hey i wonder if any of you forumosans can offer any insight…
i have dual nationality, and hence 2 passports… i usually travel on passport A so it has my taiwan visas and i entered taiwan on this passport… i will have to leave taiwan on this passport, but here’s the question:
if i arrive in japan, and promptly offer them my virgin never been stamped by anyone, ever, passport B… (in order to get into japan, then use passport B to apply for a fresh taiwan visa) will they freak right out and arrest me… or is it okay to chop and change on the passport front?..
Should be ok. In fact under certain circumstances you can even have two passports from one country and switch between them depending on your destination.
Yes you’ll be fine. You can enter a country with whatever passport you choose, provided that you use that one passport for the duration of your stay. If they ask you, like how did you stay in taiwan without a visa, etc, you can show them your other passport and that’s okay too.
At one point I had three passports - 2 from the same country and 1 other. I have used all three to enter Taiwan at different times and I was never questioned about where I had come from or the absence of any obvious travel history. The only time it got a bit awkward was flying into Hong Kong from BKK looking somewhat dishevelled after 3 months on the backpacking trail and being searched by customs who seemed convinced that I must be a drug courier. They found my 2 extra passports and were extremely sceptical as to my reasons for having them. After a few hours they gave up tho and let me in.
Last time I went to thailand I was told this was not the case. i intended for my daughter to leave on her taiwan passport and enter thailand with the us one, so she wouldn’t need the visa. But they told me i would have to enter thailand using the same passport i left taiwan with. if entering the us it’s no problem. don’t know about other countries, i’d check first!
You’re quite right that it’s no problem to reenter the United States without entry/exit stamps from other countries. But lest anyone misunderstand, I think its best to remind people that the United States requires U.S. passport holders to use their U.S. passports at U.S. customs.
what i’ve found out from the foreign affairs police (you gotta love vicarious guan-xi) is that it is absolutely no problem to switch passports as much as you like between countries, as long as you have them both availible for inspection at customs, and any customs official who says otherwise should be told to hit the road…
