New dual nationality rule

[Poxette]

I am British, I grew up in Britain with my British family. I have a British passport.

I now live in Norway. DH is Norwegian, our DC were born here and have Norwegian passports.

Is it really true that DC need to get British passports for us to travel to the UK?!

It can take quite some time to process depending on the country and when it’s a first passport there is often an in person interview at the embassy which depending on where you are can involve days of travel.

since they presumably have Norwegian names, and since you presumably have never applied for British passports for them, and it seems they probably have little contact with their UK side, i really don't think it is at all reasonable that anyone thinks they should have to have a British passport (sorry, UK passport)

If you think there is the slightest chance that they may want to spend more than a relatively short visit in the UK, or maybe even work there for a bit, it might be in their interests to get a UK passport (since that is the easiest and cheapest way to prove citizenship)

Frankly, even with our completely non-German names, nobody has ever questioned our German passports when going to the UK before, and i am furious that they are about to start. But it is what it is.

In your case, though, i wouldn't worry about it too much unless you think you might ever have to travel with them alone.

Not sure that is correct, it’s only the first passport ever that requires the embassy. I got my DC their British passports renewed online when we lived in abroad. I did need a counter-signatory to verify their identity but as we knew other British expats, that wasn’t very hard.

but the questions are: how would anyone know? my DC would be immediately "suspicious" with a German passport and obviously non-german (british looking) names.

But if OPs kids have a Norwegian surname, and neutral/Norwegian first names, how would anyone know?

They would need an ETA to travel to the UK, British citizens can’t get one, so the OP and her partner would need to lie on the application and say they are not British citizens. If their children then do want a British passport, or choose not to lie on a future ETA it will become apparent that at a previous time they have lied.

Some people may be comfortable giving false information to get a visa by deception, but I imagine most of us wouldn’t be willing to do that.

The ETA & ETIAS collects biometrics. Whenever the DC do apply for a British passport, their biometrics will again be collected. There will be a biometrics match in the system and OP will be fined. The DC may have trouble proving their British citizenship and exemption from immigration controls if they ever want to study, work or live there.

So they may not find out now, but they will find out.

Sorry I wasn’t clear - it’s the American passports that are a pain as we live in the uk. I thought that British people living elsewhere would have similar challenges but I think I was totally wrong.

Ah yes, every country is different. What a pain.

ETA started last year for European passport holders.

more than 500 of your english quids. So passports probably work out cheaper if you are over 20.

Another point is even if OP renounces her British citizenship now, her DC are still British citizens because their mother was a British born British citizen when her DC were born.

Most countries allow you to renounce citizenship - it can be pricy, but likely cheaper than a lifetime of passports.

Having said that, I don't think a parent should do that on behalf of child without a REALLY good reason - you never know where their life will take them in the future....

A parent can’t renounce citizenship on behalf of a child. The child keeps all nationalities they are born with until they are 18. Then they can decide which to keep or renounce. There’s different rules for different countries, especially those that do not allow adults to be dual/multi nationals.

Yes it’s true. Dual nationals cannot get an ETA. From next week.

the point i'm trying - and failing - to make is this: OP has a Norwegian husband and 2 children for whom she has never made a claim for a British birth certificate or passport.

To all effects and purposes these kids are Norwegian. But because OP is a Brit, they have British nationality imposed on them. Meaning if their parents want to take them to visit granny, even if only once in their lives, they have to have a passport (and as i recently discovered, getting a countersignature from a non British person is a MASSIVE pain in the backside)

I would happily renounce my British citizenship - but that costs a fortune and has hoops i CBA to jump through.

And while it was easy for me to renew my UK passport (i had let the old one lapse, it was ancient and when i got it i only had one citizenship so nothing to connect me to another country). I expect there are a fair few Brexit-EU citizens who are in the same boat with their UK passport.

I get that it has happened. I get that it is a PITA. What i don't get is why they're suddenly doing this now.

Because they are digitising the border and many other countries already have this rule, Australia for example. Europe follows suit next year.

they were introduced last year. I know because i have travelled with an ETA on my German passport because i misunderstood the question on the application as do you have another "passport" when it was "citizenship" they were asking about.

So i said "no" and got an ETA which i used a few times before i realised what i'd done and got a UK passport. When i used it going into UK from France, the chap at the UK Border Force and i were having a good laugh about the fact that a brit had a visa to get into their own country, neither of us had clocked that i shouldn't have had it. So i don't actually trust Border Force to know the rules at all.

I’m Australian with Australian born children whose father is British, therefore they are automatically British citizens and will need British passports the next time they want to travel to the UK. We are fortunate that they are now both over 18 so can get adult passports which last ten years.

There are a huge number of British citizens by descent living in Australia and this issue has been a hot topic. As to ‘how would they know’ well if you are travelling as a family and one of the parents is on a British passport then ‘bingo’ they will know! What we’ve been told here is that the airlines will refuse to board you. But the idea of lying on a visa application or directly to border officials is frankly insane. I think it’s a privilege for my children to have two citizenships and this is the price of it. My husband is now a dual citizen and has had two passports ever since he received his Australian citizenship.

Sounds like you’ll need a passport. A way to get some money I guess with all those needing to apply.

It’s a money grab. Charge tourists for ETA and make every British citizen travelling pay for a passport. It has the added bonus of discouraging settled foreign nationals from naturalising as British citizens as well so they can be denied access to public funds.

But that's exactly what every person who only holds a British passport would have to do if they lost it outside the UK. I can see why it's personally convenient for you to have a back-up, but can't see why you think the UK government should design border controls to put you in a more favourable position!

Yes, they will now need UK passports to visit the uk. Even if they never previously had one. It’s been in the news, ignore anyone on this thread that says it’s not the case.

I believe you can't renounce citizenship till you are 18.

I'm going through the passport process at the moment and it has been an incredibly stressful shit show that has cost a fortune. Our applications took almost two weeks to even be acknowledged and they lost one of my documents. They did find it, and my passport is on its way. DH and DC are still waiting.

There will be a lot of people who are citizens by descent who just can't provide the documents needed for a passport and I feel so sorry for them. Imagine being 70 and trying to track down your parents marriage certificate, particularly if they divorced 40 years ago. People who have changed their names will also struggle.

We've already had to cancel a trip to the UK and many others just won't bother. We'll go to Italy or France instead.

I've written to my MP requesting more time before this is imposed. It hasn't been communicated well and the passport office are not coping with the huge surge in applications.

You have to be an adult to renounce British citizenship. In some places its older, I renounced my previous citizenship and the minimum age was 21.

My children have three nationalities and I have two. I haven’t kept up their GB passports up because the cost is ten times their other more useful passport. I will get them a new GB passport, but it’s insane that they are currently British citizens with two valid EU passports and have no way of legally entering the country (should we have to travel soon for a funeral or whatever).