Dual citizenship and passport questions

[snickersnack]

I have Australian citizenship, because both my parents are Australian, although I was born here (so have a British passport as well). I had a passport when I was at school, as we went back and forth a fair amount, and I renewed it when I went to university as I did a lot of travelling and it always seemed a good idea to have two.

I am going back to Australia for the first time in over a decade later this year, with my dcs, and my parents. There is some debate about the rights and wrongs and pros and cons of me getting another Australian passport versus just travelling on my UK passport with a visa.

Is there is a rule that says that if you are Australian you must enter Australia on an Australian passport ? it wouldn?t surprise me, and my mother is convinced I will be thrown into jail if anyone found out, but does anyone know whether I would be in breach of some immigration rule if I used my British passport and got a visa? And would anyone ever know?

Would it make immigration in Melbourne a bit easier? The dcs only have British passports.

How do you manage dual citizenship when travelling between the two countries? My parents have Australian passports and some form of stamp giving them the right to live here [vague emoticon]. So they obviously just use that to get back into the UK. To get on the plane to Australia, I would show my Australian passport at check in, then my UK passport to get through immigration, and use my Australian passport to get into Australia. But coming home, I would want to show my British passport at check in as I want to show that I have the right to get into the country when I return, but then that wouldn?t show I have the right to be in Australia (as there would be no visa or entry stamp). I am sure I am overthinking this, and there is a simple answer but I can?t work out what it is. Do you just wave both passports around the whole time?

Are there any other reasons why getting an Australian passport might be a good idea? It?s over A$200 for a new one, so I don?t want to do it if it turns out to be a waste of time.

My child and I have dual US/UK nationality. To check in for flights to the US adn enter the US, we use US passports.

To check in for flights to the UK, well, last time, I used a US one until we got to Amsterdam, then used our UK ones.

So yes, I was carrying 9 passports on my person.

children, sorry!

I like to keep two as well in case we need to travel in a hurry, in case someone falls ill or the like.

Thanks, that's helpful on the check in/immigration side of things. My colleague has helpfully pointed me to a section on the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship that says

"As an Australian citizen you must always leave and enter Australia on an Australian passport. If you also have a passport from another country you can use that for travel once you have left Australia."

So actually that's fairly unambiguous - I definitely should have an Australian passport. Whether or not there is any way of them identifying that I should is another matter, as my British passport is in my married name, and my citizenship papers predate my marriage.

I guess having two won't hurt - I do remember in rural Indonesia on my gap year being asked to hand over my passport to an extremely dodgy policeman who kept it overnight before returning it for a modest sum of money, and being very relieved I had a spare one.

If you think it's worth it, I'd get the Aussie passport - I've got both (like you) and it is great in terms of queueing at the airport - whether you are arriving there or here, you get the short 'you're one of us' queue - not the 'you're one of them' queue. And although it doesn't state it at the airport, your DC's and anyone else you are travelling with can queue with you - even if they don't hold an Aussie passport.

As someone who has travelled it a couple of times with one child - the shorter the queues, the better - especially when you're getting off a 24 hour flight!

Thanks - that makes a lot of sense. My parents' residency status has never been quite clear to me - I think it is ILE (they both had one British parent and came over in the Sixties to work) but there are occasional panics about it. They both assure me it is entirely legitimate, and they've been here for over 40 years, so I am going to leave that up to them.

HMTheQueen - do you hold passports for all those countries where you are head of state?

I am in a very similar situation - I hold both Australian and UK passports. When going to visit family I always carry both. So I show the Aus one at check-in and the UK one at immigration in the UK. In Australia I only ever show the Aus one - they have never questioned how I am going to get into the UK. Then, on arriving in the UK I show my UK passport and I have never been questioned about where I have been or why I don't have a stamp in my UK passport.

My DD only has a British passport. She goes with me in the Aus citizen queue and it has not been a problem.

My Mum had a stamp in her Aus passport stating that she had 'leave to enter the UK' and that seemed to be all she needed.

The only reason I wondered about getting out of Australia was that I know that airlines are accountable if people enter a country illegally (a friend managed to get on a plane to Australia with an out of date passport and there were all sorts of problems and the airline was fined by the Australian government). So I assumed they were always keen to check that people getting on the plane had the right papers, but presumably showing both passports will get round that.

Right, now I need to get organised and sort out a passport...

Definitely don't use your Australian passport for entering the UK - my sis has dual UK/ Aus nationality and once tried entering the UK with a one way ticket on her Aus passport. She was interrogated by UK immigration for hours before they eventually let her in. She was really close to being deported, despite the fact her Aus passport stated she had been born in the UK.