Vulcanoid

Do you not find absolute statements a little dangerous?

I got that gem on a 7am arrival from Brussels. fair amount of test in my voice as I muttered back "..... until I next leave".

Generally, I've found British border guards to be particularly unpleasant and incompetent (my next arrival from Paris, the next door booth, a French businessman was undergoing interrogation as to who he worked for, how long he'd been with them) - so much nicer to just be waved through par les Francais.

BritInParis

Normally yes but since it would be a completely irrelevant question if you're a British citizen entering the UK on a valid British citizen passport then I find it utterly bizarre any UK IO would ask you that since it wouldn't matter if you were staying one day or forever. Was this on the Eurostar or at an airport?

Vulcanoid

Precisely. That's why I called it a ridiculous question here and glared at the woman at the time Bristol airport. Which, fortunately, now has a bank of machine readers for European passports so can skip the eejits at desks.

BritInParis

Bristol? Hmm. Can't imagine that ever happening at a London airport. First day perhaps? Can I assume that was a lifetime one-off?

Sally Redux

Weird isn't it, I've only ever been waved through in a pleasant manner at UK passport control. That's why I thought they never asked questions of citizens.

Former Lancastrian

If on a UK passport they won't ask Immigration questions but might ask questions regarding Customs (goods purchased etc) and that would be rare as they have the green and red lines as in nothing to declare or declaring goods.
We do both at our passport control maybe the UK don't if presenting a UK passport.

Sally Redux

The green and red lines are brilliant. It's another massive queue (or rather several queues which don't join up or make any sense) at LAX after passport control, to have your customs declaration checked.

Gozit

My favourite is the back door at MLA that says "EU arrivals" that bypasses passport control and customs, and apparently is accessible from all over the airport as my uncle flew in from DXB (with a stop in Nicosia but didn't get out of plane) and went through it

Sally Redux

AlliF

Interesting question.
Is there a hard and fast rule for it?
I would have thought follow the law of the land that you are in at the time of committing the act and do your time there?
But if one of your country of nationalities has laxer laws than the other I suppose there is a worry about people just skipping out of the country to misbehave and come back in with no consequences..

Gozit

Yes and this was exhibited in the example of Brazil and the brothels. Why should I be prosecuted back in Canada for going to a brothel in Brazil? It just isn't right...

SchnookoLoly

It says right in your Canadian passport that if you hold a passport for another country and you get in trouble with that country then Canada will be limited in how much they can do for you. This was recently in the news with the journalist who was imprisoned in Egypt. He holds both Egyptian and Canadian citizenships. He went to Egypt on assignment, entered Egypt using his Egyptian passport, then was arrested. Canada is limited in what they have been able to do for him because the Egyptian government basically said "he's an Egyptian citizens on Egyptian soil, back off". Canada can't really do much about that.

About ten years ago, a friend of mine ran into trouble. His father was Greek, and he got his Greek passport in his teens; he'd never been to Greece, though he did use his Greek passport in Europe a few times. Ten years ago he went to Greece for the first time. Entered on his passport, did his touristy stuff, and then was barred from leaving the country because as a Greek citizen he had not fulfilled his military service, which I believe at the time was two years (details are fuzzy). So he was denied exiting the country in order to fulfil his service; to get out of it, he had to prove he had never lived in Greece. This included getting proof of address and school transcripts going all the way back to kindergarten. He went to the Canadian embassy in Athens, but they basically told him that while they could help get his documentation in order etc that ultimately he was a Greek citizen in Greece and was bound by the requirements of Greek law on Greek citizens. It took him about two weeks to get all his documentation together, and he was then marked as exempt from military service. (He's since been back with no issues, but also uses his Canadian passport instead, just in case.)

There is a similar reason for why I have sorted out getting my Portuguese citizenship, but my brother has not. Portugal doesn't have mandatory military service, per se, but you do have to officially opt in or opt out of the army. A friend went to visit Portugal for the first time, and like the Greek guy, was denied exit because of military service. For Portugal all he had to do was report to the army base, watch a 20 minute video, and then officially opt out on paper of joining the army; he's since been back with no problems... but just having that requirement completely freaks my brother out, so he has not even touched getting his Portuguese passport. He didn't get in touch with the Canadian Embassy in this instance, but he did look up the address, just in case. He knew, though, that ultimately they wouldn't be able to do much. Military service is part of Portugal's requirements for their male citizens, and he is a Portuguese citizen and is therefore bound by those requirements.

AlliF

Yeah I can see why they can't really help I think, but that is a scary prospect being forced into service for a country you'd never even lived in.
My other concern would be if you actually did something in e.g. Greece that was not considered a crime Greece but was in Canada, on return to Canada should you then be charged with it?
ETA I'm not talking abut something like speeding but something really serious

SchnookoLoly

Greece had the stipulation that you didn't have to serve if you didn't live there, so my friend just had to prove that. It was unfortunate for him that he didn't do his research before he went, so he was surprised by it when he tried to leave. Portugal's requirement is simply that you have to opt in or opt out. My friend said it was generally painless, other than the inconvenience and cost of having to rebook his flight and take unpaid time from work in the interim, but all he had to do was watch the 20-minute video on why the army is cool and why you should join, then sign on the "no thanks" line.

Another friend had that issue in Italy a few years ago, but I think with that one he had to have a letter issued by the government of Canada that he took with him when he went to Italy and then he'd be able to leave, even though he was exiting on his Italian passport. He said he'd been a few times and as long as he had that letter it was fine.


Yes and no... I suppose it's just knowing what the laws are in your country, and how conduct outside the country affects it. For example, as a Canadian, you can go to Amsterdam, buy weed, and smoke it, then come back to Canada as normal, and you won't have any issues. However, the same person can go to Amsterdam, then fly to the US, and if asked by US guards if you smoked marijuana while abroad and you answer "yes", you can be considered inadmissible to the US simply for having admitted that you've smoked up - the US views simply admitting you've used illegal substances enough to make you inadmissible (this is the rumoured reason that Rob Ford didn't do his rehab in Chicago as originally planned - he was told he would be turned away for having admitted to using cocaine, regardless of the fact that the reason for his visit was to seek treatment).

So you simply just have to know that, using Gozit's example, going to Brazil and visiting a brothel can potentially get you in trouble upon your return to Canada. Up to you whether you choose to take that risk.

In my opinion, if you want to be a citizen of a country, you have to play by their rules.

Sally Redux

Not sure why the home country would be worried about it, except mercenaries aiding enemies.