Travel with two passports?

[eblend]

So I am going to Brazil in May of this year, and just trying to research a few things before I go. Canadian citizens require a visa to visit Brazil, however, Russian citizens do not, and you can get a Visa on arrival. I am a citizen of both, and have both active passports. How can I make this happen so that I don't have to do the visa thing?

Do I just fly into Brazil and present my Russian passport at entry....and then the Canadian one on the way out....or do I present both? How does it work. The flight will be connecting through Huston in both directions, so my concern is presenting a Russian passport when leaving Brazil, as a Russian I would require a Visa for both USA and Canada...but not as a Canadian.

Anyone ever done something similar?

[lasimmon]

I heard that using different passports while travelling can cause a ton of issues.. Not 100% sure about that though.

[cet]

I think you're fine as long as you enter and leave the country on the same passport.

I use 2 passports when I travel to the UK or around Europe:

Leave Canada - Canadian Passport
Enter UK/Travel around Europe - UK Passport
Leave UK - UK Passport
Enter Canada - Canadian Passport

[lasimmon]

Originally posted by eblend
So I am going to Brazil in May of this year, and just trying to research a few things before I go. Canadian citizens require a visa to visit Brazil, however, Russian citizens do not, and you can get a Visa on arrival. I am a citizen of both, and have both active passports. How can I make this happen so that I don't have to do the visa thing?

Do I just fly into Brazil and present my Russian passport at entry....and then the Canadian one on the way out....or do I present both? How does it work. The flight will be connecting through Huston in both directions, so my concern is presenting a Russian passport when leaving Brazil, as a Russian I would require a Visa for both USA and Canada...but not as a Canadian.

Anyone ever done something similar?

Reading up online you will most likely need to present your passport in Houston that will allow you to gain access to Brazil. So when boarding your plane to Brazil show them your Russian passport and you should be good to go.

I don't know if you need a Visa to get into the USA if you are showing your Russian, but you could just show your Canadian to get into the USA.

[ExtraSlow]

How is travel through the USA these days with a russian passport?

[Kobe]

When I was in Europe for over a year I traveled on my Canadian passport, leaving customs is like WTF u have been here way to long.. I'm like I'm polish and show my polish passport and they let me go...

[adamc]

Originally posted by cet
I think you're fine as long as you enter and leave the country on the same passport.

I use 2 passports when I travel to the UK or around Europe:

Leave Canada - Canadian Passport
Enter UK/Travel around Europe - UK Passport
Leave UK - UK Passport
Enter Canada - Canadian Passport

I have both and do this as well.

When asked for passports in countries like germany (on the train) I give them both. They're always happy to see the Canadian passport, in my experience.

[lasimmon]

That doesn't really apply to someone with a Russian and Canadian passports flying to Brazil via the USA....

[FraserB]

Originally posted by lasimmon
That doesn't really apply to someone with a Russian and Canadian passports flying to Brazil via the USA....

If you are going to enter or exit Canada, you present your Canadian passport. When you enter or exit the second country, you present you other passport.

I have to do it when traveling to Australia.

[max_boost]

Comrade. I had no idea! haha

[3drian]

Originally posted by cet
I think you're fine as long as you enter and leave the country on the same passport.

I use 2 passports when I travel to the UK or around Europe:

Leave Canada - Canadian Passport
Enter UK/Travel around Europe - UK Passport
Leave UK - UK Passport
Enter Canada - Canadian Passport

I do the same to south america this totally works

[eblend]

Originally posted by FraserB


If you are going to enter or exit Canada, you present your Canadian passport. When you enter or exit the second country, you present you other passport.

I have to do it when traveling to Australia.

How does this work with the USA customs being in Canada?

1. I know you have to show your passport to the airline first at checkin.....should I be showing my Canadian one, or Russian one?

2. Since USA customs is right here in Calgary, would I show them my Canadian one (which wouldn't match what is said on the airline ticket..I believe you have to enter that info at checkin)?

Lots more questions on how to make this work to follow I am sure.

[eblend]

I did some more reading online, and going to spell it out here and see if anyone notices any flaws with this plan:

1. Check-in online, use my Russian passport, as I am dealing with the Airline. The airline will verify that I don't need a Visa to go to Brazil, and let me go.

2. Get to the USA customs in Calgary. Present my Canadian passport. Customs don't care where I am going really, they just care about their own boarders, so they let me through as a Canadian citizen.

3. When I arrive in the USA (Huston), I have already cleared customs in Canada, so nothing to worry about, but since it's a connecting flight, do I have to go through customs again? If I have to go through customs again, I just present my Canadian passport as I am leaving USA, and they don't really care where I am going, the airline does.

