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Keep British passport as well, or just Canadian?

Keep British passport as well, or just Canadian?

Old Jul 22nd 2022, 7:29 pm
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Default Keep British passport as well, or just Canadian?

Hey all,

I've tried searching but haven't found much on this.

Looking for some thoughts on whether it's worth continuing to renew our British passports now that we have Canadian ones. We obviously have to renew the Canadian ones since they're required for travel back into Canada. But at approximately £100 each, I'm wondering if it's worth renewing the British ones. From what I'm reading, Canadians can use the main UK lines at passport control in the UK now, so having a UK passport wouldn't make much of a difference. I can't imagine us wanting to stay longer than 6 months (we can always renew in future if there's a good reason to!), so I'm wondering if there's much else to consider?

Would appreciate any thoughts here.

Thanks!

Graham.
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Old Jul 22nd 2022, 7:50 pm
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Default Re: Keep British passport as well, or just Canadian?

I've maintained both passports for myself. I used to maintain three passports each for the kids but, now that they're in charge, two have dropped the Canadian and British ones and the other one has dropped only the British one. No one seems fussed to have a British one since Brexit as it's no longer valuable in Europe. I suppose I won't renew mine again.
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Old Jul 22nd 2022, 8:09 pm
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Default Re: Keep British passport as well, or just Canadian?

The Uk is launching ETA UK in 2024, so I’m not sure is that will impact your ability to enter the UK on a non uk passport. I believe that Canadian citizens can’t apply for the Canadian ETA and have to enter on a Canadian passport, but I’m not 100% sure on that.



Originally Posted by graham1710
Hey all,

I've tried searching but haven't found much on this.

Looking for some thoughts on whether it's worth continuing to renew our British passports now that we have Canadian ones. We obviously have to renew the Canadian ones since they're required for travel back into Canada. But at approximately £100 each, I'm wondering if it's worth renewing the British ones. From what I'm reading, Canadians can use the main UK lines at passport control in the UK now, so having a UK passport wouldn't make much of a difference. I can't imagine us wanting to stay longer than 6 months (we can always renew in future if there's a good reason to!), so I'm wondering if there's much else to consider?

Would appreciate any thoughts here.

Thanks!

Graham.
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Old Jul 23rd 2022, 12:20 am
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Default Re: Keep British passport as well, or just Canadian?

Originally Posted by graham1710
Hey all,

I've tried searching but haven't found much on this.

Looking for some thoughts on whether it's worth continuing to renew our British passports now that we have Canadian ones. We obviously have to renew the Canadian ones since they're required for travel back into Canada. But at approximately £100 each, I'm wondering if it's worth renewing the British ones. From what I'm reading, Canadians can use the main UK lines at passport control in the UK now, so having a UK passport wouldn't make much of a difference. I can't imagine us wanting to stay longer than 6 months (we can always renew in future if there's a good reason to!), so I'm wondering if there's much else to consider?

Would appreciate any thoughts here.

Thanks!

Graham.
Bear in mind that renewing it is a lot less hassle than letting it lapse then trying to renew in several years time...........
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Old Jul 23rd 2022, 1:51 am
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Default Re: Keep British passport as well, or just Canadian?

Thanks all!

Some very interesting points.

With regards the one about it being harder to renew when you've let it lapse for a long time, any idea how long before that becomes the case? I'm thinking for us, and for our kids (who were born here). There was a lot of documents we had to submit for them (including birth, marriage, etc for grandparents) even though we were born in the UK, so I'm hopeful they won't have to submit all that again in future now they've proved their right to a British passport. Or will they if we let it lapse?

Thanks,

Graham.
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Old Jul 23rd 2022, 5:45 am
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Default Re: Keep British passport as well, or just Canadian?

Probably only worthwhile for some niche cases, but you do have the option of adding a "certificate of entitlement" to your non-UK passport, though it's much more expensive (£388) than an actual UK passport (~£106):

https://www.gov.uk/right-of-abode/ap...of-entitlement
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Old Jul 23rd 2022, 1:31 pm
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Default Re: Keep British passport as well, or just Canadian?

