Hi everyone, thanks a million for your info on directions for Cinque Terre etc. I'm wondering if anyone every got the information on how to use dual citizenship travelling from Canada to Italy? We will be travelling from Canada to Greece first (do I show them the Italian passport or Canadian?), then going from Greece to Italy (which one now?) and then from Italy back to Athens.
I hear the you miss the lineups but what about my husband who is pure 100% Canadian!!

Just be aware that when you travel on any one trip you must use one passport.

My daughters both have UK and Canadian citizenship and for the very reason you state - avoiding lineups - they would use their UK (EU) passports to enter Europe, and their Canadian passports when returning to Canada.

We were recently informed that this is NOT legal.

Also, if you travel on your Italian passport and your husband on his Canadian passport, you will be possibly put into separate lines on entering some countries. You will meet up again just past passport control - but why bother.

I may be missing something but I can't see what you will gain by using your Italian passport. Keep your life simple!

Sheena is right. It is illegal to use two passports on one trip. My friend who used both a regular passport and a displmatic passport got a scolding. She didn't do it on purpose, just wasn't really thinking.

When my other half and I travel, he goes to the Euro passport lines and I go through the "all other passport" ones but he never has to wait for me more than a few minutes.

Using a diplomatic and a regular is not allowed BUT, if you hold Italian citizenship and you are entering Italy (well truly the EU) you MUST enter and exit the EU with your Italian passport. Just as you MUST enter and exit with your Canadian passport in Canada. You will use 2 passports and it is allowed.

Christina this is what we had thought in the past. However with the introduction of 'machine read' passports .. you have to complete and end your journey on one passport.

Well perhaps this was always the rule, but it was less able to be traced in the past.

one of my daughters came very close to having a passport confiscated for breaking this rule.

I can understand that if you are a Canadian (or other) citizen also holding an EU passport, with the intention of staying within the EU for an extended period of time you would need to enter using the EU pasport - and on returning to Canada (or?) you would need to use your Canadian passport. I don't have an answer to this puzzle - I only speak from our own experience.

I agree with Cristina - it's the same for me in Australia/Europe.

I use my Australian passport to leave and enter Australia, and my Italian passport to enter and leave the EU.

However, if I tried to use my Italian passport to enter or leave Australia, I'm told that all sorts of nasty things could happen.

Hubby will just have to wait in line I'm afraid!

If you hold a US passport for example, you are REQUIRED to enter and exit the US with that passport. Same goes for Italy, it is a requirement. Some border officials can be picky about this and harass people as they do not care about the requirements and just see someone as holding two passports and wonder why but if you go to the state dept. website or the Italian embassy website it clearly states this requirement. I will go find the pages and post them so for ease of travel those who do hold two passports can show proof of the requirement by printing out the pages.

quote:

I'm wondering if anyone every got the information on how to use dual citizenship travelling from Canada to Italy?

The answer to your question is to be found here (for Canadians citizens): Dual Citizenship: What Travellers Should Know

For USA citizens, an excerpt from the State Dept. Bureau of Consular Affairs:

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

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1753.html

quote:

Originally posted by Cristina:
If you hold a US passport for example, you are REQUIRED to enter and exit the US with that passport. Same goes for Italy, it is a requirement. Some border officials can be picky about this and harass people as they do not care about the requirements and just see someone as holding two passports and wonder why but if you go to the state dept. website or the Italian embassy website it clearly states this requirement.

Cristina,
Here is the requirement for an Italian citizen to travel with an Italian passport, from the Italian Consulate in Miami:

Pursuant to Italian law, a citizen of Italy, even if holder of another citizenship is only Italian, because in view of the law it is the Italian citizenship that prevails over any other. Furthermore, the law does not prohibit the individual from holding another passport issued by a foreign government. Such passport however is at any rate irrelevant in front of the Italian Authorities, as a situation of double or multiple status cannot be invoked by a personto subtract himself from respecting fully Italian laws, which inter alia, punishes the Italian citizen who travel across Italian borders without the Italian passport, under any circumstances, even to reside in a foreign country.

http://www.italconsmiami.com/docs/Italian%20Citizenship%20by%20blood.pdf

The Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade:

quote:

Travel: If you travel with two passports, you could be subject to increased scrutiny by immigration and security officials. You could be questioned about missing entry or exit stamps, as well as your reason for having two travel documents.

This is probably what prompted the warning to my daughters.

It is an interesting topic.

When I travel it is on a British passport, and upon return to Canada I must show my Canadian Resident card. As Canadian Citizens my daughters do not have a Canadian Residents card. If usung their British passports, on return to Canada the passport would be stamped showing the date of entry and limited length of stay. Hence (eventually) a missing exit stamp.

I have no idea what the UK requirements are - but for an Italian/Canadian dual citizenship one could clearly encounter problems with one of the countries of citizenship.

I suspect that in the past these things have been overlooked, but with increased security the rules are rising to the surface.

Interestingly enough I recently renewed my British Passport and now have the new biometric passport - all part of increased security!

Thanks for the additional information. It seems like I have over-generalized my friend's "no two passports" story.

Now I have to go look up how this affects our future children.