Travelling on two passports?

[littlegreenman]

In General it is international law that you can choose whichever passport you use to enter a country. HOWEVER if you hold two passports or more, you have to enter country A using passport A, not using any other passport.

Singapore doesn't allow it's own citizens dual citizenship once they are over 21 I think, but then again you would have to enter/leave Singapore on your Singaporean Passport as this is international law.

Therefor it is permissable to leave Singapore on your Australian Passport and enter the UK on your British Passport. To avoid any lengthy questions I usually just tell immigration that I left Canada on my Canadian Passport and thus don't have any stamp in my German passport. So far they never gave a crap in the UK/Canada/Singapore. The only ones who take a bit longer to check are the Germans who always check whether I obtained a permission to take up a second citizenship, which I did. Easy.

[ksl]

Why is it up to SG to declare what passport is illegal to use when entering another (even neighbouring) country? When you leave SG immigration their jurisdiction is over

I only know my daughter has dual nationality and we tried to leave Singapore using her Taiwanese passport, because the British one had less than 6 months on it, we had difficulty leaving until it was sorted out, because we entered Singapore with my daughters British passport, and was travelling to Taiwan, on her Taiwanese passport, which was not allowed, until we got the authority, lucky they did understand the situation and let her leave, we was given 7 days on our return, to have the reentry permit transferred from the British passport.

[ScoobyDoes]

That's a separate issue then....... trying to leave SG using a different passport than the one which was used for entry, or with the re-entry permit.

As far as i am aware a country will not stop you leaving if you have less than 6-months in your passport...... specially if they think you are "going home" which would be the case of a UK Passport leaving Singapore.

The issue of 6-months relates to the entry of a country.

[jpatokal]

I only know my daughter has dual nationality and we tried to leave Singapore using her Taiwanese passport, because the British one had less than 6 months on it, we had difficulty leaving until it was sorted out, because we entered Singapore with my daughters British passport, and was travelling to Taiwan, on her Taiwanese passport, which was not allowed.

So she entered Sg on the British passport and tried to leave with the Taiwanese one? Obviously the computers will spot that she never entered with the TW one and go crazy.

What she should have done is checked in for her flight using Taiwanese ID, so the airline sees it's valid and lets her board, and gone through immigration using her British ID, so Singapore Immigration marks her visit to Singapore as completed.

[ksliu9]

Incorrect, jpatokal.

You may face problems as some immigration officers and offices require to see your exit stamp before letting you in.

I recently exited Malaysia on passport #1 and entered Thailand on passport #2 . . . no problem.

Upon re-entering Malaysia with passport #1 I was pulled aside and asked where my last country of visit was due to the lack of an immigration stamp.

A bit of explaining and showing of passport #2 with the stamps intact had them let me pass.
Reasoning for this was, though it is not illegal to have two passports (in some countries), immigration has to be able to track your movements . . . all in the name of security.

So, do so as you have a good point about easier entry into Europe, but be prepared to spend some time explaining yourself.

I have similar experience. I have both UK and Hong Kong passport. My Singapore EP is with my UK passport. But some of you may know, UK passport is far more expensive (renew cost) than HK Passport. A HK Passport (10 years, 48 pages) renew cost is just about SG$80, while UK passport is about 3 times more expensive.

I also go to JB and Malaysia (usually drive my Singapore registered car there) very frequently. At first, I think I'd better use my HK passport to go to Malaysia (coz the renew cost is cheaper). I use my UK passport to leave Singapore, then use my HK passport to enter Malaysia for a few times. Not every time, but almost 50% of the time, the Malaysian immigration officier asks me whether I am living or working in Singapore, coz he can't find the Singapore stamp on it. Then I show him the EP (though, the "nationality" field of the EP is "British"), then he allows me to go through. But later, as I don't want to be questioned any more, I just use my UK passport go to go Malaysia.

But if I go to Bintan (or Bali, or any Indonesia part), I have to use my HK passport (visa free) other than my UK passport (need to pay USD15 for arrivial visa). Fly to Bali is no problem. No one questions you. But when I took a ferry to Bintan, the officier asks me the same question again. Then I just show him the EP and he lets me go.

[Vaucluse]

^ Yes, it happens often. All in the name of 'security'. It makes sense in a way . . .

[ksl]

I only know my daughter has dual nationality and we tried to leave Singapore using her Taiwanese passport, because the British one had less than 6 months on it, we had difficulty leaving until it was sorted out, because we entered Singapore with my daughters British passport, and was travelling to Taiwan, on her Taiwanese passport, which was not allowed.

So she entered Sg on the British passport and tried to leave with the Taiwanese one? Obviously the computers will spot that she never entered with the TW one and go crazy.

What she should have done is checked in for her flight using Taiwanese ID, so the airline sees it's valid and lets her board, and gone through immigration using her British ID, so Singapore Immigration marks her visit to Singapore as completed.

Yes correct, but the wife of course didn't think of taking the british passport with them, and we was pulled up for no exit permit, after we spent 15 minutes to get it sorted, we was told we had 7 days on our return, to have the transfere done from the British passport to the Taiwanese passport.