Benefits of holding 2 passports

[Toffeecea]

Am just after general thoughs

Me, DH and 2 DCs, all born and living in NI.

DCs have Irish passports but DH and I hold both British and Irish passports. My British one expires in March 2019. Irish one valid for quite a while.

I got a text reminder today about renewing British passport. And can't think of any reason to expect for the entitlement of holding dual citizenship?

Thought welcome!

The

Thoughts welcome

Thanks x

It’s useful if you lose one, or notice suddenly that one is about to expire, and you have a holiday planned. Aside from that, with the two pp you hold, nothing else I can think of.
I love travelling on my Irish pp. People are definitely friendlier to me in hotels and even at border control than DH who is generally travelling on either British or French.
I’m originally from the north of Ireland too. I’ve never held a British PP and don’t want one but the spike in people from the north suddenly applying for Irish pp’s is interesting, and I’ve been wondering if it’ll lead to fewer applications or renewals of British PP’s.

I would want to know the reasons behind holding a british one in the first place? Patriarchy, culture, identity , cost etc. Also depends where you live? E.g do you live in England and will be travelling back to ni often? I hold only an Irish passport(as does dc) technically eligible for British passport, live in England and not thought about it but maybe I should!

I'm thinking of applying for an Irish passport which I qualify for, but not sure if it's worth it or not.

Honestly, the only reason DH and I have both now is because we can. From memory I needed my first passport in a hurry and it was faster to apply for a British one. I use my Irish one for all travel and ID purposes.

I can definitely see the need to maintain our Irish passports post March 2019... Just not sure if there is any need to keep our British ones renewed?

There can be practical reasons for holding two passports, although I don't think this applies in Europe. My South African colleague (who holds dual nationality) can't currently travel back to her country of birth because there are not enough months left on her SA passport and she is not legally allowed to enter the country on a UK passport.

Anyway otherwise it's a good question. My children are dual nationals. My DD has both French and UK passports + an ID card. DS has only French passport + ID card at the moment, his UK passport expired last year.

Are there any good arguments for renewing DS's UK passport? Eg that renewal from abroad might become more difficult in future?

DD tells me that after Brexit it will be handy to be able to use her UK passport to go to London by Eurostar and her French passport to return to Paris ;) But tbh that doesn't sound like a good enough reason to fork out for a UK passport.

I think there is little advantage in holding a British passport if you also hold an Irish passport because the bilateral Uk Eire agreements mean that Irish citizens can live and work freely in the UK and vice versa. This bilateral agreement will continue post Brexit.

The decision is different for EU citizens who do not hold an Irish passport as their rights to freedom of movement/ employment to the UK may be curtailed post Brexit.

Non EU citizens may also benefit from holding a UK passport. But they will have far greater advantages from holding an Irish passport post Brexit.

Interesting that many of the Irish backstop arguments have been rehearsed over the years in the context of the UK Ireland Common Travel Area debate and that the Ulster Unionists have always won the argument regarding border checks between NI and GB mainland.

British passport holders are at the top of the list for least restricted citizens, along with several others. Ireland not so high.
Depends if you might travel much whether this is useful or not.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travel_visa#Visa_restrictions

@ Silkie

Yes but the UK passport will be massively downgraded post Brexit when Brits lose their EU freedom of movement rights.

My df has British and Irish passports.
When we went on holiday to China the visa for British was £40ish, and for Irish was about £8! It was many years ago though.

@Frazzled2207 my sibling and their spouse had a similar experience about 6 months ago. We siblings are entitled to Irish passports. I'm the only one with a spouse who is also entitled to one.

I have my birth passport and my UK one that I got after TM became Home Sec.
I may well get rid of the birth one once my Dad dies
but for now its very useful to be able to travel without restriction on it.

DH and the DC have dual nationality with another EU nation.
It’s largely so the dc can work, study travel more easily and with no visa issues/costs
Plus we own property in Europe and it might be that British citizens are subject to more tax or other restrictions so DH still being an EU citizen may help with that
It’s just an insurance policy really - sadly I can’t get one but at least they can

It's not like your citizenship will lapse just because your passport goes out of date, so I don't see the harm in leaving the British passport for now. You can always just apply for another down the line if you decide it would be useful.