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I am a Romanian citizen and I have recently acquired Hungarian citizenship as well. I was never a resident of Hungary. I have valid passports from both countries, but I have never used the Hungarian one.

I have been to the US on multiple occasions in the past, both on short term (B) and long term visas (lived there for a few years). I have always used my Romanian passport. In fact I did not have the Hungarian citizenship when I last applied for a US visa, so border control don't know that I have dual citizenship.

Using my Hungarian passport (but not the Romanian one!) I can now travel to the US without a visa, under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). Should I expect any problems if I do this? Based on my fingerprints (or just my name), border control may notice that last time I entered using a passport from a different country, and I worry that this will cause trouble (though I don't see how it would be breaking any rules).

Normally I would apply for a visa and use my Romanian passport, just in case. But this time using the VWP could save me a lot of time (which I'm short on at the moment).

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  • Except if you enter by road from Canada or Mexico (I think?), you will need an ESTA to enter under the VWP. And you will need to disclose your other citizenship when applying for the ESTA so the US authorities will know about your previous trips and it will not look like you are trying to hide anything. – Relaxed May 2 '16 at 14:36
  • @Relaxed I did not know that they ask about that. Knowing this now I'm much less worried. – Peter May 2 '16 at 14:49
  • @Relaxed Having an ESTA is not required for entering by land. Though anecdotally it does speed up the process a bit. Whether you have one or not, you have to go into the office, fill out a green I-94W and pay $6 (unless you're coming back on automatic revalidation). – Michael Hampton May 3 '16 at 3:10
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You should have no trouble with this. You certainly are not the first person to acquire a new citizenship after visiting the US, so they are used to it happening. As long as you fill out all the question correctly on your ESTA (which you need if you enter by air or sea) and/or VWP application, and tell them about your previous citizenships if asked, you shouldn't have a problem. The ESTA form asks about other citizenships.

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  • I'll accept this if you add the information from Relaxed's comment. – Peter May 2 '16 at 14:48
  • Still, don't be surprised if on your first visit they ask a few more questions than usual, and possibly send you to secondary just to check things out. To be on the safe side, make sure you have all the proper documentation (including both passports, and any documentation that explains how you now have the "new" passport — for instance a hardcopy of the above news article and/or copies of the documents you provided for your passport application, though I doubt they would need them). And let us know how it went afterwards, it'll probably be along the lines of "the officer didn't even blink". – jcaron May 2 '16 at 16:54

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