So, have I got this right?
At check-in for the outward flight from NZ I present my NZ passport
At Immigration in Europe I present my UK passport
At check-in for the flight from Europe back to NZ I present my UK passport
At immigration NZ I present my NZ passport.
I could just use my NZ passport the whole time, but will probably overstay in Schengen which is why I want to enter Europe on a UK passport.
What issues/problems would arise if I present my NZ passport on leaving Europe?
Thanks
Normally if you present your passport it will be scanned and somewhere in the machine will be written where you come in, the day, hour and sometimes you get a stamp in or not. I have no idea what can be happend if you show when outgoing another passport who will be scanned too. But it is probable that the officer will ask you some delicate questions.
What issues/problems would arise if I present my NZ passport on leaving Europe?
If you enter on your UK passport and present your NZ passport when leaving, there will not be a record of your date of entry, which means you might be accused of overstaying. You should be able to convince the immigration officer that you have dual citizenship by showing your UK passport, but in that case you might as well show that passport right from the start.
There is no reason whatsoever to enter and exit Europe on your NZ passport.
Actually most countries have it as a law, that you present the specific passport if you have a double citizenship. An example can be found here:
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1753.html
So if someone for example has a US and a European passport, he HAS to present the US passport to immigration in the US and the European passport to Immigration in the EU.
To Topic opener: yes NZ passport, when you leave NZ
EU passport when you immigrate EU
EU passport when you leave EU (in Germany not only at Check-in, there will be a real passport control after or before security check)
NZ passport when you enter NZ
For other countries: just decide which one is more suitable. (visa required...)
I arrive at a border by whatever means and stand in front of an Immigration officer. I hand him/her my passport. The Immigration officer can then allow me to enter or deny me entry but CANNOT tell me to produce a different passport. That's a fact.
Of course he can't tell you to produce a different passport. What he can do is insist you hand over for entry a passport which has you stamped out of the previous country. That's what I had to do between Turkey and Syria two years ago.
I'd entered Turkey on an NZ passport (free, no visa required) but my Syrian visa was in my British passport. I had to return, get a Turkish visa in my British passport, then get stamped in and out of the country.
Maybe it wasn't actually a legal requirement, but as the (very polite) immigration officer said he couldn't let me in otherwise I had no choice.
What would you have done? Stood there and argued the legal point while your bus left because you hadn't been stamped into the country?
Again, go_2 each instance is different. If I handed him my UK passport and he 'insisted' on a passport which has me stamped out of the previous country, I would simply tell him I don't have one. What would he then do?
I'd stand there with a smile and say, 'but I don't have such a passport, this is my passport. I have no idea why it doesn't have an exit stamp but I have no intentions of going back to get one. Clearly, I did exit since I am here standing in front of you, what will a stamp prove that my standing here does not prove? I'm here to visit your country as a tourist.'
I would not get loud or beligerent, just insistent and logical. If necessary I would certainly insist on speaking to a supervisor and if necessary the supervisor's supervisor. I have no problem pushing an issue up the ladder go_2, I've done it many times in various situations. I understand how bureaucracies work and I also understand how to play their own game.
But I also understand when the deck is stacked against me. I as a Canadian male will not be treated the same as you will when entering Syria. It's as simple as that and I suspect you know that. The deck was stacked against you that's all. If I didn't just cave in and acquiese to the Immigration officer's first 'insistence' that I produce an exit stamp I have a strong suspicion that after a little tooing and froing the officer would shrug his shoulders and wave me through. But a woman entering Syria would not get the same treatment at all, especially a western woman alone.
Sounds like the misunderstanding concerned more the tradition of bakchich rather than the actual immigration laws.