Travel to Mexico with dual citizenship and two passports

[JohnE 57]

Good morning,

 

  First of all I did not know what form to post this topic but I have see other posts about dual citizenship and traveling in this form so assume this will be correct.  

 

My wife's oath ceremony is next Friday and she will be applying for a US passport but of course will keep her Mexican passport as she will be a dual citizen which is perfectly legal.   

 

When we travel to Mexico City to see family I fully understand she will leave and enter the US on her US passport.  Here is where I do not know the process.  

 

When a US citizen flies to Mexico City they are give a visitor's visa.  Actually the cost of the visa is built into your plane ticket price.  You are issued the visa when you pass through passport control in Mexico City.  When you leave Mexico City (airport) you surrender your visitor's visa.  If you happen to have lost your visa you have to go to a Mexican government office and have a new one issued (for an additional fee).  You cannot leave the county without that visa.  The airline will not let you check in without the visa.  

 

  Prior to my wife getting her US passport she would enter Mexico City with her Mexican  passport.  When we left Mexico City to fly back to Atlanta she had to show her Mexican passport AND her green card.  Of course next Friday at the oath ceremony USCIS will take the green card and issue her the naturalization certificate. 

 

  Once she receives her US passport if she enters Mexico with her Mexican passport she will need to leave with a Mexican passport AND a green card, which of course she will not have.  If she leaves Mexico with a US passport they will want the travel visa which she will not have as she entered Mexico with a Mexican passport.  I am sure I already know the answer to my question but does anyone know or have gone through that process?  I assume she will enter and leave Mexico with a US passport with a travel visa.  

 

Also wondering what does Mexico think when a Mexican citizen enters and leaves with a US passport?

 

Hope you understand what I have stated above and looking forward to any and all replies.  

 

Thanks and may God bless you

 

[JohnE 57]

Good morning (love_my_wife) and everyone else,

 

  Thanks for your reply.  I am sorry but you are wrong about not needing a visa to enter Mexico...or at least when you fly into Mexico City.  I have flown into Mexico City no less than 25 times and am speaking from first hand experience.  As I said in my original post the cost of the visa is built into your plane ticket price.  You are issued the visa at passport control.  My visa is normally good for 180 days (six months) and it clearly states the amount of days you are allowed to stay in Mexico.  You have to surrender the visa when you check in with the airline at the Mexico City airport.  

 

  The reason for my question is I have heard about people with dual passports from other countries.  They have made statements of leaving the US with the US passport but arriving in their original home country with that country's passport.  They leave that country with that country's passport country's  and enter the US with their US passport.  I assume maybe those countries do not require a visa.  But what I do no understand is how they can leave their country with that country's passport and NO US visa (aka green card).  

 

  I fully understand the benefits of having dual citizenship and dual passports but trying to understand when and how you are using those passports.  

 

Thanks for any additional information anyone might have.

 

God bless

 

[coloradoman 32]

She will enter and leave Mexico on her Mexican passport, and enter the U.S. on her U.S. passport. Not sure why Mexican authorities have asked for her Green Card in the past, possibly just to make sure that she won't be turned down at the border here. In that case, she can just show both passports to satisfy the documentation requirement.

 

In any event, as a Mexican citizen, it would be ridiculous for her to get a visa to her home country, and it might actually be illegal for her to enter Mexico on a U.S. passport while being a Mexican citizen (same thing over here, she can't enter the U.S. on her Mexican passport).

Edited February 11, 2019 by coloradoman