AIBU to feel conflicted over dual nationality?

[FraughtwithGin]

One of my best friends has just been granted dual nationality GB/country where she lives.
How does this work?
She is quite unhappy about having to go through the whole process (thanks Brexiteers) as she has lived in said country for over 30 years, married a citizen, bought a house etc. worked.
She is now wondering which passport to use when.
Can anyone shed any light?
Thanks.

‘I am hopefully getting an EU passport next year. Does anyone know whether I have to renew my British passport? Can I let it lapse if I want to?‘

You don’t have to have your British Passport renewed,it doesn’t make you any less British.I’ve gone without a British passport and DC don’t have theirs yet but I find it handy having two with years between renewal dates as you’ll
Never get caught without one if you forget it’s about to lapse.
But unless your other passport is an Irish one you might have to fill in more paperwork or it might take longer at the U.K. border cos of Brexit

Thanks for the replies, I will take them along when I meet my friend for lunch today.
I think she has (had) a load of issues around the dual nationality, the "which passport to use" being probably the easiest to address!
Your responses echo my immediate thoughts, you would use the "most advantageous" passport, so UK one for entering the UK and the other for entering the other country.
I think my friend has been "over thinking". Hopefully she will relax after a couple of glasses of wine!

You can have dual nationality but only one passport.

My kids are dual nationals (European + U.K.) but we haven't bothered to replace the UK passports as they expire, as they are so much more expensive.

Some countries eg US have rules about using the passport to enter the country but I don't believe the U.K. currently does.

I think you are both overthinking this massively. If she was (I assume) born in the UK, that's why she has UK citizenship, but it's not her home, she lives somewhere else and it makes sense for her to have citizenship there too. It's such a lengthy and stressful process for many people. It took me 10 years to sort my dual citizenship. I have UK/my birth country, which I never plan to live in again. I use my UK passport as 'my passport' as it's where I consider myself to be 'from' and I only use my home country passport when I go to my home country (which is rarely).

The only time I'd use anything different is if I needed to travel to countries that had entry restrictions based on travel to other countries. For example, my home country passport had an Israeli visa in it, some countries can refuse entry at the border if you have an Israeli visa. Then I would use the other. Some people have two passports (issued by the same country) for this purpose.

Can I ask why your friend has so many issues? Does she not want dual nationality? Is she unhappy with where she has been living, etc?

I have dual

When I enter or leave either of those countries I have to use my local passport. So I depart the UK on UK passport, and arrive in my home country on the other. When I leave there I do the same in reverse.

All other times I use my UK one. 99% of the time I carry both on the off chance I'm somewhere that being British might not be useful

Can I ask a question to those with two or more passports please?

I have recently got dual citizenship and so am about to apply for a passport for my new EU country.

Do you have to use one passport to enter and exit each country?

So, what I mean is say for example I go from UK to Morocco (or anywhere else) on holiday. Presumably I have to use the same passport to leave the UK and then come back into the UK again, otherwise they won’t know I came back and will think I’m abroad forever. And presumably when I get to my destination I could use the other passport if I want but need to make sure I enter And leave the destination country on the same passport so they know my trip has ended.

Does that make sense?! And is it correct?

Thank you!

My dc now have dual irish/ uk passports (thanks again brexiteers) will travel and apply for visas under whatever is the easiest tbh.

You enter and leave the UK on your UK passport

You enter and leave your other country on it's passport

Any other country you choose which one has better benefits visa wise

If I tried to enter my home country on my UK passport then I'd need a visa to get access and you can't be legally issued with a visa to a country you're a citizen of

If I flew from the UK without my other one then I'd be turned back at the last stopping point before arrival, or on arrival (but airlines get fined I think for transporting people with incorrect paperwork so they'd normally intercept you before your final leg)

I have dual nationality (GB + Euro) and have let my GB one lapse because they are too expensive and it is a real faff to get one sent over here. I most likely won't ever apply for another. (for my EU passport i go to the town hall and it gets issued/renewed within about a week)

Unless your friend is going to do something that requires her to prove her British nationality, she won't really need a passport. However, if she thinks she will need to it would be useful to keep the passport as it's difficult to prove British nationality without one, i think. Most EU countries have ID cards which you can use to prove nationality and also to travel between EU countries (and the UK up until January, i think - not sure how it will work after that)

Another thing that having a British + EU passport threw up for me (and is quite specific) is visas to other countries (like China). I had one for China in my British passport, but when i needed a new visa my British passport didn't have enough validity left. Normally a 2nd visa would be valid for a year but because i didn't already have a Chinese visa on my EU passport i had to get a 6 month one. Which is expensive and rather niche as a problem and only happens once.

forgot to add: as soon as i got my other passport i used it for travel pretty much everywhere including back to the UK (although i took my UK passport with me just in case)

People I have known with dual nationality have told me when travelling they use whichever will make it easier for them through customs.

