US-based Iranian travelers swap passports at layover airports to enter Iran
Evidence
Iranian Americans born in Iran (firstor 1.5-generation immigrants) and second-generation youth with an Iranian-born father qualify for their own Iranian passport, even in diaspora. Thus, traveling with both passports is considered the preferred arrangement for Iranians living abroad and is the predominant way that the youth from my sample traveled to Iran. In this scenario, they used an American passport to exit the United States and to enter a transitionary layover airport—most typically in Amsterdam, Dubai, Frankfurt, or London. Now outside US airspace, they then used their Iranian passport to board the flight departing for Iran, which they also used at entry and exit in Iranian airports. This passport swapping while in transit was common knowledge and unremarkable to Iranian Americans who traveled to the homeland, but it was often a source of fascination and surprise for non-Iranians. — Neda Maghbouleh, The Limits of Whiteness, 375
Categorization
- XREF: The material performance of dual identity resonates with the broader thesis about racialized citizenship — also echoes James C. Scott’s work on state legibility practices.
- SHARE: The passport-swapping protocol at Amsterdam/Dubai/Frankfurt layovers is exactly the kind of niche practice worth sending to someone who studies migration logistics or Iranian diaspora communities.