Australian Dual Citizens Entering UK after February

[New to this]

Thanks for the information. Had your existing UK passport expired?

No, was still current. So, just a basic renewal.

Had 5 months on it. I am travelling just after the 25/2 deadline and didn’t want to risk turning up at check-in and finding a frazzled person telling me “you need 6 months left on your UK passport.”

(You don’t need 6 mths, but didn’t even want the debate - so took the risk on the turnaround being sufficient)

Good luck to others. Seems the system is working well enough. #britainnotbroken

 

[VPS]

SIL did her application for an expired passport this week. They didn't mentioned posting anything but said the complete application was extremely easy and completed quickly. They did say they took longer photocopying all her Oz passport pages than doing the actual application. So likely that's what they posted and not uploaded.

Many Travel Agents don't even know about it. Also someone they know applied for the UK visa in December and is a Brit citizen, there was no mention that within a few weeks this Visa would no longer work. Many will likely get caught out.

I’m still very interested in what will happen if they get there and they don’t have a British passport but just an ETA on their Aussie passport. I doubt that they would refuse them entry

 

[Pushka]

I’m still very interested in what will happen if they get there and they don’t have a British passport but just an ETA on their Aussie passport. I doubt that they would refuse them entry

They have friends in this predicament in February. No time to get the UK passport back they think. Last week SIL wasn't going to bother as they don't go back to UK. Then found out her daughter is giving a lecture at Oxford in May and feels the need to have it just in case.

I'd like to get British citizenship. Am trying to check if Dad ever took it out.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I’m still very interested in what will happen if they get there and they don’t have a British passport but just an ETA on their Aussie passport. I doubt that they would refuse them entry

That’s the big question.

According to the UK govt, any ETA issued to a british citizen won’t be valid come 25 February.

If they cancel/invalidate the ETA then there will be a ‘do not board’ message at check-in. The airline won’t carry you.

So not possible to even get to the ‘refused entry’ stage.

If however the system doesn’t cancel the ETAs then sure, no way a UK citizen can be denied entry if they reach the border.

 

[Zero]

Before 25 February there is no verification of ETAs by the UK government, only manually by airline staff.

Some people born in Aus to UK-born parents are automatically British citizens, while others aren't, depending on their precise circumstances.

As an example, if you're born before 1 July 2006 to a UK-born father who wasn't married to your non-British mother, you are not an automatic citizen. While if born after 1 Jan 1983 to a UK-born mother and a non-British father, you are an automatic citizen whether your parents were married or not. For some people, determining whether they are citizens can get incredibly complex.

The UK won't know that someone is an automatic citizen until they attempt to apply for a British passport for the first time, unless the ETA application is rewritten to ask the same questions as a first passport application.

If an automatic citizen has never tried to get a British passport, and they apply for an ETA saying they are not a British citizen (which could be an honest but wrong belief, or a deliberate lie), it's highly unlikely those ETAs will get cancelled. IMO, there won't be any problems using that ETA even after 25 February.

If you are not an automatic citizen you may have a shorter route to obtaining British citizenship, but there is no obligation to do this and if you don't do it, you will be treated the same as any other Aus citizen when getting an ETA.

If you've previously had a British passport, it seems that the Home Office has no records of passports issued prior to around 1995, so relies on physical evidence submitted by applicants when they try to reapply for British passports. It's unknown whether the ETA verification system will be linked to data of recently expired passports.

If you are an Irish citizen, you're meant to use an Irish passport and not get an ETA to travel to the UK, but the UK would generally not be able to know whether someone is an Irish citizen. Technically, everyone born in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland before 2005 is entitled to be an Irish citizen, but they are not Irish citizens until the first time they make an application for an Irish passport (or, apparently, enrol to vote in an Irish election for the first time).

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Before 25 February there is no verification of ETAs by the UK government, only manually by airline staff.

Some people born in Aus to UK-born parents are automatically British citizens, while others aren't, depending on their precise circumstances.

As an example, if you're born before 1 July 2006 to a UK-born father who wasn't married to your non-British mother, you are not an automatic citizen. While if born after 1 Jan 1983 to a UK-born mother and a non-British father, you are an automatic citizen whether your parents were married or not. For some people, determining whether they are citizens can get incredibly complex.

The UK won't know that someone is an automatic citizen until they attempt to apply for a British passport for the first time, unless the ETA application is rewritten to ask the same questions as a first passport application.

If an automatic citizen has never tried to get a British passport, and they apply for an ETA saying they are not a British citizen (which could be an honest but wrong belief, or a deliberate lie), it's highly unlikely those ETAs will get cancelled. IMO, there won't be any problems using that ETA even after 25 February.

If you are not an automatic citizen you may have a shorter route to obtaining British citizenship, but there is no obligation to do this and if you don't do it, you will be treated the same as any other Aus citizen when getting an ETA.

If you've previously had a British passport, it seems that the Home Office has no records of passports issued prior to around 1995, so relies on physical evidence submitted by applicants when they try to reapply for British passports. It's unknown whether the ETA verification system will be linked to data of recently expired passports.

If you are an Irish citizen, you're meant to use an Irish passport and not get an ETA to travel to the UK, but the UK would generally not be able to know whether someone is an Irish citizen. Technically, everyone born in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland before 2005 is entitled to be an Irish citizen, but they are not Irish citizens until the first time they make an application for an Irish passport (or, apparently, enrol to vote in an Irish election for the first time).

I think that’s a good summary.

The people that are going to be potentially caught are those who have held British passports in say the last 20 years but have let them lapse. And further, those who have ticked ‘yes’ to whether or not they are also a British citizen on their ETA applications in their Aussie passports.