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TeresaLopez
Joined: 18 Apr 2010
Posts: 601
Location: Mexico City
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 Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 12:49 am Post subject: Travelling to Canada from Mexico |
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| I have been looking for a ticket to Chicago in a couple of months, and came upon one that looks good, but it is a direct flight from Mexico City to Toronto, then from Toronto to Chicago. My question is this. I know Mexicans now have to have a visa to travel to Canada, but Americans don�t. Since I have both passports, can I leave Mexico with my Mexican passport (well, that isn�t a question, I know I have to) but then enter Canada with an American passport to avoid having to get a visa? Or do I have to enter Canada on the same passport I left Mexico with? |
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Guy Courchesne
Joined: 10 Mar 2003
Posts: 9650
Location: Mexico City
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| Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 1:59 am Post subject: |
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| Why don't you just leave Mexico on the American passport, and return to Mexico with the Mexican one? |
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Dragonlady
Joined: 10 May 2004
Posts: 720
Location: Chillinfernow, Canada
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| Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 3:18 am Post subject: |
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Last edited by Dragonlady on Sat Dec 03, 2011 3:48 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Guy Courchesne
Joined: 10 Mar 2003
Posts: 9650
Location: Mexico City
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| Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 3:29 am Post subject: |
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| Dragonlady wrote: |
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| Why don't you just leave Mexico on the American passport, and return to Mexico with the Mexican one? |
I don't have an old ticket stub to double check, but isn't one's passport number used on airline tickets to verify identity? I've always used electronic ticketing and had to give my passport for the agent to bring up my booking on screen.
If one has booked tickets (to and return) at the same time, I suspect only one passport is accepted as ID.
But then, what do I know? 
Regards,
DL |
That would only be an issue for boarding a plane. Going through customs/immigration you use whatever passport is most convenient.
My daughter is of dual nationality. Last two trips to Canada we used her Canadian passport to leave Mexico and enter Canada, and Mexican birth certificate (we haven't gotten her Mexican passport yet) to enter Mexico. One leg of the most recent trip went from Canada to the US and we used her Canadian passport for that. No troubles. |
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Dragonlady
Joined: 10 May 2004
Posts: 720
Location: Chillinfernow, Canada
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| Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 3:50 am Post subject: |
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Last edited by Dragonlady on Sat Dec 03, 2011 3:47 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Guy Courchesne
Joined: 10 Mar 2003
Posts: 9650
Location: Mexico City
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| Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 4:09 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| OK, but TL is technically 'in transit' unless she's booked each leg of the journey separately. |
I think that's why she should use the American passport, since it makes little difference entering and exiting both Canada and the US on it.
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| why aren't 'dual citizenships' (multi-passport holders) cross referenced? |
Aren't they already? To get a Canadian passport, my daughter needed a Canadian citizenship card. To get that card, she needed a birth certificate, from Mexico in her case. The passport number is simply a document number not a national or citizenship ID number. The person's name would be the reference which is the same on both. My guess anyway.
I can see there being trouble for someone with two passports bearing different names however... |
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TeresaLopez
Joined: 18 Apr 2010
Posts: 601
Location: Mexico City
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| Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 5:47 pm Post subject: |
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| Guy Courchesne wrote: |
| Why don't you just leave Mexico on the American passport, and return to Mexico with the Mexican one? |
I don�t have a tourist document to turn in at the airport, and the law as I understand it, is that I have to both leave Mexico and return to Mexico on the Mexican passport. Otherwise, if they give me a tourist visa, then what do I do with it when I return? Also, on the plane the paperwork if different for different citizens. I never travel on my US passport except to go to the US, so don�t know the ins and outs of using it to go to other countries. |
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TeresaLopez
Joined: 18 Apr 2010
Posts: 601
Location: Mexico City
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| Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 5:52 pm Post subject: |
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[quote="Guy Courchesne"]
| Quote: |
| OK, but TL is technically 'in transit' unless she's booked each leg of the journey separately. |
/quote]
There is a plane change, so I assume I have to go through immigration. Maybe I will call the airline and see what they say. I don�t think just showing a US passport to leave will work, since you have to have some other kind of document to turn in, and if I tell them I don�t have a tourist visa or whatever, and they ask why, and I tell them that it is because I have a Mexican passport, they are going to tell me (rightly so, by law) that I have to travel on that, and that leaves me back at square one. An attractive feature of the ticket (aside from the price) is that there is a 9 hour layover in Toronto, which might actually give me time to do something while there. There seem to be all kinds of wierd flights lately, DF to LA, 10 hour layover, then Chicago, DF to Atlanta, 7 hour layover, then to Houston, etc. I wonder what�s up with that. |
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MotherF
Joined: 07 Jun 2010
Posts: 1450
Location: 17�48'N 97�46'W
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| Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 6:20 pm Post subject: |
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I really don't think it's going to be an issue. But then I've never gone through Canada.
When I left Mexico with my children, at the airline check in I showed them both of my children's passports, my US passport and my FM3. At immigration, I just got my exit stamp and I said--the children are Mexicans. Once we were on the plane, I put their Mexican passports away and did not get them out again until we returned to Mexico. I just don't think Canadian immigration is going to say wait a minute you got on this plane with a different passport? Anyway when you check in with the airline you are going to have to show your US passport because the airline wants to know they are not transporting you to a place you are not allowed to be, I always see the airlines checking Mexican's visas before checking them in for the flight. It's just Mexican immigration, not the airline that requires to you leave on your Mexican passport. And why would Canadian immigration be checking with Mexican immigration? |
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notamiss
Joined: 20 Jun 2007
Posts: 908
Location: El 5o pino del la CDMX
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| Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 7:35 pm Post subject: Re: Travelling to Canada from Mexico |
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| TeresaLopez wrote: |
| Since I have both passports, can I leave Mexico with my Mexican passport (well, that isn�t a question, I know I have to) but then enter Canada with an American passport to avoid having to get a visa? Or do I have to enter Canada on the same passport I left Mexico with? |
AFAIK, yes, and no, in that order.
You will have to show your American passport at some point, probably at the ticket counter when getting your boarding pass, to demonstrate that you have all the authorization needed to enter Canada.
As you leave Mexico, you�ll fill out your formato de salida or whatever it's called as a Mexican. When you enter Canada, they will not care about that; i.e. that form is irrelevant to Canada, they will just care that you are American. So there is no one who cares that you leave Mexico as a Mexican and enter Canada as an American.
I'm basing this on the experiences of the rest of my family (husband and kids) who are all dual Mexican/Canadian, and they always leave Mexico as Mexicans and enter Canada as Canadians as I described above.
At least that's my guess because when any of them go through the US (the mirror image of your situation) they have no problem leaving as Mexican and entering the US as Canadians. |
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TeresaLopez
Joined: 18 Apr 2010
Posts: 601
Location: Mexico City
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| Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 11:33 pm Post subject: |
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| MotherF wrote: |
| are going to have to show your US passport because the airline wants to know they are not transporting you to a place you are not allowed to be, I always see the airlines checking Mexican's visas before checking them in for the flight. It's just Mexican immigration, not the airline that requires to you leave on your Mexican passport. And why would Canadian immigration be checking with Mexican immigration? |
Well, duh! Of course, that makes perfect sense, check in and immigration are two totally different procedures, I hadn�t thought about that, I think that will work, now that you explained it that way. |
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