rangersman2

I have had a long search and not able to find the answer in that when i go to heathrow can i use either passport depending on the queues i thought you could just as you leave aus on your aus passport and enter back in on your aus passport on your return thanks paul

tartankoala

Here perhaps?

moneypenny20

Either. You need to leave and enter Aus on your Aus Passports, however you can enter the UK on either providing you're not staying for more than six months in which case you should enter on your UK. You should leave the UK on your Aus one.

Pollyana

You'll certainly need to check in with your Aus one in the UK but apart from that you can use either to actually go through passport control. The airline just need to know that you will be allowed into Australia.

DadAgain

+1 - Thats about the size of it....

Either passport will get you into the UK so nobody gives a toss - but your UK passport WONT get you into Australia anymore as you dont have a valid visa on it - so the airline will get confused if you show them that when you check in at Heathrow.... anywhere else EITHER passport is perfectly legit.. - just pick the one with the shortest queue.!

fish.01

Just to confirm, passport control in Australia don't care if you show them a UK passport that doesn't have an Australian visa attached?

moneypenny20

You can get into Aus with either an Aus Passport or a foreign passport with an Aus Visa inside. No other way.

fish.01

That's what I thought...I may be misinterpreting DadAgain's and Polly's post but I thought they may have been saying it is enough to checkin in the UK with your Australian passport and when your flight arrives in Australia passport control will let you use either because your Australian one is already in the computer. I'm probably reading too much into their posts.

moneypenny20

No they were talking about checking in in say Heathrow with the Aus one but then (apparently) you can go through Heathrow Passport Control on to the plane with either. I've not heard that before and I don't get why you would check in with one and then go through passport control with another but there's some funny people around.

I don't have that problem. I don't have a valid UK passport and can't afford to get one so if I could afford to travel anywhere it would have to be on my Aus one. Makes life simpler somehow.

DadAgain

Not so much funny people - as people who have a STACK of passports (4 people and 7 passports) in that pocket of the backpack and inadvertently pass the wrong one to the awaiting officer....

Yes - you CANT get into Australia unless you either have a valid visa in a UK passport, or an Australian passport. This is the reason that the airline check-in at Heathrow will make sure your passport is good (if they're wrong they have to fly you back at their expense). So the only 2 places it matters which passport comes out of the backpack are when checking in at Heathrow, and passport control entering Australia. UK passport control dont give a stuff either way, Australian passport control dont care who's leaving, airlines only care that you wont get sent back again once they've delivered you to the destination.

Pollyana

Yep, there are and I admit to being one of them I'm just weird and prefer to use my UK one whenever possible. What Dadagain says is correct.

I check in in Aus with my UK passport
Leave Aus with my UK passport
Enter UK with my UK passport
Check in Uk with my Aus passport (the airline has to know I will be admitted at this end)
Leave UK with my UK passport
Enter Aus with Aus passport (as the UK one has no valid visa in it now)

quoll

That's what I tried to do the last time but for some reason they told me I had to check in at Sydney on the passport I arrived on so I had to check in with my Aussie one. Will try the UK one when I leave next time - I use the UK one as much as I can.

steve65

my daughter who still lives in the uk has an australian and uk passport.
she was being chaparoned to australia by the airline and by mistake gave the chaperone her uk passport instead of her aussie passport.
because she held an aussie passport her visa was no longer valid in the uk passport but she was still allowed through customs no questions asked.
try and understand this if you can because i confused myself.

Almo

I entered the UK in Feb on my Irish passport and left on my NZ one (i.e. that was the one I showed when checking in). At customs I was asked if I had another passport. There were no issues but they did want to see the Irish one.

JAJ

If you intend to use your Australian passport on arrival in Britain (unless you have a Right of Abode stamp), make sure you have a landing card completed.