How do they know that I have left the US in my situation!!?
 

After holidaying in Mexico I entered the US by air while on transit to Australia on January 30th this year, in order to enter the US I used my Italian passport under the VWP (therefore there was no I-94 form) but on my flight out of the US (Los Angles to Sydney) I was forced by airline representatives while at the self check-in kiosk to check into the flight with my Australian passport (i.e. different passport to which I entered the US).

This means the following: I entered the US on an Italian passport under the VWP and left the US the same day on an Australian passport that hadn't at the time been registered under the VWP. Both the passports have exactly the same biographical information in regards to full name, DOB, gender etc except of course they have different passport numbers, date of expiry and citizenship etc.

QUESTION: Has my departure from the US been correctly recorded with CBP/US Government since I used two different passports? Do they know that the Italian that entered the US in transit was the same person as the Australian that left later that day? (my flight from the US to Australia was on my return ticket so it should have the same PNR locator as the flight I originally entered the US) I understand that CPB matches manifests in order to record passenger departures but how would they do that in my case?

Some extra information: I have recently applied for an ESTA (VWP) for my Australian passport and it was approved with a 'travel authorised' message does this indicate anything at all?

Re: How do they know that I have left the US in my situation!!?
 

Yes. You are the same person, regardless of which passport you use.

Yes, it indicates that you can travel to the USA on the VWP.

Rene

Re: How do they know that I have left the US in my situation!!?
 

Thanks for your answer... are you sure they would be able to recognise me as the italian and me as the australian as the same person just from matching the manifests? or would they see two different people with the same DOB, full name etc. i.e. an Italian maybe still in the US and an Australian with no entry record who departed the US?

I have done some research and the only thing I can see is that they could maybe match me based on my PRN locator as I guess it would have been the same as my first arrival flight as my flight out of the US was the return flight on the same eticket with the same airline made through one booking.

Re: How do they know that I have left the US in my situation!!?
 

He sees you when you're arriving
He knows when you depart
He knows if you've been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake!
O! You better watch out!
You better not cry
Better not pout
I'm telling you why
Immigration Man is coming to town

Re: How do they know that I have left the US in my situation!!?
 

what's with the rhyme? haha

Re: How do they know that I have left the US in my situation!!?
 

You entered legally... you left legally. No matter how convoluted you try to make it, the rest is irrelevant... it's a non-issue.

Ian

Re: How do they know that I have left the US in my situation!!?
 

It's a take on "Santa Claus is Coming to Town".

Rene

Re: How do they know that I have left the US in my situation!!?
 

Seems a perfectly reasonable question to me. If I were OP I'd want to take both passports next time, to ensure that all bases are covered in case there are any questions. After all, it requires some joining up of relevant data which may not have happened automagically.

Re: How do they know that I have left the US in my situation!!?
 

I agree... and if anyone questions it, the flight manifest proves he left. He entered legally, and he left legally.

Ian

Re: How do they know that I have left the US in my situation!!?
 

Yes, all of this is true, but none of it matters if the OP attempts to use his Italian passport to enter the US in the future and the information that CBP has is incorrect and cannot be reconciled within a few minutes since, in that case, he could easily be denied entry.

We always (correctly) advise people who have had problems when using one passport that their problems will not go away if they just attempt to use a different passport - they are the same person, just using a different passport doesn't change that and they should assume that CBP will know that they are the same person - for them that is the "worst case" scenario and they should expect it to be what happens.

This is good advice, but the OP's situation is different - he *should* assume what is the "worst case" for his situation - which is that there is no record of the "Italian" having left the US because the departure record for the "Australian" did not get matched up with the "Italian". I think that he should definitely carry both passports with him in future and, since he now has ESTA approval with his Australian passport it might be a good idea to use that passport for future visits to the US.

Re: How do they know that I have left the US in my situation!!?
 

Do folks on ESTA still get a little tab from the I-94 attached to passport these days?

Previously, folks could send that tab to where ever the address was to send it to show they had left the US. Just wondering if they don't get the passport tab, what they would do now?

Re: How do they know that I have left the US in my situation!!?
 

No - the green I-94W has been phased out (for air travellers, at least, not sure about people who enter at a land border.

I also wonder about people who arrive by air, in possession of a return ticket as required, but who for some reason actually depart the US by a land border and then return to their country of origin without reentering the US. Say someone comes to the US with on a round trip ticket from London to New York but changes their plans and decides to drive up to Toronto and return to London direct from there - it seems that there would be no record of their departure.

Re: How do they know that I have left the US in my situation!!?
 

Of course, anyone seeking entry on the VWP can easily be denied entry. The US government must realize that there are lot of people with multiple passports. If they had a knee jerk response in such cases and were erroneously kicking people back under this scenario we surely would have heard about it by now. I would not be overly concerned, but travel with documentation of timely departures from the US. There is really nothing more that could be done. The fact that they don't even bother with the green form anymore at the airport would seem to indicate that they are confident in getting the information through other means.

Re: How do they know that I have left the US in my situation!!?
 

Forgive me if I don't have so much confidence in the systems used by the US government always having completely correct information. Look how often people immigrating to the US have trouble getting a social security number because the "aren't in the system".

Re: How do they know that I have left the US in my situation!!?
 

Albeit involving completely different circumstances, I'm going to give the same advice as I mentioned in this thread. If for whatever reason anyone ever needs to try and prove that they left the USA when they claim they did, they should keep the following evidence:

• Boarding pass stub from their outbound flight
• Luggage tag from that flight
• Credit card receipts from any on-board purchases

In the OPs case, they are also well advised to continue travelling with both the Italian and Australian passports.