Not visiting the US yet

[mtbc]

It is disappointing to be starting my new job by missing out on an infrequent on-site meeting in New York City later this month. Unfortunately, my US passport is being renewed and it would not be legal for me to visit on my UK passport instead. At least this kind of problem comes up only every few years.

When I renewed my US passport, I looked into if I could do it in person at the consulate but the anticipated travel wasn't soon enough to qualify. Now, the by-mail option turns out to be taking a couple of months and expediting the processing at this point still wouldn't be quick enough. So, there seems to be an awkward mid-range duration that the advice could be adjusted to cover rather better. After my application arrived at the US Embassy in London, it still took over a week for it to be received at a processing center so perhaps everything has to go from London to the US and back these days.

Comments

[shadowkat]

Interesting. Is it because you have dual citizenship that makes it illegal to use the UK passport? I also thought at a certain point they made you choose between the two?

[mtbc]

It is indeed: US citizens are required to bear their US credentials in crossing the US border. Fortunately, in more recent decades the US has gotten quite accepting of most dual citizenship so at least I won't have to choose. Some countries (if I recall correctly, possibly including India, Japan, Australia) can be less pleased by it and force a choosing.

[shadowkat]

Interesting on the US. But, I thought the UK was less accepting? That must have changed? Because I had friends back in the 1980s and 1990s who had to choose British or US, via the UK's rules?

[mtbc]

The UK's been pretty permissive for many decades, WWII helped encourage positive attitudes toward it and really not much has changed since the early 1980s and it was already largely fine before that. The US saw some positive SCOTUS outcomes about it in decades after WWII but even into the 1980s the State Deperatment was still looking suspiciously at Americans acquiring foreign citizenship to see if their US citizenship should be removed. By the 1990s I'd think they should have been fine though, the State Department got more relaxed. (Spiro's At Home in Two Countries has detailed background.)