Travel to UK with US infant
 

Hi

I haven't posted on here for yonks & yonks so Hi to anyone who remembers me.

OH and I are traveling to the UK this week for the first time with our 8 month old baby girl. We are both Brit citizens but our daughter has both a US and a UK passport.

So, I am trying to find out which passport we should use for her? I was originally intending to leave the US using her US passport and enter the UK with her UK passport. Then on our return to the US we would use her US passport. Is that the right way / easiest way to do it?

With all the data that immigration and airlines now collate on passengers I was worried that if she left the US on a US passport but that US passport wasnt then scanned as having arrived in another country it would raise a red flag to the US immigration when we try to re-enter the US using her US passport on our return?

Has anyone else faced this dilemma? And how did you resolve it? What's the best / right way to do this?

Thanks!

Re: Travel to UK with US infant
 

As your daughter is still an infant you could, quite easily, have her travel using her US passport both ways if you are not planning on staying indefinitely in the UK as you will all pass through immigration together.

The only time we showed my youngest's UK passport was when we were coming back to the UK for good. It made no difference at all to use his US passport alone when going to the UK for short trips.

Re: Travel to UK with US infant
 

Ok thanks.
If we use her US passport to enter the UK do you know what (if any) visa waiver requirements there are? i.e. do we have to fill out any UK forms similar to the US I94 on her behalf if she is entering the UK as a US citizen.

Re: Travel to UK with US infant
 

Stick with your original suggestion.

Re: Travel to UK with US infant
 

have you traveled using both then? we just thought it would be easier to enter the UK if we were using her UK passport but i have also heard that can cause issues when coming back to the US?

Re: Travel to UK with US infant
 

You do have to fill out something similar to the I-94W but it's white and will only be required for your daughter.

As a US citizen she will be allowed up to six months under the VWP.

Re: Travel to UK with US infant
 

i see and i assume we would have to go through the non uk citizens line at the airport?

Re: Travel to UK with US infant
 

is that form available on the plane like the i94w?

Re: Travel to UK with US infant
 

I am a USC, and I went through the UK line with my UKC husband. We've done this twice now. However, I've seen it said that some airports may be more open to this than others. We went through Glasgow and Edinburgh, and didn't have an issue.

There is no issue with using the US passport to leave and re-enter the US and the UK passport to enter the UK. I've read of others doing that with no probs.

Re: Travel to UK with US infant
 

generally not a problem, depends on the airport and how busy they are so perhaps ask someone, but they won't give you any hassle going through the Brit line with a baby.

Re: Travel to UK with US infant
 

While it used to not be a problem to do this, I thought I read here and in the Telegraph lately that the situation was changing such that the passports had to match up as part of the trip? It only affected dual citizens and was due to a glitch in the new UK airport computer / INS system that didn't recognize dual passports.

Here it is

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/tr...tionality.html

Re: Travel to UK with US infant
 

Many people have to do this. I have two passports, so I regularly encounter this situation, although neither of them is a US one.

Flying between the US and I, by law I have to use my Oz pp to enter Oz, and I now must use my UK to enter the US as the visa is in the US one.

Air NZ even publishes the OZ pp no on the ticket.

Before my visa days, when I was travelling on the VWP, I discussed this with a US border bloke. Made a note that I had 2 pps. I would tend to enter on one pp, and have the other in sight. Sometimes they'd want to see it, sometimes not.

I appreciate that there is no compulsion for a UK citizen to enter the UK on a UK pp, but if you have both it makes life easier at the points of entry.

Although the UK used to let non-UK members thru the UK line if they were travelling with a UK family member.

Re: Travel to UK with US infant
 

We did this last month with our 1 year old. Similar situation (me UK/US, wife is US, son is US/UK). We flew from LAX to Heathrow and did exactly as you suggested in your first post, i.e.

left the US with the US passports
entered UK with the UK passports (and let the wife tag along to miss the queues :-) )
left the UK with the US passports
entered the US on the US passports

No problems whatsoever at either airport.

Alan.

Re: Travel to UK with US infant
 

Sorry, can't help with your question. I just saw that you made it to MO and wanted to welcome you to the State.:)


Don't worry, I'm not going to ask how you like it!:lol:

Re: Travel to UK with US infant
 

Thank you for the link. Food for thought.

Thanks to all for all the advice, most useful.

It certainly looks a bit ambiguous. i.e. No firm right or wrong. Although reading the telegraph link it would appear we would have to use her US one all the way. Not surprising that another Govt system has glitches in it either. Par for the course.

Whichever way we do it I am getting to spend a month back home and I am just a tad excited. :)