Travel on US passports for family?

[jkeenan213]

A question:

Myself, wife and two children relocated to the Philippines a few days over a year ago.

Wife, a filipina, resided with me in US for 9 years, and gained US citizenship and a US passport. Prior to relocating, she swore the PI oath repatriating her as a Filipino, and although not officially recognized by the US, became a dual citizen.

We all came here (she "returned" here), travelling on our US passports, then claimed the Balikbayan privilege and all four of us received the 1 year stamps in our US passports. All good.

I started the 13a visa process, admittedly a bit late, and am waiting to receive that now.  I applied for and received a tourist visa to extend my status date until I get the 13a approval.  If it drags on further, I will and can simply get the tourist visa extension to remain in legal status until I get the 13a.

My wife, by virtue of dual citizenship has both PI and US passports.  The children have US passports, but as Filipinos de sanguinis, we can easily obtain PI passports as well and they are naturally dual citizens.

This is all good, no problem.  But here is the question:  Suppose we  as a family want to travel back to the U.S. (or anywhere, really), of course after my 13a is all done.  Of course, we would want to do that travel on our US passports to avoid the need for visas here and other freedoms a US passport provides.  My passport will be clean, valid and have my 1-year probationary 13a.  BUT...what about the wife and kids?  As of a few days ago, their US travel documents (passports) have a now expired Balikbayan stamp and on the surface using US passports they will appear to have overstayed in PI.

Is this a problem?  Has anyone been through this situation?

[earthdome]

IANAL, If I was in your situation when entering or leaving the Philippines your wife and children should use the PH passport and you use your USA passport. All other ports of entry for country's other than Philippines you should all use the US passport. Your wife and children should always carry both passports when traveling internationally.

[jkeenan213]

6 hours ago, earthdome said:

IANAL, If I was in your situation when entering or leaving the Philippines your wife and children should use the PH passport and you use your USA passport. All other ports of entry for country's other than Philippines you should all use the US passport. Your wife and children should always carry both passports when traveling internationally.

 

LOL, it took me a minute to figure out what IANAL means.  I think it's virtually impossible.  Wouldn't the family need visas if travelling to the US on their PI passports?

[earthdome]

2 hours ago, jkeenan213 said:

 

LOL, it took me a minute to figure out what IANAL means.  I think it's virtually impossible.  Wouldn't the family need visas if travelling to the US on their PI passports?

They leave on their Philippine passports and arrive using their US passport.

[Dave Hounddriver]

3 hours ago, earthdome said:

They leave on their Philippine passports and arrive using their US passport.

It seems to me that what the other poster says makes sense.  How can a filipino leave Philippines, on a plane bound for the USA, on a Philippine passport that has no US visa in it?

[jkeenan213]

7 hours ago, earthdome said:

They leave on their Philippine passports and arrive using their US passport.

Ahhhh, earthdome...this I do have experience with, unfortunately.  You cannot exit a country/board a plane on one travel document and then deplane/enter a country on another.  I'm not saying it isn't done.  I am telling you from personal experience that if they pick up on it, you will end up in a very small uncomfortable room for possibly hours while they sort it out...and you will be fined.  Think about it...you get on an airplane as Mr. XXX from country YYY with passport #123456 and get off as Mr. XXX from country ZZZ with passport #654321.  On departure, the passport you present will not have an entry stamp (because it's in the other one), and on entry at the other side, the other passport won't have an exit stamp (because it's in the first one).  In addition, your ticket/boarding pass are coded with your travel document type, so when you cough that up as evidence of travel, it only makes it worse.  It does make sense in terms of avoiding the entry/exit BS, but trust me been there done that and it is not the no-hassle solution.

[OnMyWay]

4 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

It seems to me that what the other poster says makes sense.  How can a filipino leave Philippines, on a plane bound for the USA, on a Philippine passport that has no US visa in it?

 

7 hours ago, earthdome said:

They leave on their Philippine passports and arrive using their US passport.

Earthdome is correct here.  That is how it is done, WHEN you have both passports.  My daughter has both passports.  You present both passports when leaving and arriving, and they will do it that way.  We have not been to the U.S. yet but they did it for our New Zealand.

However, I don't see that as the immediate concern for him. The kids don't have both passports yet.  IANAL (I looked it up!), but my opinion is that he and his kids have overstayed and do not have a valid visas. 

The kids only have a U.S. passport and their Balikbayan expired.  Until the paperwork is done to make them legal PH citizens, they are tourists.  I don't think there is an automatic assumption that they are your wife's kids and entitled to PH citizenship.  It should be a slam dunk but you have to do the paperwork.

I'm fairly certain you have to have a valid visa of some type until the 13a becomes valid.  I'm going for my 13a interview tomorrow and my estimated completion date on my OR is mid-March.  My tourist visa expires on March 5, so I am fairly certain I have to get a 30 day extension.  I'll let you know tomorrow night.

[OnMyWay]

13 minutes ago, jkeenan213 said:

You cannot exit a country/board a plane on one travel document and then deplane/enter a country on another.

You should always present both.

I'm looking at my daughter's passports for our trip to NZ.  When we left, PH stamped her PH passport and her US passport.  When we arrived NZ, PH passport was ignored (would need a visa) and NZ stamped US passport.  When we left NZ, they didn't stamp anything.  When we arrived PH, they stamped both passports again.

So some of this will vary by country, but as long as you present both, you should be fine.  If you don't have the same name on both, then I have no idea.

[Jack Peterson]

4 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

 How can a filipino leave Philippines, on a plane bound for the USA, on a Philippine passport that has no US visa in it?

Hmmmm and I hope there is a welcome the other end

[jkeenan213]

OnMyWay, that makes sense...present both passports.  We are not going anywhere soon, and I think we are good while here, I am concerned about their (wife and kids) status should we want to go back to the US to visit.  And FYI...and we have confirmed this both in the US and here:  Because we registered the kids' births at the embassy in the US (a formal process), they are indeed automatically afforded PI citizenship by the de sanguinis rule (and by nature of their US birth certificates, dual citizenship there).  As a matter of fact, the NSO has a record of their birth in their database and we can/will be having PI birth certificates issued for them, it's just a form (and a fee of course).  It's actually easier to get a BC for a foreign born Filipino (if you registered the birth) than for a native born in the provinces where recordkeeping is a bit sketchy.

I don't know where you are doing it, but my 13a process at the Cebu district office was excellent.  Not the nightmare I hear about at all.  Smiling, efficient, helpful.  Yes you have to wait a bit, yes you have to go to five "windows", yes there are fees (about 11K).  But pretty painless.  The ACR-I card, across the hall in the "annex" office...not so much and pretty chaotic.  Had my interview 5 days from first application, now 30-60 days (they say).  I've extended my Balikbayan with a tourist visa to April 2, if I have to do so again, so be it.