4. When I get to the gate to board the plane, I show my Russian passport to the airline staff and get on the plane.

5. Arrive in brazil, show em my Russian passport and enjoy.

6. On the way home from Brazil, I show the airline staff my Canadian Passport

7. At customs in Brazil, I show they my Russian passport.

8. From here on, it's Canadian passport all the way, to enter USA and then Canada.

[davidI]

^ The airline may have concerns about your transit through the US in step #1 but I imagine you'll be fine if you show them both passports and explain your plan.

The rest of your plan is correct though when exiting you'll show the airline your Canadian passport and Brazilian immigration (if exit immigration) your Russian passport.

[Gainsbarre]

Plan looks solid. The general rule is to always enter and leave a foreign country using the same passport. Of course, not all countries check passports upon exit (some examples being Canada, the USA, UK, and Ireland), but most do, including Brazil. If you're Canadian and have another (non-US) passport, don't ever present it to US customs officials...they fingerprint/take a picture of all persons presenting non-Canadian or non-US passports, plus now there is the whole added complication with the visa waiver program (which thankfully doesn't apply to Canadian citizens -- we still have visa free access to the USA, at least for now). I don't flash my two passports around customs officials, ever, as it arouses suspicion among some.

I was only hassled once for having two passports when I traveled over land from Thailand to Laos. I had used my Canadian passport to enter/exit Thailand, and presented my British passport to Lao officials, who refused it after flipping through it and only seeing Argentine/Brazilian/Turkish visa stamps in it, and demanded that I use my Canadian passport or I wouldn't be issued a visa. I suspect they only did that to fleece me out of an extra $7 USD (visa upon arrival at the time was $35 USD for Canadian passports and $28 for UK passports).

My British passport simply lists my place of birth as "Calgary." When a lady at passport control in Kuwait looked at my British passport and asked me where's Calgary, I said "Scotland, UK" (which is technically true, given that this city is named after a hamlet in Scotland )...I didn't want the hassle of having to explain why I had two passports or having to pay a visa fee with my Canadian passport. Even if you have two passports and can get a visa upon arrival at your destination using either passport it's always worthwhile checking beforehand if the fees differ based on nationality (Turkey being another example here).

I still use my Canadian passport for travel to the UK and EU, just for the visa stamps

[eblend]

So I am all booked, and need to make a decision soon if I should waste the $200 for a Brazil visa, or use my Russian passport.

My flights are with United, through Houston. With that being said, I have asked around online and it appears that once I land in Houston, I can just go straight to my Brazil gate, as the overhead train between terminals is considered a secure area. Can anyone verify? With US Customs being here in Calgary it's hard to get proper information from random places, so I figure I ask people from Calgary.

EDIT: Just looked at arriving and departing flights out of Huston, and seems like United flights for both Calgary arrival and Rio departures are out of Terminal E, so shouldn't need to transfer to different terminal.

[G-RS4]

Some additional information to consider when travelling with 2 passports. If for any reason you get in to trouble or require any sort of consular assistance you may not receive any assistance from Canada as you entered the country under a Russian passport. You would not have access to any Canada-Brazil privileges entering under a Russian passport.

[Feruk]

Originally posted by eblend
I did some more reading online, and going to spell it out here and see if anyone notices any flaws with this plan:

1. Check-in online, use my Russian passport, as I am dealing with the Airline. The airline will verify that I don't need a Visa to go to Brazil, and let me go.

2. Get to the USA customs in Calgary. Present my Canadian passport. Customs don't care where I am going really, they just care about their own boarders, so they let me through as a Canadian citizen.

3. When I arrive in the USA (Huston), I have already cleared customs in Canada, so nothing to worry about, but since it's a connecting flight, do I have to go through customs again? If I have to go through customs again, I just present my Canadian passport as I am leaving USA, and they don't really care where I am going, the airline does.

4. When I get to the gate to board the plane, I show my Russian passport to the airline staff and get on the plane.

5. Arrive in brazil, show em my Russian passport and enjoy.

6. On the way home from Brazil, I show the airline staff my Canadian Passport

7. At customs in Brazil, I show they my Russian passport.

8. From here on, it's Canadian passport all the way, to enter USA and then Canada.

I have a Polish passport (same rules as Russian one where I'd need visa to enter USA but not Brazil) and Canadian passport. I did the exact same thing when traveling to Brazil. You 100% can do this, as long as you have a BIOMETRIC passport. Do NOT try to get a visa to Brazil and use your Canadian passport. The process is a huge pain in the ass. Two of my buddies missed the trip cuz of how slow and incompetent Brazilian visa issuing is.

I can verify this is 100% the way you do it. Your only issue may be checking in online. I had to check in with a human being both times as online/machine wasn't smart enough to recognize that I had 2 passports.