SoCalDon

Hi Guys,

I have British and Australian citizenship and just noticed that my UK passport expired in January. I have a valid Australian passport and I'm just wondering if it's worth renewing my UK one? I have lived in Australia for 10 years now and am only likely to go back to the UK for the occasional visit.

Are there any good reasons for me to renew my UK passport please? Is it worth parting with eighty two and a half quid?

Thanks in advance

Dave

SarahBC

Hi Dave,

I renewed my British passport online today.

I’ve been a Canadian citizen since 2015. Canadian citizens can only board an international flight to return to Canada holding a valid Canadian passport. So I will always need a valid Canadian passport (and could just use that to travel back to the UK with).

However, Britain is in the process of adopting electronic travel authorization like we have in Canada (and the US has had in place for longer). Once Britain has ETA, it’s only one more step that UK citizens will need a British passport to fly back in.

I also wanted a new passport for easier ID and immigration clearance.

Cheers,

Sarah

SoCalDon

Hi Sarah,

thank you so much for your reply. That makes good sense and will make a worthwhile investment. Been a long time since I had a blue passport as well!

I really appreciate your help.

Dave

SarahBC

Glad to help Dave!

I have to courier back my old UK passport with a colour copy of my current Canadian passport. Fun times stood at a Staples photocopier this afternoon!

Still, I've a long way to go before I can beat a retired colleague of mine. Through her life, she’s gained Australian citizenship (born there), British citizenship (began by marrying a Welshman), Mexican citizenship (worked there, progressed to Citizenship in order to be able to buy property), now Canadian. She has the best choice of embassies if ever caught in trouble abroad.

All the best,

Sarah

Amazulu

I have multiple passports, including a British one. On my last trip to the UK I just travelled on my Australian passport. I flew into Manchester and the Aussie passport was a godsend as the queue for UK passport holders was huge and that for non-UK was tiny, so I was through in minutes, no questions asked apart from how long I was staying. This could be different though at the bigger gateway airports like Heathrow and Gatwick

quoll

Why wouldnt you? You never know when you might need it. I have been pestering my UK son to get his Aus passport renewed but he cant see the benefit of paying almost 3 times as much as the UK one costs. I'm a firm believer in keeping all that you are entitled to, up to date. Had we entered UK on our Aus passports back in 2011 we would have been in a bit of a pickle seeing as how our 6 week holiday lasted over 9 years

SoCalDon

Thank you everyone for your comments. I will certainly renew the bugger. Worth having just in case

Retirednow

Never had one and don’t intend to.