Does it matter which passport a dual citizen enters EU on?

Let's say I am a dual citizen of the United States and an EU country (I believe I am eligible for Polish ciitzenship and am beginning to work my way through that bureaucratic nightmare.) This is a question I was just curious about:

I am aware that I must always enter the United States on my US passport, and that in the dual-citizen situation I must enter and depart Poland on my Polish passport. Generally though, I'd feel more comfortable travelling on my American passport - both to provide a basis for US consular protection if I get into a bad situation abroad, and to avoid trouble with passport control officials (why is someone who is obviously American, only speaks English, and was born in the US travelling on a Polish passport?)

If I were to enter a EU country other than Poland with the intent to exercise rights that I only have on the basis of EU citizenship (to live and work for any length of time), would it be important to make sure to enter the country on the Polish passport? Or does it not matter?

If you're just visiting a country in the EU (other than Poland) as a tourist or short-term visitor not intending to work, then it doesn't matter - you can use your US passport if you wish. I don't know whether Poland insists that its own citizens use a Polish passport to enter Poland - many countries do have such a rule (e.g. the US), many countries don't (e.g. the UK). What you say implies that Poland does have such a rule, which may be true.

Thinking of EU countries other than Poland: if, however, you are intending to exercise EU treaty rights (such as residing, working, studying), then the following considerations occur to me:
- By entering on a US passport you will, in effect, have to lie or dissemble if the immigration/passport official asks you questions about the intention of your visit. Lying to such officials is not a good idea
- Your passage through airports will be quicker and easier if you use the passport of an EU country: a relatively minor consideration, possibly
- Passport control officials in the EU normally barely speak to holders of passports of EU countries: and even if they do speak to you, they're not going to think it odd that a person with a Polish passport might speak perfect English and with an American accent (partly because lots of Poles do and partly because the notion of a person having dual nationality - or even having changed nationality - is well known and accepted)
- The US officials couldn't really act on your behalf in Poland anyway, as you are a Polish citizen. But you are a US citizen and so the US officials in other countries would treat any requests for help sympathetically
- That said, if you get into difficulties that demand consular help, the benefits of being a citizen of an EU country while in the EU are likely to outweigh any benefits of being a US citizen anyway

My strong feeling, therefore, is that if you do intend to exercise treaty rights in a country you ought to enter the country using your Polish passport.

I think you need to take the following into account .... when entering any EEA country or Switzerland .... it will be a lot less hassle using a Polish passport rather than a US one.

Simply, you will join the EEA/Swiss queue at the Port of Entry .... and apart from a quick examination of that passport you will move on rapidly.

Compared to ... use US passport to enter an EEA country or Switzerland ... an immigration officer will need to be spoken to and you will need to be granted permission to enter and stay for so long.

A no-brainer really .... always use your Polish passport, when you have it, to enter an EEA country or Switzerland.

EEA? The whole of the EU, plus Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein.

Don't worry about the issue of raising suspicion because you are using a Polish passport and yet can't speak a word of Polish. I have many South African friends who are dual citizens of South Africa and another non-English speaking EU country and who use that EU passport to reside in the UK.

Most of them have never even been to the EU country for which they have a passport, let alone being able to speak the language of that country. As in your case, it has just been an accident of birth that they are entitled to have the passport (in most cases they have one parent who was born in the EU country).

In one mildly amusing case, a friend of mine who has dual South African and Danish citizenship went to Denmark for the first time to see where his father comes from. He has a very Danish name but can't speak a word of Danish. He was spoken to in Danish on his arrival in Denmark by an immigration officer and of course had to reply in English that he couldn't speak Danish. Besides a barely disguised laugh of derision, he was waved through without any problems.

Dawie wrote: In one mildly amusing case, a friend of mine who has dual South African and Danish citizenship went to Denmark for the first time to see where his father comes from. He has a very Danish name but can't speak a word of Danish. He was spoken to in Danish on his arrival in Denmark by an immigration officer and of course had to reply in English that he couldn't speak Danish. Besides a barely disguised laugh of derision, he was waved through without any problems.

Rather sad though that his father apparently didn't make the effort to teach him Danish.

JAJ wrote: Rather sad though that his father apparently didn't make the effort to teach him Danish.

Yes, let's always blame the parents.... Tut tut....

Rogerio wrote:

JAJ wrote: Rather sad though that his father apparently didn't make the effort to teach him Danish.

Yes, let's always blame the parents.... Tut tut....

It's true, though. Some parents are remiss in teaching their children their native language. Even though my mother's father was born in Sao Paulo and my dad was born and raised in the Azores, I never learned a stitch of Portuguese until I took it upon myself to learn the language as adult. After a few months in Brazil...maneiro!

Yes, let's blame it on the parents... and not take responsibility for our lives. Sorry, rant over.