Hey ladys and gents

I am new to the forum and i really need your help...

i am in a kinda stupid situation. I am 22 years old and i gre up in switzerland, my dad is american so i also have a us passport.

No my Problem. I am traveling to NY in feb to visit my girlfriend. I can not find my us passport anymore and i can not make a new one becuase my dad lives aborad for some months a year, so he can not give me the certificate to verify that i have a right to have a us passport.

Can i now just travel to the us with my swiss passport? I am really worried..

Pleas help

regards and cheerio
Nico

Yes you can travel on the Swiss passport, but you need to go online and tell the US you are coming, it would be best if you can find your US passport!

http://bern.usembassy.gov/niv_waiver_program.html check that your passport is not too old!

You must complete this Travel Authority process, and you need to send them money!
https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/

If you buy the air ticket from a travel agent here in Switzerland, they will be able to help you with the Travel Authority process. Make sure it is correct or you will not be allowed to fly to the USA.

Thank you for your fast reply!

Is this not for just Swiss citizens only? Will they not see in the computer in ny when i want to get into the country that i actually also have a us passport and they will ask me why i did not travel with the us one?

Thank god this forum exists, i called like 3 parties today, no one could help me.

Bring soap to wasch your fingers

So although i have a us passport i can travel to the us with my swiss passport if i fill out the esta form and they have my TSA secure flight information?



regards

You will be fingerprinted

No, as a US citizen you're required to enter/leave the US on your US passport. Perhaps they're not too strict on enforcing it - I really have no idea - but that's the law.

If your US passport is lost or stolen then you need to notify the US Department of State, so they can cancel it and issue you a new one. Here's the link.

Sorry, but this is incorrect. As a US citizen, the US requires you to enter on your US passport. How this will be enforced is another matter.

See here, http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_p.../cis_1753.html

And this previous thread, Entering USA with Swiss passport

I stand corrected, better get the new US passport soon then!

(b) Citizens
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.

Great advise but I think it may be a bit Moot as I don't think he is a US Citizen, simply has a US Passport, in which case can travel on eiother with correct "Visa" or am I missing something OP?

What? In order to have a US passport, he most definitely would be a US citizen (unless recently renounced, which does not seem to be the case).

I reckon he's both. US passports are (almost) only ever issued to US citizens.

(The only exceptions are people born in "outlying possessions", i.e. American Samoa and a few minor islands, whose parents are also non-citizen nationals - see here for full details. Such a person is considered a US national but not a US citizen; he is entitled to bear a US passport but it will contain a statement to that effect.)

Yep not enough coffee, I hadn't formulated what I wanted to say before the return..lol

This is what I wanted to say:

He is not a Citizen in the usual sense of pure Americans but instead has dual citizenship and most likely for years has been putting Swiss as his nationality and country of origin.

In this case although one is supposed to use the US travel permit they can over look it : https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/det...e,-citizenship he could turn up as Swiss with the right visa no problem

I don't understand.

Have you already had a US physically real life paper passport and it is just expired? Are you confusing the word "passport" with "citizenship"?

If you have already had a US passport in your life time you do not need your father's permission to get another. Also, if your citizenship has already been documented you also don't need your father's permission now that you are 22 years old. In that case you need to travel to the US on your US passport.

I suspect though that you mean you still need to have your citizenship asserted so that you can get a US passport. In this case you can travel on your Swiss passport because although you maybe entitled to US citizenship, it has not yet been officially documented.


A dual citizen is a "pure" American.

You Know what I mean :P An Average born, raised, stayed US Mom US DAD, school, college, visited Mexico for a couple of holidays, traveled to London and Paris for work.... Lives in the US, returns to the US

Ummm, you can only get a US passport if you area US citizen!

So, yes, you are required to use a US passport, but if you don't you may be able to get off with a warning or a fine (I have heard of cases of both)

Tom

If you are a US Citizen you have to present yourself for entry into the United States as a US Citizen. The United States does not recognize other citizenships of its Citizens.

You said you lost your US passport. Therefore you do not have one.

You can use your Swiss passport with an approved ESTA to get yourself on the plane. Once you arrive though you MUST present yourself as a US Citizen. You will then be refered to secondary Immigration inspection since you do not have your US passport. At this point, expect a delay. The secondary officer will be able to go into systems and access information about you to validate your claim as a US Citizen.

But if you aren't going to the US until February, why don't you go to the Embassy in Bern and apply for a new one? Services for US citizens are much faster than they are for non-citizens applying for visas, and if you pay for expedited service you should have your new passport in a matter of a week. I know you said your dad lives abroad and cannot give you the certificate, but surely he can post it to you? Or you can request a copy for yourself from the state where you were born?

Going to the US with your new US passport will be much less hassel than having to undergo scrutinous inspection at a port of entry.

If he has been issued a US passport, then he is a US Citizen, either Jus Sanguinis or Jus Solis, until such a time as he renounces his citizenship... which is another option. He could renounce his US Citizenship, but even accomplishing this before February could be a challenge.

Nope. Still not with you. A dual US citizen is still a "pure" American even if they have never partied in Mexico for spring break. :P

As mentioned above, you have to enter the US with your US passport.

However, since Swiss passports have that nifty thing where your commune d'origine is listed instead of the place of birth, so no "red flags" due to a US birthplace. I have heard of at least three stories post 9/11 where people with Swiss passports slipped through customs because whoever's desk they went to was slacking that day and didn't look too much at whatever came up on their little computer when the passport was scanned.

Another person I knew got the "interrogation room" and a slap on the wrists, but was eventually allowed in.

I read in a recent thread how someone asked for a renewal by mail and got their US passport back in record time (four days or something)- I would suggest to the OP to do that, or at least try.

Here is a very good reason to enter the US on your US passport if you are a citizen: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/14/us...pagewanted=all

Short version for those who don't want to read the article: There is something called a federal detainer which allows local police to hold a person suspected of being in the country illegally for up to 48 hours. If you enter the US on a non-US passport, your fingerprints will be registered in the Homeland Security immigration database. If for some reason you are arrested, your fingerprints will be checked against those in the database and if there is a match, you can be held. A Spanish-US dual citizen had once entered with her Spanish passport and was arrested for a misdemeanor. She was in jail for 4 days until she could prove her citizenship. Yikes.