"International Law", whatever that means, has little impact on immigration and customs authorities anywhere. When you are pulled out of line in Miami or Heathrow and your bags are opened and unknown hands sift through your underwear, the rules against illegal search and seizure go out the window and no court in the land (or the Hague for that matter) is going to be interested in your complaints. They don't need a warrant, they don't need anyone's permission. And if they found something of questionable virtue, you will have a long, long wait until you are in a position to exercise your rights of phone calls, attorneys, etc. You can be held imcommunicado for quite some time. And, in the US, you're not entitled to that famous Miranda warning either. Similarly, when the immigration authority of any sovereign nation decides your papers don't meet the requirements of that authority, be they inscribed on vellum or the back of a pack of Rothmans, their control of you overrides your self-perceived nationality. Their country, their airport, their rules. Period. My wife received her FM3 based on her British passport and received her American citizenship and US passport some time later. When she leaves Mexico she must use her British passport because it's keyed to her FM3. If she travels into the US, depending on the mood of the Homeland Security officer, she'll either get by with no problem or get a 10 minute, red-faced, spittle-spraying lecture on why she must travel on her US passport (the computers know everything). The last time this happened it was very unpleasant, we nearly missed our connection and there was no recourse other than to stand there and be embarrassed and angry but say nothing. This despite the fact that on the State Department and Homeland Security web sites, dual nationalities and dual passports are clearly allowed and recognized. Nevertheless, and this has been tested by law, in both the Customs and the Immigration areas of any travel terminal (in most nations, including the UK and US), you are under local authority and subject to the local interpretations of that authority, regardless of your opinions, rights, etc, etc. You can be detained, searched, locked in a room for an afternoon, not be allowed to make a call or ask for your mommy. When we lived full-time in the US and my wife was waiting for her citizenship we had to get permission for her to travel outside the US. This "parole" was on a trip-by-trip basis, and each time we re-entered the US, she had to go to "Room A" at JFK, and sit among people in handcuffs and leg irons, waiting to have her parole validated, sometime taking an hour or more. This wasn't voluntary. She'd present her passport, Green Card and Parole, and an armed guard would march her to Room A. I wasn't allowed in there with her, so I'd sit on top of our luggage looking at the minute hand on my watch, waiting for her. The fact that she was a Green Card carrying subject of the closest ally the US has didn't mean squat. Neither Britain or Interntional Law could do a damned thing about it. It honks me off royally, but it's not going to be changed.
mixz1 - If she's a US Citizen then legally she needs to enter the US using her US passport, that makes sense. Her problem is that, as you said, she needs to leave showing her Brit passport because it's tied to her Mexican Immigration status. What she should do next time she heads to the US is to SHOW her FM3 and Brit passport to the airline rep, but ask them to SCAN and issue her ticket using her US Passport. The airline rep should understand why, but if not she simply needs to explain that she has to enter the US with her US Passport. I know for a fact that people do this all the time. All of my naturalized Mexican friends who are US citizens do this. You have to satisfy the airline that you are in Mexico legally, but they can ticket you using any passport.
Steve, You may be right in the long run but you don't want to do battle with the airlines when J and D are ready to go and the plane will leave on schedule, with or without you. And you should renew her passport for 6 years and not have to worry about a thing until then. Cheers,
