Applying for Passport at US Embassy Bangkok

[reloman 0]

Hello. My wife passed her citizenship interview today, yeah!! Now let me give some background before I pose my question:

We are moving to Thailand, and have been planning our departure for months. We've sold everything and have just been waiting for the N400 process to be completed. Right now, staying with relatives, and very anxious to make our move. The N400 was scheduled for June 2nd, but was then cancelled by USCIS. uggghhhh, delay. Later rescheduled for 6/23. After my wife's interview, the IO officer was able to get us the next available Oath Ceremony on July 11th, 2014. My understanding is we will receive the Certificate of Naturalization on Friday, July 11th, after the Oath Ceremony. I'd love to have a flight to Thailand booked on July 11th, but what to do about the passport? A traditional passport application can take weeks to process. An expedited passport can be achieved by visiting the nearest passport agency, which is Washington DC, and we could exit the US from there. But this would mean at least 6 nights in a Washington DC hotel (expensive) US Embassy.

Now on to my questions:

The US Embassy-Bangkok website says they can process applications for US Citizens, and that the Certificate of Naturalization will suffice as proof of citizenship. I called the 800 US State Department Passport number to double check, and asked if my wife could travel on her Thai Passport and make US Passport application once in Thailand, and they said that she must travel on a US Passport since will be a US Citizen on July 11. I'm sure that is the correct "official" response. Now I know that she will be "asked" to surrender her Thai Passport on becoming a US Citizen, but she will not be doing that. And, I know lots of US/Thai citizens carry two passports. So, could she leave the US with her Thai Passport and apply for a new US Passport at the US Embassy-Bangkok? If so, how will that impact our return to the US? People carrying two passports, do they leave the US with one passport and return with the US passport? How does that work?

Thank you!

[JimmyHou 610]

Hello. My wife passed her citizenship interview today, yeah!! Now let me give some background before I pose my question:

We are moving to Thailand, and have been planning our departure for months. We've sold everything and have just been waiting for the N400 process to be completed. Right now, staying with relatives, and very anxious to make our move. The N400 was scheduled for June 2nd, but was then cancelled by USCIS. uggghhhh, delay. Later rescheduled for 6/23. After my wife's interview, the IO officer was able to get us the next available Oath Ceremony on July 11th, 2014. My understanding is we will receive the Certificate of Naturalization on Friday, July 11th, after the Oath Ceremony. I'd love to have a flight to Thailand booked on July 11th, but what to do about the passport? A traditional passport application can take weeks to process. An expedited passport can be achieved by visiting the nearest passport agency, which is Washington DC, and we could exit the US from there. But this would mean at least 6 nights in a Washington DC hotel (expensive) US Embassy.

Now on to my questions:

The US Embassy-Bangkok website says they can process applications for US Citizens, and that the Certificate of Naturalization will suffice as proof of citizenship. I called the 800 US State Department Passport number to double check, and asked if my wife could travel on her Thai Passport and make US Passport application once in Thailand, and they said that she must travel on a US Passport since will be a US Citizen on July 11. I'm sure that is the correct "official" response. Now I know that she will be "asked" to surrender her Thai Passport on becoming a US Citizen, but she will not be doing that. And, I know lots of US/Thai citizens carry two passports. So, could she leave the US with her Thai Passport and apply for a new US Passport at the US Embassy-Bangkok? If so, how will that impact our return to the US? People carrying two passports, do they leave the US with one passport and return with the US passport? How does that work?

Thank you!

She will have to get a US passport prior to leaving the country (see last paragraph here http://travel.state.gov/content/travel/english/legal-considerations/us-citizenship-laws-policies/citizenship-and-dual-nationality/dual-nationality.html). You will have to adjust your travel plans accordingly.

No one in the US will ask her to surrender her Thai passport, but as a US citizen she is required to leave and enter the US on an American passport.

If you go to the passport office in DC you can get your passport the same day. A friend of mine drove to DC from Greenville, SC, applied in the morning, picked up his passport at 2:00 pm and was on a flight to Germany that evening... I think that's incredibly unwise because something could have gone wrong, but if you give yourself a day or two, that will be enough.

Of course, there could be a delay at the oath ceremony, so the more time you give yourself the better.

[Karee 4,189]

Hello. My wife passed her citizenship interview today, yeah!! Now let me give some background before I pose my question:

We are moving to Thailand, and have been planning our departure for months. We've sold everything and have just been waiting for the N400 process to be completed. Right now, staying with relatives, and very anxious to make our move. The N400 was scheduled for June 2nd, but was then cancelled by USCIS. uggghhhh, delay. Later rescheduled for 6/23. After my wife's interview, the IO officer was able to get us the next available Oath Ceremony on July 11th, 2014. My understanding is we will receive the Certificate of Naturalization on Friday, July 11th, after the Oath Ceremony. I'd love to have a flight to Thailand booked on July 11th, but what to do about the passport? A traditional passport application can take weeks to process. An expedited passport can be achieved by visiting the nearest passport agency, which is Washington DC, and we could exit the US from there. But this would mean at least 6 nights in a Washington DC hotel (expensive) US Embassy.

