Pulaski

UNLESS, you seek help from the US embassy in a country of which you are also a current citizen. If you are UK-US dual citizen and you are arrested in, say, France, you could seek the assistance of either the UK or US embassy in France. If on the other hand you are arrested in the UK, the US embassy will not help - you're on your own!

crg

That's a good point, but I wouldn't expect much help anyway. They will likely visit you to check on your condition and notify your family for you.

The US government won't post a diplomat in a country if they are also a citizen of that country unless they renounced. It messes with the diplomatic immunity. A person can't enjoy diplomatic immunity and make the government documents they possess protected against search if the person is also a citizen of that country as well.

dreamercon

The Greek prime minister, who is well known to maintain US citizenship, has no trouble with his documents in his very frequent visits to the US. I wonder what would happen if he were to go on an official trip to Cuba.

meauxna

Is he really? lol, I never knew. Seems like 90% of the Greeks I met there had USC as well though. What did he do about his military service I wonder?
And yes, good question.. what about the Cuba problem?

dreamercon

The Greek PM George Papandreou did serve in the Greek military. Besides the Cuba problem, he can find himself committing treason against the US, if for example he provides aid to an enemy of the US, such as Iran. Here are some other lesser-known interesting facts about him if you are interested:
* He is only one fourth Greek, with an american mother, and a greek father whose mother was Polish.
* He is the only elected leader of any country whose father and grandfather were both prime ministers.
* He speaks english much better than greek. It was really bizarre when I saw him on TV speaking to the turkish PM in greece through an interpreter - the interpreter was interpreting from english to turkish!
* He seems to prefer foreign advisors and associates whenever possible and has appointed a number of senior officials in the greek government with dual citizenship, for example the present greek foreign minister is a greek-austrian citizen and the deputy foreign minister is a greek-australian, who served in the australian parliament for many years.


And with respect to Greeks with US citizenship, it is estimated that 1% of the greek population has US citizenship, which is quite high and is a result of reverse migration into greece that happened in the last few decades. 90% seems a bit of an exaggeration. I am greek and grew up in greece btw. (until I became a passport collector, that is...)

meauxna

Well yia sou to you.. I always wondered about your story!
I found this group because I met my UK beloved when he was living in Greece and I was visiting there. And yes, I am known for not letting the truth get in the way of a good story (my "90%").

Because we were living on one of the islands, where the populations were particularly impacted by WWII, it was my impression that as many as could, left for other countries, and returned later on. In our village, many more than 1% had been to Balti-more (said Italian-style), Detroit, NY, NJ etc.
I really enjoyed my years there, and miss it often.

About PM Papandreou, very interesting.. thank you. It seems true for him as perhaps others.. being Greek is a state of mind. The Church and the language held the people together when others would put them apart.

ian-mstm

True... but Rajiv Gandhi, the son of Indira Gandhi and grandson of Jawaharlal Nehru, was the only elected leader of any country whose mother and grandfather were both prime ministers!


Well... don't we all!

Ian

cranners99

If the Brits find out that you are a dual they will want to know which passport you entered the country on. If it's not a British they will drop you.

Pulaski

Interesting ....... I'll have to remember that the next time I am arrested in a foreign country!

Jerseygirl

That's what I thought too in those circumstances...nationality depends on the PP you used to enter the country.

discoviking

Perhaps, but a dual Norwegian/British citizen who recently received the death penalty for murder in Congo reportedly received assistance from both Norwegian and British authorities during the trial.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_...jostolv_Moland

JAJ

http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-...o-wrong/arrest

"Dual Nationals

If you are a dual national travelling on your British Passport in a third state (that is a country of which you are not a national) we will offer you our full support. If you are travelling on the passport of your other nationality, we will normally direct you to that state's local Embassy, High Commission, or Consulate. If you are a dual national travelling in the state of your other nationality we would not normally offer you support or get involved in dealings between you and the authorities of that state. We may make an exception if, having looked at the circumstances of the case, we consider that there is a special humanitarian reason to do so."

The keyword is "normally" so in a third country, they can offer assistance to a British/other dual citizen if, for example, the other country is unwilling or unable to do so. If one is a citizen of the other country then they can offer informal assistance but are limited to what they can formally do by international law ("Master Nationality Rule"). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_Nationality_Rule