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?

The UK haven’t recently put its foot down about the uk not using visas to uk citizens who have another passport, it has always been the rule that you return on your uk passport if the country of your other passport needs a visa to enter the uk. For example, Pakistan/bangladeshi nationals have to apply for a visa to enter the country, people who are dual uk nationals had to use their uk passport to enter the UK and even now that the uk is allowing e visas for one of the mentioned countries, uk citizens who also hold pakistani nationality are still not allowed to apply for one on their other passport.

The UK has always allowed some nationalities to enter the uk without a visa which has inevitably benefited those citizens who also have another strong passport and now since the uk requires US/NZ/AUS/EU citizens to apply for ETAs etc like the other nationalities, this means the uk citizens will be unable to benefit using another passport to gain entry

Its what many dual nationals have been doing for years it has always been the done thing to enter on your british passport when your other passport needs a visa or travel authorisation visa to enter this country

I'm British and live in the EU. My children were born here and their dad is from here.
He didn't believe me when I told him that they are British citizens by birth and do not need to apply for citizenship or have their births registered in the UK.

They have passports for both countries. It was straightforward and quick to get their UK passports. Only thing that could have been difficult is having someone to countersign who isn't family....

So I don't think it's that big a deal but the communication could have been better.

Just wanted to update I am now in the UK after flying successfully with Lufthansa today and have just ordered a beer and burger to my hotel room.

I got to the airport very early and went straight to the customer service desk as I was unable to check in without an eta. The staff called around including the UK number and got confirmation I could fly but I was told very clearly by the UK people on the phone that this would be the only time they would make an exception and next time I must fly with a valid British passport.

@Disturbedisanunderstatement

Thanks for the update..enjoy the beer (and the burger).

Glad you made it over ok

The fucking passport office have LOST my younger son's Dutch passport. It arrived there according to track-and-trace, and now they're saying they can't find it.

There goes our holiday end of April.

I started applying for a copy of my birth certificate (had to send it for my older son's British passport application) back in February when these oh-so-badly advertised rules came in.

It's taken weeks and weeks for everything to arrive here in the NL, I got the applications into the post immediately I had the paperwork myself, it took three weeks to arrive in the UK and now they've gone and fucking lost the Dutch passport of my younger son.

Fuck's sake.

Oh fuck @ReleaseTheDucksOfWar that's really bad! What happens now? If tracking shows it arrived do they have to take responsibility for it?
So glad now that I sent photocopies instead of the passports themselves!

I hope they take responsibility yes. Don't know if they -have- to. On the basis of previous experience with significant issues with the UK govt, anything they can get out of they will - there's no concept of 'reasonable' and certainly no weighting of the implications for the people involved, unfortunately.

We have to start the process to get a new Dutch pp as he's going on holiday with his father soon. This holiday is a no-go sadly.

It's just ... so often in dealing with the Uk stuff like this happens. Where is the pride in doing a job well? Where is the view that if something happens, take responsibility and try to make accommodations in the light of their -own- mistake?

Can't believe they lost his passport! My DDs Dutch passport is with them as we speak, hopefully they treat hers with a bit more care.

We got hit with an email today about extra information we need to send. Recently changed process apparently. Why can't they make it all clear up front! It's infuriating.

DH is driving me mad too. He is not treating this with any urgency, it's his family we need to see in the UK! I don't really want to go. He had time to collect and send this information today, didn't do it. It took him ages to apply in the first place and that was with me doing most of the legwork (photo, birth certificate, translation of birth certificate).

I got hit with a request for a new photo for DS despite it being in the 'good' area when I submitted it. Had to take a picture myself in front of the closest to white wall I could find as DS had surgery today so can't go and get it done professionally for some time.

Just to add here that I had already sent my application when I started this thread at the beginning of March and still do not have my passport. They keep sending me automated emails that I need to send my documents or they will cancel my application. I have sent them recorded delivery and they have arrived. So probably sat at the bottom of a massive pile or now I’m thinking… lost?

@Natsku my youngest's photo was in the 'fair' category but it had been professionally taken ... they didn't mention it, so I hope it doesn't come up at a later date. I think it might have been his long, luxurious hair which I'm mildly jealous of. So mine was 'fair' and got (hopefully) through and yours was 'good' and didn't ...

Hope your son's surgery went well.

