Dual citizens with expired passports

[Disturbedisanunderstatement]

Don’t know if there is a thread on this already so happy to join an existing one if that is the case.
Posting in Aibu for traffic. Don’t care if iabu or not. I just need to fly to the UK next week and UK passport is expired.
I could fly almost anywhere in the world on my eu passport so it is ironic I am technically locked out of my country of origin but that’s where I have a work meeting spontaneously scheduled for next week. I would literally fly in the morning and out on the evening.

Anyone else in a similar position?

Apparently these airlines are accepting expired passports:

British Airways
easyJet
Lufthansa
Singapore Airlines
United
Virgin Atlantic

Anyone actually had success with this yet? Or works with the airlines and can confirm passengers will be allowed to travel?

Why can you not use your valid EU passport to travel to the UK?

Because of a change in the law that came into effect this week. British citizens can only enter UK on their British passport.

Even people who have a British parent, grew up abroad, never had a UK passport, and don’t even need/want one cannot get an eta.

A live chat, or phone the airlines customer services is your best option. In theory they are accepting out of date UK passports. But the Home Office has said that you should contact the airline because decisions are being made on a case by case basis.

I had no idea about this new rule!
Sorry OP, I wonder if your local UK embassy might be able to advise. There is no good the airline (potentially) allowing you to fly on an expired passport if border control won’t let you through.

Interesting people are saything that they haven't heard of this change, because in the face of very recent criticism over this HMG have claimed it was well communicated.

The very few local embassies or consulates only rarely get involved in passport issues - usually only for emergency passports in case of family emergency.

Don't forget it's not a case of airlines letting people travel on expired passports, they'll have a valid e.g. Aus, US or EU one...it's that the UK now won't let duals in without a valid UK one...and as @Disturbedisanunderstatement rightly points out there are a few "duals" around who have never held a UK passport.

The government has said customers will be allowed to fly if they have an expired passport. Technically it’s at the airlines discretion, but they will board you. But do get it renewed when you’re back.

They will let them in, the Government have instructed the airline to allow them to accept an expired british passport for now. Plus they are british, so can’t deny them entry.

I thought an expired UK passport was fine. It's proof that you are British.

OP, the rules are insane. I have cousins who live abroad, were born abroad, never wanted a British passport, never bothered to apply but they technically are British by descent and are now locked out of Britain unless they provide an extortionate amount of paperwork including their grandparents Birth certificates that they don't have. All this when they don't even want "Right of Abode" in Britain, they just want to be able to travel here!

So as soon as I heard about this I applied for a new passport but they need me to send my old passport back to complete application. Then there were rumors old passports could be used as the travel document, so I held onto it just in case, and I am so glad I did.
But now it’s a catch 22 because I need to surrender my old passport to get the new one but also need it to enter the UK. The passport needs to be sent via post, so imagine it gets lost.

I will likely need to go back in March.

This system seems to have been rolled out so blindly with no communication to dual nationals, or to people who are dual nationals but didn’t even know that they were.

I have a friend whose father is British but they were denied a UK passport because their parents were not married when they were born. But now they are also denied an ETA because their father is British.

Rant aside, if anyone has experience of a particular airline or airport allowing travel then please share.

I have a local, smaller airport that I could fly from but thinking of traveling to a larger city one as I imagine their staff will be better informed of the rule?

I've also heard of a case where a Polish woman emigrated to Britain with her family as a child, became a Naturalized British Citizen, returned to Poland in 1990, got married to a Polish man and had children who are now in their 30s and have now discovered that due to their mother's status as a Naturalized British Citizen they are also considered British by descent even though they don't speak English and have no ties to the country. Her mother also lost her Naturalization Certificate and has a passport that expired in 1993 so they don't even know where to begin to apply for British passports and yet they're not allowed into the UK without one!

Try contacting the Guardian about your friend's story...that's exactly the kind of thing they're publishing. Sorry I can't help more, but let us know if they do accept your expired passport! Try calling the airline? You could hang onto your passport when you apply for a new one and report it as lost, and then "oops, it turned up"! Just in case.

I have already sent the application a week ago. They just need my passport to complete it.
I could consider staying longer in the UK, working from my parents, then taking a days leave to go to the passport office and get one on the spot. No idea if that is even possible

They could just have their british citizenship removed if they want.

Is this true? Even children born who were born abroad, who have never lived in the UK?

It’s a total mess. I am a UK citizen living abroad, as our my kids. My son has a school trip to the uk next month and has to travel there on his British passport ( not a problem) but the teachers in his school were unaware of the rule change, as it really hasn’t been publicised here, and this affects other kids in his class. Imagine being in charge of 30 kids at a border, with some denied entry!

@Zemu yes if one parent is British they are classed as British by the eta system whether they identify as British or not

This is crazy. It hasn't been well publicised, this thread is the first I've heard of it.

Yes but they dont want to because you never know what might happen or their children/grandchildren may want to be British one day which they could if they had a British parent/grandparent and were born in the UK. I think it's disgusting to tell British people living abroad that they need a British passport simply to travel through the UK on holiday or that their alternative is to renounce British Citizenship. Also, kids under 18 cant renounce Citizenship anyway.

My understanding is that if you got a passport in your birth country and gave up British citizenship then you are fine even if parents are British. It's if you can be dual nationality or are dual nationality that you need a valid UK passport. It's the if you can be, that is catching people. Alot of people don't want to be and don't realise they can be.

Yes, it's insane. There are 1.2 million people affected apparently. I live in an EU country myself and I know so many people who are now scrambling to acquire loads of paperwork at a big extra cost to apply for passports for their kids that they wouldn't otherwise need.

Yes but to give up British Citizenship you have to be over 18 and it's definite. Lots of people dont want to do that and children cant, so parents have to get a UK passport for their kids or the kids will be stranded:
www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/26/british-danish-couple-uk-passport-rules-dual-national-children

It has been in the news? I’d heard of it from the BBC/ newspapers. Hope you get it sorted OP. It’s common in other countries too eg my husband also has nationality of a South American country and when he goes there he has to enter on that passport, not his UK one.

Good. They're citizens only by default, have no ties to the country, do not speak English. So why on earth would they want to claim citizenship?