Australian Dual Citizens Entering UK after February

[Rebus]

Has anyone who holds/has held UK citizenship tried to enter the UK on an ETA since the new rules came into place? In this case you would have answered 'no' to the question regarding holding another citizenship in the ETA application.

 

[Bugs]

Has anyone who holds/has held UK citizenship tried to enter the UK on an ETA since the new rules came into place? In this case you would have answered 'no' to the question regarding holding another citizenship in the ETA application.

I travelled on Aussie passport with ETA in February 2026.
While in UK I applied for British passport and have since received a 10 year British passport a few weeks after my arrival back in W.A.
I cannot remember what answers I gave for ETA but I have taken out Australian Citizenship many years ago.
Applying for British passport was cheaper than renouncing British citizenship.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Has anyone who holds/has held UK citizenship tried to enter the UK on an ETA since the new rules came into place? In this case you would have answered 'no' to the question regarding holding another citizenship in the ETA application.

I did a bit of digging to see if there were any reports on the web.

There’s the usual bunch of people reporting ‘no issue’ (travelled on an ETA).

Then there’s a few people stating the official line that you need your UK passport, and claiming people have been turned back after reaching the UK border.

But there are no links to the cases where people have been turned back, and when challenged, these people don’t respond to the fact that as a british citizen - if you have made it to the border - you can’t be refused entry. The same nay-sayers also say that providing false information on an ETA application could lead to a 10-year exclusion from the UK. But of course as a citizen that simply isn’t true.

There was an interesting snippet I read some time ago that the ‘offence’ is actually for the UK government to issue an ETA to a UK citizen… not the UK citizen applying for one! Didn’t dig any further.

The potential snag is that somehow, possibly, the UK govt puts 2 and 2 together and works out that you are british, and you shouldn’t have applied for an ETA, They could, in theory, cancel your ETA, So at check-in you wouldn’t have a valid document to enter the UK.

But that seems fairly remote.

 

[Rebus]

I did a bit of digging to see if there were any reports on the web.

There’s the usual bunch of people reporting ‘no issue’ (travelled on an ETA).

Then there’s a few people stating the official line that you need your UK passport, and claiming people have been turned back after reaching the UK border.

But there are no links to the cases where people have been turned back, and when challenged, these people don’t respond to the fact that as a british citizen - if you have made it to the border - you can’t be refused entry. The same nay-sayers also say that providing false information on an ETA application could lead to a 10-year exclusion from the UK. But of course as a citizen that simply isn’t true.

There was an interesting snippet I read some time ago that the ‘offence’ is actually for the UK government to issue an ETA to a UK citizen… not the UK citizen applying for one! Didn’t dig any further.

The potential snag is that somehow, possibly, the UK govt puts 2 and 2 together and works out that you are british, and you shouldn’t have applied for an ETA, They could, in theory, cancel your ETA, So at check-in you wouldn’t have a valid document to enter the UK.

But that seems fairly remote.

Thanks for doing that research. We have a family trip in December for:

Me - UK and Aus passports
Spouse - UK and Aus passports
Child 1 - Aus passport and expired UK passport
Child 2 - Aus passport

I have applied for an Irish passport for Child 2. They are entitled to that as I was born in Northern Ireland. Child 1 can supposedly enter the UK on the expired UK passport. But I have concerns about proffering that at check-in at MEL. If we have time before the trip I may well submit an Irish passport application for her also as as fall-back.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks for doing that research. We have a family trip in December for:

Me - UK and Aus passports
Spouse - UK and Aus passports
Child 1 - Aus passport and expired UK passport
Child 2 - Aus passport

I have applied for an Irish passport for Child 2. They are entitled to that as I was born in Northern Ireland. Child 1 can supposedly enter the UK on the expired UK passport. But I have concerns about proffering that at check-in at MEL. If we have time before the trip I may well submit an Irish passport application for her also as as fall-back.

Check TIMATIC. That’s what they use at check-in.

I believe TIMATIC currently includes the expired passport.

You can access various versions of TIMATIC through airline websites. I used United’s, under their visa and travel documents section.