Now on to my questions:

The US Embassy-Bangkok website says they can process applications for US Citizens, and that the Certificate of Naturalization will suffice as proof of citizenship. I called the 800 US State Department Passport number to double check, and asked if my wife could travel on her Thai Passport and make US Passport application once in Thailand, and they said that she must travel on a US Passport since will be a US Citizen on July 11. I'm sure that is the correct "official" response. Now I know that she will be "asked" to surrender her Thai Passport on becoming a US Citizen, but she will not be doing that. And, I know lots of US/Thai citizens carry two passports. So, could she leave the US with her Thai Passport and apply for a new US Passport at the US Embassy-Bangkok? If so, how will that impact our return to the US? People carrying two passports, do they leave the US with one passport and return with the US passport? How does that work?

Thank you!

First of all no one is going to ask her to surrender her Thai passport for anything. Only the Thai govt. can do that. We just traveled to Thailand twice in the last couple months. In both cases, my wife entered the U.S. on her U.S. passport, and entered Thailand on her Thai passport.

As far as getting her U.S. passport, we did it here in the U.S. and it took about 2 weeks to get the passport in the mail. It took a week after that to get the Naturalization certificate back. You have to give them the original. It sounds like you're in a hurry to get back to Thailand ASAP, but if you could wait a couple weeks, she'll have her U.S. passport. If not, it comes in the mail. Have someone at the address forward it to you via Fedex to Thailand.

[bdawn 66]

According to Section 215 of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1185), it is illegal for a U.S. citizen to enter or leave the U.S. on anything other than a U.S. passport. This applies to dual citizens as well, meaning that persons holding e.g. both Thai and American citizenships and passports must enter and leave the U.S. on a U.S. passport. There are people who are able to do otherwise, but there is no guarantee you'll not run into any problem. There are some people who ran into problems trying to use their foreign passport after they have become U.S citizens. This shows not everyone is able to by-pass the rule. I think you just have to respect the rule and apply for U.S passport for your wife. As the earlier poster mentioned, you can have it done in 24 hours.

Edited June 25, 2014 by bdawn

[reloman 0]

First of all no one is going to ask her to surrender her Thai passport for anything. Only the Thai govt. can do that. We just traveled to Thailand twice in the last couple months. In both cases, my wife entered the U.S. on her U.S. passport, and entered Thailand on her Thai passport.

As far as getting her U.S. passport, we did it here in the U.S. and it took about 2 weeks to get the passport in the mail. It took a week after that to get the Naturalization certificate back. You have to give them the original. It sounds like you're in a hurry to get back to Thailand ASAP, but if you could wait a couple weeks, she'll have her U.S. passport. If not, it comes in the mail. Have someone at the address forward it to you via Fedex to Thailand.

That was my original plan, to leave the US on July 11th after the oath ceremony and submitting the passport application by mail. Then have the passport mailed to Thailand. The guy that bought our house is a good friend, and will happily overnight the passport to Thailand. But many here are saying we have to have the US passport in hand before we leave. I'm drawing a blank on where we'll get hung up using the Thai Passport to exit US/enter Thailand, other than not following the rule of law to the T. We've always booked travel with her Thai Passport and reentered the US with her green card. Why would it be different with the passport?

[mamaSue 38]

IMHO, the only drawback I see (apart from what it says on the USCIS website) is that when you leave the US, the flight check-in asks to see your GC.

Your wife will have surrendered it on the day of the ceremony. So, as far as the airline sees, your wife hasn't got any documents.

Somebody will probably correct me if I'm wrong, but that's how I see it.

[reloman 0]

IMHO, the only drawback I see (apart from what it says on the USCIS website) is that when you leave the US, the flight check-in asks to see your GC.

Your wife will have surrendered it on the day of the ceremony. So, as far as the airline sees, your wife hasn't got any documents.

Somebody will probably correct me if I'm wrong, but that's how I see it.

That's a good point. But we will have one way tickets, and asking to see the green card is for reentry, right? Or is the airline checking for overstay?

[Ning 619]

First of all no one is going to ask her to surrender her Thai passport for anything. Only the Thai govt. can do that. We just traveled to Thailand twice in the last couple months. In both cases, my wife entered the U.S. on her U.S. passport, and entered Thailand on her Thai passport.

As far as getting her U.S. passport, we did it here in the U.S. and it took about 2 weeks to get the passport in the mail. It took a week after that to get the Naturalization certificate back. You have to give them the original. It sounds like you're in a hurry to get back to Thailand ASAP, but if you could wait a couple weeks, she'll have her U.S. passport. If not, it comes in the mail. Have someone at the address forward it to you via Fedex to Thailand.

Not sure about the D C area but when I received my Nat cert after the ceremony the passport office had a desk right there where we could apply for passport. We did so for my daughter to allow her to become a citizen. The passport arrived within about 2 weeks as Karee says.