Is there any country/case where entering with two different passports at two different times may cause an issue?

Question

After reading:

• Can I enter South Korea with 2 different passports (in separate times)
• Can I enter Japan with 2 different passports (in separate times)

To avoid getting that question ~200 times, I'm looking for a generic answer: is there any country/case where entering with two different passports at two different times may cause an issue? I.e., entry 1 to country X is done with passport 1 and entry 2 to country X is done with passport 2.

I am interested in the case where the passports from different countries (dual citizen situation) as well as in the case where the passports are from the same country (some countries may issue two passports that are concurrently valid).

As Kate Gregory commented, "US citizens must always enter the US on their US passport", so let's exclude entries to the country that issued the passport.

Answer 1

In and of itself, entering the same country with two different passports is not an issue in any country that I'm aware of.

However, it's not difficult to think of scenarios where you'd be allowed in with passport A, but have problems with passport B.

• The country applies different visa rules to citizens of A and B, and you meet the conditions as a citizen of A but not as a citizen of B.
  • For example, the USA has different minimum passport validity rules for different countries, so passport A may be accepted with less than 6 months left but passport B is not.
• You have a valid long-term visa in passport A, but are trying to enter on passport B and the country does not permit concurrent visas.
• Passport B contains evidence of visiting an "enemy" country, eg trying to enter the US on ESTA after visiting Iran etc, Saudi Arabia after Israel, etc.

Answer 2

Just to throw out some 'contrived' scenarios in which case this can create problems:

1. Undisclosed Dual Nationality: Many countries, including the US, Canada, the UK, and India, require you to list all valid travel documents on your visa application, not just the passport you use to enter. If you omit this information the first time and then enter with a different passport the second time, you might encounter issues if this discrepancy is discovered.

2. Visa fraud: More generally, I have heard of cases where people tried to get two different visas and/or visa-free-entries on two different passports... as somehow some people seem to believe that entry-rules are not per person.

3. Undisclosed problematic Nationality: Several countries allow visa-free entry to nationals of one country (Country X) unless they are also nationals of another country (Country Y). For example, US and Syria have such restrictions. Entering a second time with a passport from Country Y could cause problems. (Even if you have the proper visa the second time, it might indicate that you lied during your first entry, and this discrepancy could be caught during the visa application process.)

Answer 3

Another ‘contrived’ scenario could be a problematic immigration history using passport 1 (over-staying, denial of entry, frequency/length of stay etc).

Answer 4

Traveling on two (or more) passports: You can do this, you just enter using one passport at a time and always use the same passport when entering or leaving that country. In fact, you can get a second passport from the United States State Department in addition to your current passport. Costs the same as the primary passport, but is only good for two years. You use it when you're visiting two countries where one will not allow you to enter the country if you visited that other country, e.g. Saudi Arabia will not admit someone on a passport with an Israeli entry stamp. So you use the primary passport to visit one of these countries and only that passport, and you use the secondary passport, and only that passport, to visit the other.

As for U.S. Citizens, if you have dual or multiple citizenship, and a passport from another country or countries, you can travel outside the U.S. on any passport, but you must leave and enter the U.S. using your U.S. passport.