When in the shipping business 15 years ago, I applied for a second passport without much fuss.
Since then I have carried on with the two, renewing each as they became due.
Very useful ... but a word of warning... 2 years ago I travelled from Thailand to Laos, then back again.
On the way back, I thought I could simply switch passports while crossing the border (in this case, the Mekong ferry). It was merely to use up the pages on the older of the two.
On entering Thailand, they looked for the Laos exit stamps .... after a few seconds, I realised the problem and produced the other passport.
They went ballistic ! Cancelled my visitors visa and gave me 14 days !

So a word of warning ... I guess be open if you have two passports, and only switch back in your home country. It may not be an issue at some border crossings .. but, on that day, with that officer, it was.

Also an option for a small number of people:

If you have parents or grandparents who were UK citizens, you can apply for a UK passport even if you have never lived there. If you can jump through the hoops then you've got a valid 10 year passport that can be renewed for life. The process is slow and they require your 'home' passport (you get it back), so you have to apply a long time in advance.

Disclaimer: I learned this week that wiithout 'proof of residence' in the UK you cannot apply apply by mail in the UK for the difficult Nigerian or Democratic Congo visas. I guess they're onto how 'easy' it is to get a UK passport.


Also, yes do be careful with the second passport. When I crossed into Gambia the border guard caught it and couldn't believe it was possible to have two passports. Luckily there was a local sitting in a chair nearby who assured him it was possible. I am going to type up a "Letter of Permission" or some nonsense and carry it with me when I start passport juggling.

Got my second UK passport in the post today. Followed the process listed in my earlier post on this thread, with a supporting letter from a charity i am working with in Ethiopia. Turned round in about a week without issue.


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The only time you have a very good chance of swapping passports without causing problems is when you fly in to a country. Then they don't ever seem to look for the previous country, but at land borders they mostly keep flipping pages until they find the previous exit stamp.

Is that an issue Tony?

I am not trying to hide anything, i just need to get my Sudanese visa after leaving the UK, can only get it from the embassy in London (apparently) as i am heading South to North and need a passport to travel with whilst i am getting my Sudan visa by post.

At the border can i not just show both passports so there is a clear audit trail and explain why i legitimately have two passports?


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Having two passports issued by the same country may involve different issues to having two passports from two different countries and I talked to one traveller who decided to swap passports at one land border to avoid having to pay reciprocity fees and he said that didn't work even when he showed them the exit stamp from the previous border. He paid the fee. Fairly expensive mistake in S America where having a British passport gives you free entry to most countries while other passports may cost you over $500 in visa and reciprocity fees.

As always, what is OK depends entirely on the whims of that particular officer so your experience will vary.

I recall epicycles.com had similar issues with visas on the road and they had dual (nationality) passports and sent their australian one back home to get visas for a couple of countries. Don't recall them mentioning a problems but I don't think they left the country while their passport was in transit.

Thanks for the clarification - realistically i think it is my most feasible option so will have to hope the whim is good that day!


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If the passport is new, no entry/exit stamps at all, even arriving at an airport may cause questions to be asked.

That may not work out in somewhere like Dubai which scans the computer to see when you were last there etc; I would not be sure of what databases they are accessing to check "your new passport" - it might throw up the fact that you have travelled on more than one, both "in date".

There again, an Iris scan can get you through their system, as it does when entering the UK.

For Swiss people it is possible to get a second passport as well. You have to apply at your canton office. Here is the form for Bern. They call it "Austauschpass":
http://www.pom.be.ch/pom/de/index/zi...tauschpass.pdf

Just one thing: It is actually illegal to carry two passports of the same country at the same time. As others already wrote it can become a big problem if someone finds out. Therefore everyone should be extra careful.

We will be travelling with two passports to be able to get visas and still have one valid passport with us while we wait for the other one to get back. It is not really possible though to swap passports between borders because most boarder controls check for the previous stamp.

Happy travelling everyone bier

Would be interested to find out where the law is written about it being illegal to carry two passports ... and whose law is it ? The country of the passport issuer, or the country you are in ?
When I entered Russia from Georgia, and switched passports, the officer wanted to see both, as he needed to see the exit stamp from Georgia.
Similar routine 6 days later when exiting Russia to Kazakhstan and switching passports back.
I would suggest the carrying of two passports might invite concern, without an explanation, but illegal ? I cant see that being the case until I stand corrected.

I have dual nationality.

Both of my passports have no stamps...
Leave county A on passport of county A - scanned, no physical stamp.
Arrive country B using passport of country B - scanned, no physical stamp.
Leave county B on passport of county B - scanned, no physical stamp.
Arrive country A using passport of country A - scanned, no physical stamp.

If I were to use either passport at a country who looked for exit stamps .. they would find none. Times have changed, very boring looking at new passports, now old passports are very interesting ... I have one from 1946... no not one of mine doh

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I know people who have travelled with two passports issued to them by the same country... nothing illegal about it. They were tour guides - many many stamps - passports got used up in no time, so they needed a replacement ready to go when the older one got full.

In Germany you can have two or more passports legally e.g. by using these arguments:
- you want to go to Israel and after that to some (muslim) country that will give you trouble because of the Israel stamp
Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaidschan and some other country-constellations might work, too.
- you have to apply for several visas upfront by sending in your passport to those embassies at the same time and it would not work in a timely manner if you would do them sequentially

In Germany it´s no argument that you might run out of blank pages. That can be solved by applying for a new passport with extra pages (48).

Regards

Frank

Yes Warin but that is only two countries. What about the other couple of hundred places in the world.

And further, I know people who have exited one country with one dual nationality passport and then tried to enter the next country with the other one to avoid visa fees and they were refused entry because there was no proof that they exited the adjacent country legally. They had to own up to the other passport and pay the visa fees.

Concurrent Passports what, why and how.
 

There are some countries where dual nationality is not recognised: Iran for one (but only if 1 of your nationalities is Iranian) and I thought there were some countries where 2 passports are not allowed. I thought it might be India, but I might be getting totally mixed up!

If you send one of your passports off, its best to send the one that you are not using in the country you are currently stamped into. If it ant be avoided, then, like Julian and Ali at epicycles, you won't be leaving the country until your passport is safely back in your hands.

Temporaryescapee: we're doing the same route as you.
The thing you'll need to be careful about, just to make it easier on yourself, is to get your Sudanese and Egyptian visas into the same passport. And hearing how difficult the Ethiopians can be, get that one in there as well. To get the Sudanese visa you need to have your Egyptian visa already in your passport.

These days I have 4 passports for 2 nationalities, which is overkill and bordering on the ridiculous, but it's just the way it happened.
I find it easier to switch between concurrent passport than between nationalities in no man's land, though I never had any issues doing that in Central Asia.