Crossing a border with an infant of a different citizenship
- By
- Aparna Patel
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- 19 Jul, 2023
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- When I’ll be passing the French border with her, should I go to the “Citizen” kiosk (after all, even if she does not have a French passport, she is a French citizen), or the “Visitor” kiosk?
I went to the citizen kiosk in the Madrid Airport, even though she has only an American passport, and that did not raised any issue.
- When I’ll be passing the US border with her, should I go to the “Citizen” kiosk (even if I’m not a citizen, I am the legal guardian of a citizen), or the “Visitor” kiosk?
I called the CBP office in Charlotte, and their answer was (without an hesitation) that we had to go through visitors. That’s what we did, and it seemed to be the right thing to do.
In both cases, you can go to the citizen kiosk. This would be true in France even if you were traveling with a spouse or child who was not an EU or Schengen citizen, since the Schengen Borders Code explicitly states that people who “enjoy freedom of movement” may use the EU/EEA/CH line at the border. It should therefore be unnecessary to prove your daughter’s French nationality.
My experience in the US is that US citizens may bring non-US traveling companions with them in the US citizens line even if they are unrelated, but I have been unable to find a publicly available policy governing this. I have encountered some evidence that the practice may vary from one airport to the next; my experience has been mostly at JFK and Newark, while someone here has reported that he had different experiences in Texas airports. You might call the CBP office at your port of entry beforehand and ask them. The non-CBP staff who sort people into the various queues do not seem to have adequate training to deal with such questions.
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I would say definitely the Citizen kiosk when entering France.
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When entering the US, you will need to be fingerprinted as a visitor, so I would choose the visitor kiosk. There is often somebody managing queues (not a USCIS officer) who you can ask, but they may give you a wrong answer. At least if you end up in the wrong queue you can say “but I was directed to this kiosk”.
At least once recently entering the US as a Canadian, I was told off by the officer for using the visitor kiosk. I was supposed to use the citizen one. No signs indicated that, and he agreed, but said I should have used the citizen queue anyway, even though I had no way of knowing.
It probably doesn’t matter either way in either case, so if you get it wrong you’ll know what to do next time to ensure a smooth entry.
Credit:stackoverflow.com‘