{"id":492191,"date":"2026-02-20T10:32:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T10:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/492191\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T10:32:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T10:32:09","slug":"expired-british-passport-issued-as-long-ago-as-1989-could-get-dual-nationals-into-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/492191\/","title":{"rendered":"Expired British passport issued as long ago as 1989 could get \u2018dual nationals\u2019 into UK"},"content":{"rendered":"

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From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n

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Dual citizens of the UK and another country have been handed a lifeline that could allow them travel to Britain without either of the officially required documents.<\/p>\n

From next Wednesday, 25 February 2026, the electronic travel authorisation<\/a> (ETA<\/a>) will be mandatory for all travellers arriving in the United Kingdom \u2013 except British and Irish citizens.<\/p>\n

UK citizens are not allowed to apply for an ETA<\/a>. Until now, the government has insisted that only a valid British passport<\/a> or a \u201cCertificate of Entitlement\u201d costing \u00a3589 will allow a dual citizen to be admitted<\/a>. These new rules are to be policed by airlines and ferry companies, who stand to be fined if they take someone to Britain without proper documentation.<\/p>\n

But The Independent has learnt the carriers have been told they can accept \u201cat their discretion\u201d an expired British passport issued as long ago as 1989 \u2013 as long as it is accompanied by a valid passport issued by a nation whose citizens do not require a visa to travel to the UK<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The biographic details on each passport \u2013 name plus place and date of birth \u2013 must match.<\/p>\n

Officials stress it is an \u201coperational decision\u201d for airlines and ferry companies to take. They will not be penalised for accepting the passport combination, but conversely there is no obligation for them to do so.<\/p>\n

\"AirlinesAirlines and ferry companies stand to be fined if they take someone to Britain without proper documentation. (Simon Calder)<\/p>\n

Anyone living abroad who has had a UK passport issued since 2006 and who needs to travel urgently can obtain an Emergency Travel Document, price \u00a3125.<\/p>\n

Many people who have UK citizenship by birth or descent, but who live abroad, have faced hurdles trying to obtain British passports ahead of travel to the UK.<\/p>\n

The burden of proof for a new British passport is high \u2013 leading one prospective visitor, Australian author Carol Richards, to write: \u201cMy problem is that my dad, born apparently in England in 1921, does not have a birth certificate as he was abandoned. He was adopted before adoption was a legal thing, and so does not have any papers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Home Office<\/a> says HM Passport Office<\/a> phone lines are always open.<\/p>\n

Read more: Dual citizen passport rules you need to know<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":492192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-492191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}