So, what I mean is say for example I go from UK to Morocco (or anywhere else) on holiday. Presumably I have to use the same passport to leave the UK and then come back into the UK again, otherwise they won’t know I came back and will think I’m abroad forever. And presumably when I get to my destination I could use the other passport if I want but need to make sure I enter And leave the destination country on the same passport so they know my trip has ended.

If you fly on a return flight your passport number would already be registered with the airline for both flights.

But my young adult DD has often gone to the U.K. with her French passport and returned with a British one, in the hope of messing up their statistics (she lives in Paris and travels on Eurostar so there hasn't been any advance passenger information to supply - I presume that will change next year).

You can have dual nationality but only one passport.

In the UK that is so not true.

In the UK that is so not true.

In what respect? A passport is evidence of nationality but it's not a requirement, although a dual national taking up residence in the U.K. would certainly be advised to have one.

Huge numbers of U.K. nationals don't have passports and many people have never had one.

@Mistigri

In the UK that is so not true.

In what respect? A passport is evidence of nationality but it's not a requirement, although a dual national taking up residence in the U.K. would certainly be advised to have one.

Huge numbers of U.K. nationals don't have passports and many people have never had one.

You said:

You can have dual nationality but only one passport.

when it's entirely possible to be a dual (or treble) national and hold a passport for each. Quite legitimately.

You can have dual nationality but only one passport

I read that as “it is possible to be a citizen of two countries but to only have a passport for one of them”. I did not have a Canadian passport for a long time and only got one when they changed the rules recently requiring citizens to enter Canada with a Canadian passport. So now I have UK and Canadian passports but before I only had a British one.

^^ I think what the pp meant was that you don't have to hold a passport to be a citizen of a country. It doesn't make you any less of a citizen because you don't apply for a passport. So you could have dual or triple nationality but only hold a passport for one of those citizenships.

cross post - need to type more quickly

@TheWordWomanIsTaken

^^ I think what the pp meant was that you don't have to hold a passport to be a citizen of a country. It doesn't make you any less of a citizen because you don't apply for a passport. So you could have dual or triple nationality but only hold a passport for one of those citizenships.

No, still not true.

I hold my UK passport, and another one from an EU country. Two passports. My SiL holds those two and a US one to boot. Three passports. She has to use the US one to enter and leave the US.

I’m a dual citizen , I mostly travel on the UK passport but after Brexit I might have to use my original country one( EU country) if visas etc will be required for uk citizens. Also UK will not offer any diplomatic assistance if I’m in my original country, no matter on what passport I’ve traveled.
By the way I am a “ brexiteer” but since I lived here for many years I thought is only normal to get my papers/ status in order , brexit or not.

Yes I use whichever passport would be easier. So if was travelling in Europe I would use my British one. After Brexit it may actually be easier to use my other nationality passport! Will see! I always think my other nationality is much faster to remove their citizens in a crises so would use that when travelling to Places I thought may have an issue

@Mistigri

You can have dual nationality but only one passport.

My kids are dual nationals (European + U.K.) but we haven't bothered to replace the UK passports as they expire, as they are so much more expensive.

Some countries eg US have rules about using the passport to enter the country but I don't believe the U.K. currently does.

You can absolutely have more than one passport if you hold dual nationality.

I found this link quite helpful www.stylehiclub.com/cruising-flying/step-step-guide-to-traveling-with-two-passports/

I travel almost exclusively on my Irish passport, as Irish and British citizens are treated equally in each other’s countries outside of EU agreements it makes no difference if I come into the U.K. on an Irish passport or the British one.

When hijackings were fashionable, there was quite a lot of unofficial advice that if you held a passport other than your US or UK one, there were advantages to travelling on them (unless they were Israeli ....). The reason given was that US and UK citizens were more valuable than most other countries and were less likely to be released.