I am planning an extended weekend in Scotland right at the beginning of May. The plan is to fly from Prague to Glasgow, possibly via another British city like Belfast. I am a naturalized Czech citizen and my Canadian passport has expired, so I plan to travel on the Czech passport. Currently, renewing my Canadian passport would just be another expense (and not an insubstantial one, given what I earn). Before I do so, I would like to check if this could result in any complications. To put things into perspective, the Czech Republic is in the European Union and the Schengen Zone; the UK used to be in the former (but was never in the latter). Traditionally as a former part of the British Empire, the Canadian passport is well-received in the UK, whereas the Czech Republic is an ex-Communist country. I don’t know if it would make any difference today, but here are some concerns I have:
This British government website says that EU citizens don’t need visas for short stays. There isn’t any pre-screening form I have to fill out before coming, is there?
When the immigration officer hears the Czech national speaking English with a North American accent, will they get suspicious? If asked to explain myself, I can of course tell them the truth - that I am from Canada, grew up there, later moved to the Czech Republic, now have Czech citizenship, and am using my Czech passport as I permanently live there and my Canadian passport is expired. Would anything there give them cause for offense or distrust?
Any other problems I should anticipate if I use my Czech passport? I was in Scotland twice in the past on my Canadian passport, (2003 and 2008), and both times, the immigration officers were gruff and asked a lot of questions.
They certainly didn’t have a problem with my mother-in-law using her Canadian passport even with her strong Scottish accent. She hasn’t held a valid UK passport since she became a Canadian citizen in the 1990s. If they ask, just explain.
Note that since last month Canadian and passport holders need an ETA before travelling to the UK. EU passports require it as of April.
I can’t imagine the Communist past makes any difference, any more than the opposite would for people with Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, German or Italian passports.
As an EU citizen, there will be no issues with you travelling to Scotland. We even still let EU passport holders use the UK passport lane on arrival - you’ll likely even enter through an e-gate rather than be grilled by a border agent. Don’t worry and enjoy your trip!
What would be the issues trying to enter Canada when you return home on your Czech passport instead of a Canadian one? At the very least I suspect you may have a long wait while they investigate.
It appears OP is a Czech resident, so home is there not Canada. To return to Canada on their Czech passport they would need an eTA - Electronic Travel Authorization - or they aren’t boarding the plane. Once they land in Canada, they just have to establish their identity and CBSA has to admit them.
While I have little experience traveling in the EU, I have traveled to dozens of countries, often in the company of international co-workers with passports from all sorts of places and with all different backgrounds. My guess based on my experience (only a guess, mind you, but an educated one) is that the immigration officers you’ll encounter have already seen it all. It would take a lot more than a slightly unexpected language facility to faze them.
It might be different with a Czech passport but for years I entered Canada with a US passport and Canadian citizenship card. Never caused the slightest question. Now I have both passports.
If returning home, I would renew my Canadian passport. Heck, if I had enough money to visit Canada, I would have enough money to renew my passport. Still, this is an interesting theoretical question to pose. Can anyone get into trouble for travelling to a country of which they are a citizen on the passport of a different country?
My daughter lives in Moscow and has a Russian and a Spanish passport.
She has entered Spain with her Russian passport in the past (when her Spanish passport was being renewed) without any particular issues (with the corresponding Schengen visa).
Having more than one passport is very common. But you would need to comply with whatever immigration control is in place for your foreign passport ie visa or pre-registration requirements. If you were returning in order to live rather than simply visit, you would need some evidence that you have residency rights.
Yeah, this kind of thing. If I flew into JFK and used my Irish passport (which includes my middle name so it may not be obvious) they would have a problem. In fact, I think there’s a rule that you must use your USA passport as the USA doesn’t recognise dual citizenship. The customs lines for foreigners are immensely longer than natives.
A similar thing happened in reverse. I did JFK to Dusseldorf and the non-EU line had like 100 people and the EU line had none so I showed my Irish passport and they didn’t even stamp it. Then later went to Helsinki and I didn’t even need to show it (to customs - airlines want to see ID). Then I was taking a ferry to St. Petersburg and my Russian visa was on my USA passport. At the port the Russian guys couldn’t figure out how I got there with no stamps on the USA passport. I shrugged, “They must not have stamped it.” They could see prior Russian visas and no visits to wherever conflicts their interest and after 5 minutes they let me on the boat.
Right. My ex-wife is American, though a naturalized Canadian citizen, and she never had a problem going from Canada to the US on her US passport. Trying to get from Canada to the US on her Canadian passport always presented problems. She would eventually get through (the “Place of Birth: Chicago”) in her Canadian passport indicated that she was a birthright American citizen, but she’d usually have to put up with a lecture from the US CBP officer about how she should travel on her US passport when returning to the US. As she described one such lecture, “An American eagle with a tear dripping from its eye in front of the Stars and Stripes rippling in the breeze while the Star Spangled Banner plays.”
Such events were rare, because if she was planning to go to the US, she’d have her US passport. But some visits were sudden and unexpected, especially when she was out of town on business, and all she had was her Canadian passport, and she had to make do.
(Note that my ex was not born in Chicago; rather, she was born in another well-known American city. I just used “Chicago” as a placeholder, to protect her privacy.)
Part of the new RealID identification standardization being pushed here in the US is to include a full middle name. My new driver’s license issued last summer has my full middle name, previous DLs only had my middle initial.
I have till 2028 for both of mine and both have the chip neither my 4 year or my wife’s older phone can scan. Neither of mine have any more possibly than my photo and signature - never been fingerprinted / eye scanned / DNA sequenced and got both (renewed) in 2018 by mail so I reckon two embassy visits in London. And the only ID’s I have otherwise are derived from my Irish-with-middle name passport have that so I guess the US Embassy will have to take my word and ID or determine for themselves.