Can you leave the US as a dual citizen with an expired US passport?
My daughter has dual citizenship: US/German.
We will be flying from Germany to the US in 6 weeks. Her US passport will expire during our stay in the US, but not on the day of our flight (4 days later). Do you think I should get ESTA for her? Just to make sure that the airline will let her board the plane? Will there be any problems with getting back to Germany without ESTA and with an expired US passport?
Best Answer
Legally, she can enter the US with her US passport (since it will not yet have expired), but she will need to renew it before leaving:
Except as otherwise provided by the President and subject to such limitations and exceptions as the President may authorize and prescribe, it shall be unlawful for any citizen of the United States to depart from or enter, or attempt to depart from or enter, the United States unless he bears a valid United States passport. (8 USC 1185 (b))
This would apply even though she is also a citizen of another country and has that country's passport.
That said, my understanding is that this law is not enforced, there are no prescribed penalties for violating it, and there are no exit checks on leaving the US. So practically speaking, if she were to not renew her US passport and depart with her German one instead, I wouldn't anticipate any legal problems arising. But it is technically against the law to do so.
(It's conceivable that the airline might raise some sort of objection. I'm afraid I don't have any specific knowledge on that point.)
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Can dual citizens leave us without U.S. passport?
Most U.S. citizens, including dual nationals, must use a U.S. passport to enter and leave the United States. Dual nationals may also be required by the foreign country to use its passport to enter and leave that country. Use of the foreign passport does not endanger U.S. citizenship.What happens if you travel with an expired passport?
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Answer 2
No. She is a US citizen, so she can remain in the US indefinitely, so neither the airline nor US officials will require that her US passport is valid beyond her date of entry to the US, and she will not be denied boarding.
For the return flight, an ESTA is not required to leave the US, nor is there any passport control at the US border, so she can use her valid German passport to return to Germany. You won't have any issue in either direction.
Answer 3
As others pointed out, legally she must leave the US with her US passport. As an anecdote though, from my personal experience - I am a dual US/UK citizen and whenever I visit USA, I enter on my US passport. On an occasion, when leaving, I showed my UK passport during check in and had no problem. This was usually with either BA or Virgin Atlantic.
Again, this is not a suggestion to do that, but rather a confirmation that the law on leaving with the US passport may not necessarily be enforced.
Answer 4
I have done this with my son, travelling to the UK when we lived in the USA. His US passport had expired but his UK passport had not, so we presented both at US immigration and he was allowed to leave and re-enter.
This would have been at least 15 years ago, so rules may have changed since then.
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