travelling abroad on a foreign passport

[itwasfate]

hi, can you give me some advice please. married to a nigerian man with 3 dc, travelling to nigeria on a nigerian passport - all of us - so we can avoid the payment for visas. we are on the verge of divorce and i will be returing to uk after the trip. he will be staying. should i be concerned that i am travelling on a foreign passprt and not my british one? im not expecting anything to happen but ive never travelled on anything but my british passport before. is there anything i need to be aware of?

[itwasfate]

returning with our dc i might add

[savoycabbage]

I'm no expert but I wouldn't be happy about it. I live in Australia and just travelled to the uk with me and one if my dc on British passports and dh and other dd on Australian passports. A few times when our passports were checked we got questioned about why.

We were told that the dc should have travelled on their Australian passports as that us where we live. We were told that at the airport here as well as the one in the uk.

[savoycabbage]

So are you returning to the uk on Nigerian passports?

[itwasfate]

yes, to avoid paying for a visa - i think i will call ? who? the british embassy? dont know who to ask about such matters?

[wellwisher]

Presumably you are going to take your British passport with you? Why are you going if you are on verge of divorce? Are you 100% confident that your children will be allowed to return to the UK with you? do they have British passports?

[savoycabbage]

Yes. I really think you should. Obviously you need to take your British passports and those of your dc. I worried about this loads and I was only involving Australia.

[MmeLindor.]

Why are you going to Nigeria with your H if you are on the verge of divorce? Does he know that you will be returning to UK with the DC alone?

Sounds a bit risky to me.

[itwasfate]

they dont have british passports no, and yes they will be returning, im just anxious because its an unknown for me and involves my dc

[meditrina]

I doubt an airline would accept you as a passenger if all you had for your return was a Nigerian passport without a UK visa. Surely it would be better to travel with both sets of passports?

[itwasfate]

savoycabbage when they said the dc should have travelled on their brit passport - did they also mean they should have been under a visa for travel?

[savoycabbage]

Ohhhh they have to have British passports. Or they won't get back in the country! Where were they born?

[meditrina]

X-post - if they do not have UK passports, they will need valid Nigerian passports (their own, as father not with them) and a UK visa each.

[itwasfate]

the dc will have their uk passport

[beanlet]

Take your British passport with you and use it to re-enter the UK this is perfectly normal procedure for people with dual nationality. But you should definitely get British passports for your DCs too before you go I would be deeply concerned that your STBX will try and succeed to keep your DCs in Nigeria. There's also no guarantee UKBA will let your children back in if they have no means of proving their UK citizenship. Don't be naive - don't risk this!

[savoycabbage]

I am very confused. So, the three of you all have uk passports but will be leaving uk and travelling to Africa on the Nigerian passports. to save the visa fee.

Then you can return to the uk in the three British passports.

I think.

[GnomeDePlume]

A friend of mine routinely travels out of Canada on her Canadian passport and enters UK on her EU passport. Process is reversed when she goes back to Canada.

[itwasfate]

we will have uk passports yes, and travel on the nigerian pp, will show both plus think i should have copy of birthcertificate aswell. will go prepared have no fear

[savoycabbage]

On the same journey Gnome? I didn't think you could switch on the same journey.

[itwasfate]

it is a very odd process

[beanlet]

Can you clarify OP -- do you all have separate Nigerian passports on which to travel to Nigeria? Or are you all travelling on your DH's?

Remember that you will need to exit Nigeria on the passports that are linked to your airline ticket.

At UK immigration, though, you can go through on your British passports. Carry both UK and Nigerian passports with you.

If you are all travelling on one passport though, FGS rethink this!!!!! You and/or your DCs run the risk either of not being able to fly out of Nigeria or not being able to get back into the UK. Not worth it just to save money on visas!

[beanlet]

Savoy, you have to fly on the passport that is linked to your air ticket, but you don't have to us that same passport at immigration.

[GnomeDePlume]

SavoyCabbage - yes. Whenever I have travelled through passport control in the UK they have had no interest in my ticket whatsoever.

[savoycabbage]

Oh! I just bumbled through immigration. I was really worried about being on different passports from my dc though.

[meditrina]

Good point for OP, though - make sure you know which passport number/s will link to the return tickets and that you have those with you when you travel.

[theDudesmummy]

You can switch on the same journey, for example if you have a South African passport you HAVE to use it to enter SA even if you also have a British passport and have used it to show to the airline