ETA for the UK and dual citizenship

[helluvatime]

If I have understood correctly, you need to travel on your British passport to avoid having to get an ETA OR get a certificate of entitlement (which costs £550!!!) This seems very unfair to me and is particularly so for those of us who have dual nationality kids who want to travel home to see grandparents.

My kids actually do have UK passports now but did not get them for a long time as we are a relatively low income household and getting everyone two passports when not really needed was too much. I think a lot of people are going to be caught out this way! Oh for the pre-Brexit days when you could travel on a £15 ID card....

Anyway, is this right? Has anyone been turned back because they are a British citizen but without a passport?

Yes we got it. UK kids will soon have to get passports if they want to come here for a holiday. What a shocker

I have multiple citizenships and passports of every country - I have a freedom to travel denied to most. When Brexit happened I was devastated in general but not for me personally as my passports allow me to live and work in several countries EU and out. We are the very lucky ones!!

I see it as a privilege for our dc and one that i am happy to pay for them to have. Mine have always had both passports as I prioritise keeping both valid and up to date. ~£20 a year to have complete freedom in Europe is not a big price to pay.

Having experienced first hand through friends the UK immigration process and the thousands of pounds it has cost them (do some reading about what creating a hostile visa environment means for families) i consider my family exceptionally fortunate and it's a tiny price to pay for a massive privilege.

More scaremongering. That’s not the case. And if it was I will have to pay for passports. That’s life.
etias.com/etias-requirements/etias-for-british-citizens

Well yes.
British citizen - cost to travel to the UK from the EU = over a £100
EU citizen - cost to travel to the UK from the EU = £20

I get that people are saying it is a privilege but most kids didn’t ask to be dual citizens, they just are. The British government could have found a way to allow them to get an ETA just like everyone else but they decided not to. Once again this really only effects low-income families. Obviously if I were rich, I would not bat an eyelid at paying a few hundred extra pounds!

Why scaremongering? This is a discussion. Please calm down. So UK citizens with dual nationality won’t have to pay for a whole new passport in order to travel to the EU? Good for them. I wish the British government had decided to follow the same system.

Nope, 80 overseas, plus 20 x6 for parents and grandparents birth certificates, plus x for translation of Italian birth certificate, plus 50 couriers fees for each child!

Exactly. It is a lot more costly for us to apply for passports from overseas and it takes longer to process.

And the fees charged there are also extortionate and the process often unfair. Both things can be true.

Then choose one nationality and one passport. As PP said there are benefits to being a dual national but also penalties and maintaining two passports is one of the penalties.

But it wasn’t a penalty until 5 minutes ago...

What an odd thing to complain about. My kids are dual nationals and I consider the burden of maintaining 2 passports the cost of a very privileged circumstance.

Anyway, I just wanted to highlight the issue as it seems that many people aren’t aware of it. I am quite surprised at how many people seem to resent those of us who have dual citizenship, though! I am generally against the government taking large sums of money off their citizens (whether that be immigration fees, passports, school fines or whatever) but it seems that there are plenty of people who are happy handing over their cash with a smile. Crack on!

There are always going to be additional costs living abroad especially once you have children. It’s a niche issue that affects very few people.

UK passports are very cheap. My other passport is about 4x the cost to renew.

Weren't you always supposed to enter/exit the UK on a UK passport (if you're a UK citizen)? Even if you have another passport (or more multiple other passports).

No. You just needed a valid passport of an ID card (before Brexit).

"Niche issue" = over a million UK citizens live in the EU.

Bear in mind that it costs a lot more for UK citizens abroad to renew a passport. If you think it is "very cheap" then you must be pretty well off.

Every country with an ETA system disallows their citizens from entering on foreign passports. This isn’t new territory for the UK.

Canada, US and Australia all expect you to enter on a local passport if you’re a citizen, and you can’t get an ETA on a foreign passport.

If it’s such a big deal, give up one citizenship. Nobody is forced to keep dual citizenship. It’s a privilege not a right!
UK passports are cheaper and easier to get than most EU passports. If this a hurdle to far, give it up and buy the ETA on the European one.
If you are too poor, then you are too poor to travel to the UK anyway. It’s just a cost of travel.

It doesn’t even affect the OP. She is just moaning how unfair the UK is to want its citizens to have passports when they enter.

I have triple citizenship and paid 16 quid yesterday to travel to the UK on my Aussie passport as my UK one is about to expire. It will last two years, so it’s not really a big deal. I do know a few people who didn’t bother getting it recently and weren’t asked for it, so it seems they aren’t cracking down yet. For 16 quid I didn’t want the hassle.

This is really interesting and its got me reading up, thanks for starting the thread. Honestly I've not been paying much attention as I thought the launch kept getting pushed back but maybe it's finally coming.

Having applied for a UK passport from abroad I know what a pain it can be. I recently used the fast track service for a UK passport renewal and the turn around was 3 days, could be worth it for dual citizens needing the UK passport who happen to be in the UK soon. Its more expensive but much easier than applying from abroad.

But you’ve chosen to live abroad. You could rescind your UK citizenship if you are that annoyed by a fairly reasonable request to secure the borders and one that isn’t without precedent in other similar countries.

You’re in a hugely privileged position and quibbling about what a country you don’t live in owes you.

Do you know how much it costs to renounce UK citizenship? 😆