scilly

All well and good ..............

until you happen to be in a country where there is a major earthquake, you run out of your hotel because that is what we are told to do, but you forget in the panic that your passport and most of your money are in your suitcase or the room safe, and are then not allowed back into the hotel because it is too dangerous.

That is when you find out if your country's consulate and/ or embassy and its officials are competent or no or whether you can get help form any other country.

You will then find out whether your stiff upper lip stays stiff as you watch people from other countries being helped while you sit and wait 3 days for the your officials to arrive and then tell you "we have no proof that you are a citizen of xxxxxxxx"

In the above example, it happened to be British citizens carrying a Canadian passport getting caught in one of the relatively recent earthquakes in New Zealand, but I have heard similar stories from people caught in other natural disasters where the official of their country have not come up to scratch.

Pollyana

That's exactly when it does become an issue, indeed.
As part of my job I have assisted Australians needing to be repatriated not just after earthquakes, but after bombings in India, major unrest in several Asian countries, and the 2004 Indonesian tsunami. That's where consular assistance comes into its own, not for helping people who can't afford a ticket home, but for assisting people caught up in natural or man-made disasters.

vinegarboy

The 'stiff upper lip' aspect which respondents keep mentioning in nothing more than me always remembering that things, no matter how bad they get for me, can always get or be worse; that other people before me have struggled against far worse situations than whatever I'm dealing with at the time. Just think of the poor men stuck trapped in the Kursk at the bottom of the sea, or of Capt. Robert Falcon Scott in his deathbed tent in the Antarctic. Having to wait in a queue with no A/C for a consular official to take one's details pales utterly in comparison. Annoyances and inconveniences come and go, but the wonderful bravenesses of the past still have the power to inspire.

Dorothy

When it's a choice for me which passport I use for travel I ask myself which country do I want to be repatriated to should I need to be. That's why I travel mainly on the passport of the country where I live (unless travelling to Canada where I have to enter with my Canadian passport or the US where it's just easier to use my CDN passport rather than go through the rigmarole of applying for ESTA).

OP, events beyond your control can and do happen all the time. Don't underestimate how quickly things can turn to crap no matter where in the world one is.

BritInParis

Visas, availability of consular assistance, passport 'neutrality'; all should be taken into account. My regular travelling companion travels on his British passport but takes his Australian one as well should he need to play that card.

Dorothy

I do carry both .

As for multiple citizenships, my partner has British and Irish from birth, Australian through naturalisation and he has PR in Canada , so will eventually add that one. I think I could have Irish through my father but it's not that important to me .

BritInParis

An Irish passport is a good one to have; it is prized for its neutrality by journalists travelling to sticky spots. Of course its usefulness will be placed on where you like to holiday

vinegarboy

So, happily for me, I finally (and at ever so long last!) became a Canadian citizen on Friday (9/14th). The MP whose hand I shook up on the stage while being presented with my citizenship certificate teased me about being a triple, so I said that I'd bet on three Queens, haha.

paw339

Just remember to register with the Irish embassy before you have kids if you want to ensure your children get an Irish passport.

BritInParis

Even if you’re not interested your children may will be, particularly with Brexit.

MarylandNed

Not necessary if the parent was born on the island of Ireland on or before Dec 31st 2004 - in which case, any children are automatically Irish citizens regardless of where they were born.

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/moving_country/irish_citizenship/irish_citizenship_through_birth_or_descent.html

http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages...-birth-descent