Job Discussion Forums

[Heresy]

I was born and raised in Northern Ireland, which entitles me to UK and Irish citizenship. I currently hold a UK passport, and I'm considering applying for an Irish one to have as a spare.

Basically I'm wondering if this would have any benefits while travelling?

Are there any countries I might teach in that would rather you hadn't been to another? I know this is a strange question, but I know journalist who aquired both passports because he was reporting in the middle east and apparently an Israeli stamp on his passport would bar him from Arab countries. I'm not saying I'm planning on teaching in either, but I'm wondering if that situation applies anywhere else?

Also, would it be advisable not to obtain both? Would I get the spanish inquisition if I travelled under one but they found the other during a bag check?


Thanks.

[nolefan]

I, for one, say that you should go ahead and get both. It cannot hurt.

In China, some employers and recruiters would rather deal with a "British" preson than an Irish because of the accent bias. Many people from Scotland usually just end up saying that they're from London....

just my two cents

[dmb]

[go_ABs]

I have both a British and a New Zealand passport. I love having both. For one thing, every once in a while your passport has to go off to have visas renewed or some other official thing. It's reassuring to have another in case everything goes pear-shaping before the other returns. The other, minor benefit, is being able to skip lines at airports when going to a country whose passport you hold. I got a "welcome home" when travelling to the UK on my British passport, even though it was my first time there! (My father was a Pom, so I'm entitled to a British passport, despite being entirely raised in NZ. Nice, huh?)

It's also a security plus: if you lost your passport in an airport you'd be neigh-on screwed. By putting them in separate places, I can be reasonably confident that if one is lost/stolen, the other is there as a back-up. (Though I still wouldn't exactly be happy )

The chances of someone actually finding out you had more than one passport, and them finding it suspicious, and them reporting it, and anyone caring, is very slim. I agree with the above posters: it can't really hurt.

[expatben]

I'm a dual national of Canada (born there) and Britain (from my parent). Yeah its great especially for working in Europe.

[go_ABs]

Being born in a 'colony' has quite a few advantages, really.

[ls650]

A former co-worker in Indonesia had both Irish and British passports.
Indonesia doesn't recognize Ireland as having English as a native language (strange but true), so he had to use his Brit passport to obtain a work visa.

[Perpetual Traveller]

Another use is if you are visiting a country (particularly the USA) quite frequently you can switch between them, that way immigration doesn't get suspicious of the fact that you are spending so much time there.

You do need to watch out that you don't forfeit your home country's citizenship by applying for another. Australia used to have a the rule that you could only have one passport but thankfully they changed it so I have a British one too (although I should admit that I got my British one before the rule was changed and just kept it a secret ).

It is also nice to have a spare when one is required to be kept as a deposit by hotels etc.

PT

[Chris_Crossley]

There seems to be something strange going on in China as regards both dual nationality and passports.

My daughter was born in Wuhan, China, and she has a UK passport given the fact that her father (me! ) is legally married to her Chinese mother and has a UK passport himself by virtue of having been born in the UK.

Now, here's the twist. The Chinese government does not formally recognise dual nationality. Any person born within the territory of the People's Republic of China who then adopts foreign nationality automatically loses entitlement to Chinese nationality. However, the British Embassy in Beijing informed me that my daughter will need a Chinese passport when travelling out of China for the very first time because there is nothing in her UK passport that shows that she had "entered" China in the first place.

Unlike a lot of other countries, Chinese customs officials check people travelling out of China as well as entering it. They want to see the proper documentation that certifies that you are, at the point of exit at least, still legit in China. If not, one could be in big trouble.

Hence, if and when my Chinese wife and I leave China to go somewhere, even if it is on holiday, my daughter still needs a Chinese passport. She can, though, return on her UK passport, provided that we have the proper entry visa. One might say "Why bother? Why not use the Chinese passport to get back into China?" I guess that this is because, if Chinese citizens re-enter China on Chinese passports, the customs officials want to see where you have been in the first place and so they would want to see the proper documentation for that, too.

All very strange, it is . . .

[stillnosheep]

Two passports always better than one.

No known disadvantages and any problematic stamps in one can be negated by use of other.