@Disturbedisanunderstatement honestly if you're still getting the mails despite the documents officially arriving, I'd ring them to find out what the situation is. Too many people's experience on here has been of quality of drunken monkeys trying to locate their own toes and failing.

@CuteOrangeElephant aren't you the tiniest bit tempted to leave it to him to organise, if you don't really want to go at all? Given how slow he's being?

Shit. What?

I am tempted to be honest but would not do that to my poor MIL. She has only seen baby DD once.

They denied it because his head was slightly tilted, so I guess the computer doesn't pick up on that. They mentioned it quite quickly once they received the documents so if you haven't heard anything yet that's probably good.
Surgery went well thanks, he's enjoying ice cream for breakfast and no school

@Disturbedisanunderstatement you sure you sent all the documents they asked for? Definitely call and ask them what's missing.

I posted earlier about my British brother, American wife, and German nephew travelling to the UK at the end of March from Germany. Those are the passports each of them were travelling on, no issues entering with BA. My nephew now has a British passport though for next time!

The UK passport office lost my non UK documents after signing for them. I called several times over several months before they admitted they were lost. They tried to get me an emergency UK citizenship which was declined by the home secretary. The work around in the end was to report it stolen so that my embassy could issue a same day passport. By this time I was traveling the next day.

Eventually they (passport, marriage certificate, birth certificate, child's passport application) turned up.... In a second class envelope from the person who they sent them to.... Un related to me. Apparently the person who had received them tried to return them to the passport office and was told they couldn't. So they sent them to my old address - carefully included in the documents. The person who we sold the house to contacted their conveyancing solicitor who sent them to ours who sent them on to ours... Who eventually sent them to my parents (contacting address as we had gone travelling for a year)

Trying to get a crime number was difficult... Hi I would like to report my passport stolen. By the passport office... Last seen at the post office sent by registered post, signed for by the passport office. ... It took a lot of convincing that it wasn't a wind up.

The people at my embassy roared with laughter when I explained what happened....

Long sorry tale to say get on the phone and start raising merry hell to give them time to give them time to reissue your passport.

The UK and the ROI are separate countries, but have a 'Common Travel Area' agreement whereby there are limited border control between them, meaning you don't have to show a passport when travelling from/to the UK and ROI. You literally step off the plane and straight through to get your luggage.

This poster is saying (correctly) that, because of the above, the new rules don't apply. So, even if an Irish citizen could also claim British citizenship, they are not required to apply for and travel with a UK passport, as there is no need for them to show a passport at all when entering Britain.

I don't agree with the view expressed in their last sentence.

Bloody hell! Good thing the people the passport office sent them to were decent enough people to try to find where to send them, and then the new owners of your old house too.

Surely you'd assume you need current passport photos when applying for a new passport?

Is it a first child's passport that your acquaintances are applying for? If so, many countries ask for the same - I've put off applying for a third country passport for my child for this exact reason. However, in terms of renewing a British passport, I just renewed my child's passport and all they asked for was the original passport and a colour photocopy of their EU passport.

The issue is that you can't find out what other documents they want until you've got the photos so you can't send off for documents in advance of doing the application so the application goes through and then you can send off for everything you need, wait for them to arrive, then send them to the UK, and meanwhile the passport office keeps sending you emails and texts telling you to send your stuff and it starts to make you wonder if at a certain point will they just close the application because documents haven't arrived within a given timeframe.

Yes it's exactly that! Plus once you finally get the list of documents needed it includes documents you don't need and leaves off documents you do need.

They have threatened us with closure of the application without any refund if the documents hadn't arrived by a certain time, I think it was three months.

Which isn't massively long if you need to apply for certificates and official translations etc.

Oh that is not long at all considering how slow bureaucracy can move. It was alright for me because they only asked for birth certificates and copies of our other passports and I already had English translations of my children's birth certificates as I always carry them when travelling in case border guards ask questions, and they accepted me not sending non-British grandparents birth certificates (wrote a letter to explain) and my mum sent my parents birth certificates and marriage certificate directly to the passport office (got there long before my documents did!) but I've heard so many horror stories that I am tempted to get my children the certificate of entitlement next time so they won't ever have to renew again but the cost puts me off.

Yeah I just decided to ignore the request for non-British grandparents birth and marriage certificates. That would have cost me 300 euros for the certificates and translations.

They have not asked for them, so that would have been a gigantic waste of money. I can think of more fun things to do with 300 euros!

We now have to supply the British grandparents passport information. Would have been nice to know that upfront.