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I recently became British and now I have to travel back to my country, Pakistan. Which passport should I use to travel? I know British comes in handy when you are travelling in another country.

Let’s take an example of me travelling to Pakistan via Saudi Arabia. I now hold both British and Pakistani passports. Which one should I use for booking my flight, during travel, and when at the immigration counters?

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    Perhaps you should add which country you intend to transit through. Commented Aug 22 at 18:01
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    Have you already applied for a National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP)? It saves you the hassle and allows you to use the British passport for your entire trip. Commented Aug 22 at 18:59
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    travel.stackexchange.com/questions/52100/… I do not think this is a duplicate but it may answer what you want to know. Commented Aug 22 at 19:24
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    The question is too broad and unclear. Immigration to your original country, for which you hold a passport, or the transit country, whose airport may or not require passport control for transit passengers? Commented Aug 22 at 19:26
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    @localhost: you do not NEED a NICOP, but if you have one, you can do the entire trip on your British Passport, which simplifies things. Commented Aug 24 at 11:49

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In general:

  • At immigration, use the passport that is relevant for the country.

    In your case, that means you should use your Pakistani passport when you enter or exit Pakistan, your UK passport when you enter the UK (there is no exit control in the UK).

    Elsewhere, you can use either, but as you noted, it’s likely that in most cases the UK passport will let you enter without a visa or with facilities such as visa-on-arrival, eVisa, or ESTA/ETA/ETIAS/etc, while the Pakistani passport may require a visa. But always check, it’s not impossible there are exceptions where it’s the other way around.

  • For airlines (optionally during booking, but for sure at time of check-in, bag drop or at the gate), always use the passport that is relevant for the destination country (as above).

    Things can get a bit messy if there is a transit somewhere, but: if you actually enter the transit country, that’s your destination. If you don’t, in general the final destination is the one that counts. There can be exceptions which are more complex.

In your example:

  • When leaving the UK, provide your UK passport to the airline (booking, check-in, gate)
  • No UK exit passport control
  • Show your UK passport to Saudi immigration
  • When leaving Saudi, provide your Pakistani passport to the airline (check-in and gate), since you are travelling to Pakistan
  • Show your UK passport to Saudi exit passport control (since you entered with that one)
  • When arriving in Pakistan, show your Pakistani passport to immigration.

The other way around:

  • UK passport for the airline
  • Pakistani passport for Pakistani exit passport control
  • UK passport at Saudi immigration
  • UK passport for the airline again
  • UK passport at Saudi exit passport control
  • UK passport at UK immigration

In some cases they may ask about any other passport you may have, just show it to them if they ask.

NB: one important point here is that neither the UK nor Pakistan have a problem with your dual citizenship. For readers with dual citizenship which involves a country which does not accept dual citizenship, the rules would be quite different and more complex.

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  • Would the airline on the Saudi–Pakistan leg not make a fuss that you’re checking in with a different passport from the one on the booking? Surely the point where the passport is scanned to match a ticket for check-in will fail if the passport being scanned is not the one registered in the booking? Commented Aug 23 at 10:19
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    @JanusBahsJacquet no, as long as the name matches, the last passport scanned replaces the previous name. Airlines are used to people with multiple passports, or passports which are replaced between booking and boarding. For most airlines, passport info is not even mandatory at time of booking (and is not even required at all if the destination country does not require API). Commented Aug 23 at 11:05
  • @JanusBahsJacquet so I can book using British passport because I had a lot of headache at immigration or even on boarding with Pakistani passport Commented Aug 24 at 11:23
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    @localhost the passport at booking time is mostly irrelevant (and many airlines don’t actually require it, you can usually book even without providing any info), it’s just a default passport if you don’t provide one later. What is important is the passport you present at check-in and/or at the gate, which must always be the one you will be using at immigration at the destination. As detailed in the answer, you should use the UK passport for all your flights except the flight to Pakistan where you should use your Pakistani passport. Commented Aug 24 at 12:14

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