport when you are a citizen. Which means I hope I get mine fast after my oath ceremony since I'm traveling in August!

Edited May 21, 2013 by Canadian/American

[Julie y Pat 67]

I didn't realize there were only three Colombian consulates in the US. If I left my house early in the morning, I could probably drive to the one in Boston, and then make it to the one in NYC in the same day. But if you live a long way from either, it would be a real hassle to go there for a new passport. She could renew it in Colombia next visit, even if it won't expire for a while, because she's already there

[NickD 202]

I though you said in other posts before that your wife couldn't renounce the citizenship of that country.

Also, what does getting your stepson out of there have to do with your wife's citizenships?

That is her only relative in that country, once he is out of there, that country will be history to us.

[NickD 202]

I though you said in other posts before that your wife couldn't renounce the citizenship of that country.

Also, what does getting your stepson out of there have to do with your wife's citizenships?

We are going around in circles on this issue, she has a son in Venezuela she likes to see at least once a year. Because of her place of birth shown on her US passport, she is required to maintain her citizenship in that country, because she needs a passport to enter and leave that country. Therefore she can't see her son unless she maintains that passport. If her son was here, her petition is already five years old with zero word on it, she would have no reason to go to that country to see her son.

Getting her son here would be one solution to this problem. She already visited her son five times, and each time was able to leave her country just by showing her former countries passport. Until this last time, now they just started noticing her foreign passport did not have a visa to enter the USA, and now they are asking for proof she is able to come here. Even getting more complicated.

We were naive to believe the USCIS that she was a US citizen just like she was born here. I was with her when she tried to enter her home country with her US passport. But her place of birth is listed in her US passport and they demanded she had a passport for her home country. We were detained for an hour, and she finally convinced their POE people she had to enter to renew her citizenship. Instead of having a restful vacation was chasing around all over the place, have to do everything with notaries, cost me an extra $1,500.00 in US dollars just to do that. Just to get the paper work started.

She was flagged when we left and had to show them all that paper work before they would let her leave. Then we had to make several 700 mile round trips to the nearest consulate to finish that off with another $500.00 to get that foreign passport.

Just saying once you are done with the USCIS, its not over, then have to deal with the DOS that is another completely different ballpark. And with the DOS, you are not a US citizen like you were born here.

[Darnell 8,478]

so, if she had a tourist visa for Columbia in her USA passport, all this silliness would have been avoided.

Got it.

[N400-2011 24]

so, if she had a tourist visa for Columbia in her USA passport, all this silliness would have been avoided.

Got it.

Nope, once you are a citizen of Columbia, you must enter with a Columbian passport. They do not recognize any other citizenships that you may acquire. Since Nick's wife's US passport has Columbia as her place of birth, she has no choice but to maintain a Columbian passport.

Sound familiar? US citizens are required to enter the US using a US passport.

[newacct 688]

We were naive to believe the USCIS that she was a US citizen just like she was born here. I was with her when she tried to enter her home country with her US passport. But her place of birth is listed in her US passport and they demanded she had a passport for her home country. We were detained for an hour, and she finally convinced their POE people she had to enter to renew her citizenship. Instead of having a restful vacation was chasing around all over the place, have to do everything with notaries, cost me an extra $1,500.00 in US dollars just to do that. Just to get the paper work started.

I told you again and again, if she is a citizen of that country, and that country requires its citizens to use that country's passport to enter and exit, then she is required to use that country's passport. It has nothing to do with the place of birth on the U.S. passport. If, hypothetically, they do not show the place of birth in her U.S. passport, it still does not change the fact that she is a citizen of that country, and is required by that country to use its passport to enter and exit. Period. Unless you are talking about concealing the fact that she's a citizen of that country, and then breaking the rule that citizens of that country must use their passport to enter and exit. But here on VJ we do not condone breaking laws.

Yes, being a dual national sometimes sucks.

We are going around in circles on this issue, she has a son in Venezuela she likes to see at least once a year. Because of her place of birth shown on her US passport, she is required to maintain her citizenship in that country, because she needs a passport to enter and leave that country. Therefore she can't see her son unless she maintains that passport. If her son was here, her petition is already five years old with zero word on it, she would have no reason to go to that country to see her son.

She is not "required to maintain her citizenship in that country" "Because of her place of birth shown on her US passport". Rather (I'm assuming the country is Colombia), she is and will always be a citizen of that country because of the laws of that country, which say that someone born there is permanently a citizen and cannot renounce it.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Yep to the above.

It also sounds to me like the Op wants to pretend his wife is not from Colombia and somehow lie about it just to avoid keeping up a second passport.

If you don't want to go to Colombia once her son immigrates, then you can let the passport expire and never look back.