Dual passport US/EU in transit through London between US and EU. What to use where?

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In your circumstances I would:

  1. Use US passport for check-in (because they check if you have entry right to the USA while checking you in)
  2. Use your EU passport to clear Amsterdam emigration (if they check it at all)
  3. If you are only transferring through London then you will not need to clear immigration (i.e. show your passport) at all. For the purpose of getting on the plane use your US passport.
  4. If you have time, you might get into London using your EU passport (to avoid longer queue and filling in a form), but really using your US passport should be fine as well (unless you are British Citizen).

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To check in on your return, you can use either passport. I always check in with my EU passport when flying from the US to the EU, and my US passport when flying from the EU to the US. But the airline doesn't really care one way or the other since US citizens do not need visas in the EU. (I live in the US, however. If you live in the EU, you might need to prove that you are allowed to stay there for more than 90 days before the airline will board you.)

For immigration officials, I always show my EU passport to EU officials and my US passport to US officials.

For non-EU countries other than the US, I pick one or the other. The basic principle then is this:

Each country has one passport associated with it. When traveling to that country, check in with that passport. When showing ID to an official from that country, use that passport.

So far I've never had a situation where I was transiting through a country where I wanted to use one passport but arriving in a country where I wanted to use the other. If I encountered such a situation, I would likely show both passports at checkin.

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