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I was born in Colombia but I am a Canadian citizen. When I was getting my ticket for USA that’s in a few weeks I put nationality as Colombian because I was born there but my passport says Canadian Nationality. I can’t change it. Will this be an issue?

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    isabella, where did you "put in" your nationality? do you mean on the airline web site?
    – Fattie
    Commented Aug 11, 2023 at 12:37
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    You need to clearly determine what nationalities you have. Most likely you have both, but that depends on local laws of Colombia (and partially Canada as well). If you have both you can use either one but it MUST match the passport you are travelling with. If you only have a Canadian passport, you should use Canadian as your nationality.
    – Hilmar
    Commented Aug 11, 2023 at 13:00
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    Are you also a Colombian citizen?
    – user102008
    Commented Aug 11, 2023 at 15:03
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    The title and body don't match up. Were you born in Colombia or in Columbia?
    – user138058
    Commented Aug 11, 2023 at 16:37
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    @user138058 Colombia. The title was changed by an anonymous editor (approved by a mod). I've submitted an edit to fix it.
    – wjandrea
    Commented Aug 11, 2023 at 23:38

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It is possible to have two (or more) nationalities. If you hold a Canadian passport, then in virtually all cases your Canadian passport will say

Nationality
CANADIAN / CANADIENNE

This is normal and does not affect any other nationalities you might have.

For travel to the USA, if you are a Canadian citizen then you will want to say you are Canadian (even though you weren't born there) because the entry rules for Canadians are much easier than for almost any other nationality.

For buying the ticket from the airline, it probably doesn't matter very much. When you arrive at the airport, the airline will want to double check your passport. At this point you'll give them your Canadian passport. On entering the US when talking to the CBP officer, again you want to use the Canadian passport.

If the only actual passport you have is your Canadian one (that is, you don't hold a Colombian passport even though you're probably a Colombian citizen), then you're fine. Just say you're Canadian whenever anybody or any form asks.

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    This is largely correct, but in most (though not all!) cases, a flight from Canada to the US will involve talking to US officials not "on entering the US" but during preclearance at a Canadian airport before flying.
    – mlc
    Commented Aug 11, 2023 at 5:06
  • In case it helps calm anyone's nerves, I would note that I have checked in with different passports from different countries on different flights on the same booking without ever having any trouble. I've never seen anything indicating a problem for someone who checked in with a different nationality or different passport from the one provided at the time of booking. A possible complication, though, is that the airline may seek to enforce a visa requirement until it realizes that the traveler is using a Canadian passport. If the system is poorly designed it could prevent online check-in.
    – phoog
    Commented Aug 13, 2023 at 11:48

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