Originally Posted by graham1710
Thanks all!

Some very interesting points.

With regards the one about it being harder to renew when you've let it lapse for a long time, any idea how long before that becomes the case? I'm thinking for us, and for our kids (who were born here). There was a lot of documents we had to submit for them (including birth, marriage, etc for grandparents) even though we were born in the UK, so I'm hopeful they won't have to submit all that again in future now they've proved their right to a British passport. Or will they if we let it lapse?

Thanks,

Graham.
I looked into this in early 2020 - my British passport was due for renewal and I was going to submit it for renewal when I was in Europe in March 2020. Obviously that didn’t happen and I had the same concerns - I found that a passport had to be expired a decade or so before there was a need to resubmit all the documentation. I only waited a few months before I was able to submit mine for renewal.
I can’t remember the source of my info at the time but Google this morning gave me answers of 5 and 10 years, neither through official channels but travellers info forums.
I’d also read about the introduction of a British ETA being introduced so in your case, I think I would renew to be ready for that, but not necessarily rush to do it at the moment.
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Old Jul 23rd 2022, 3:21 pm
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Default Re: Keep British passport as well, or just Canadian?

My British passport expired in 2019 and I renewed it in March 2022 without any problems. It took 6 weeks.

Originally Posted by graham1710
Thanks all!

Some very interesting points.

With regards the one about it being harder to renew when you've let it lapse for a long time, any idea how long before that becomes the case? I'm thinking for us, and for our kids (who were born here). There was a lot of documents we had to submit for them (including birth, marriage, etc for grandparents) even though we were born in the UK, so I'm hopeful they won't have to submit all that again in future now they've proved their right to a British passport. Or will they if we let it lapse?

Thanks,

Graham.
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Old Jul 23rd 2022, 5:42 pm
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Default Re: Keep British passport as well, or just Canadian?

Originally Posted by mrbanks
Probably only worthwhile for some niche cases, but you do have the option of adding a "certificate of entitlement" to your non-UK passport, though it's much more expensive (£388) than an actual UK passport (~£106):

https://www.gov.uk/right-of-abode/ap...of-entitlement
Those are only available to those who have never held a British passport.
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Old Jul 24th 2022, 12:43 am
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Default Re: Keep British passport as well, or just Canadian?

Thanks again everyone!

We're going to renew my wife's for now. Her mum has Alzheimer's and is declining, and I don't want to take any risks with all the uncertainty going on with covid and everything else, so I think it makes sense for her to have her British passport.

As for the kids and myself (we're good for another few years), sounds like we should be able to let them lapse for up to 5 or 10 years without any issues renewing them, but more than that and we might need to dig out all the documentation again.

The UK ETA may of course necessitate having them, so we'll keep an eye on that! We should know the details of it before the kids and myself have to renew.

Thanks again,

Graham
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Old Jul 24th 2022, 12:09 pm
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Default Re: Keep British passport as well, or just Canadian?

Originally Posted by Pollyana
Bear in mind that renewing it is a lot less hassle than letting it lapse then trying to renew in several years time...........
Originally Posted by graham1710
Thanks all!

Some very interesting points.

With regards the one about it being harder to renew when you've let it lapse for a long time, any idea how long before that becomes the case? I'm thinking for us, and for our kids (who were born here). There was a lot of documents we had to submit for them (including birth, marriage, etc for grandparents) even though we were born in the UK, so I'm hopeful they won't have to submit all that again in future now they've proved their right to a British passport. Or will they if we let it lapse?

Thanks,

Graham.
​​​​​​​

Pretty sure you cannot renew a UK PP if it expired over 10 years or more. After that time it is classed as a first time PP application.
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Old Jul 24th 2022, 7:30 pm
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Default Re: Keep British passport as well, or just Canadian?

i was given grief by UK immigration when i entered on a Canadian passport and my British one had expired. I even had an appointment to renew the UK one while i was visiting. There were no repercussions to the unpleasantness but it was deeply unpleasant.
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Old Jul 24th 2022, 8:25 pm
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Default Re: Keep British passport as well, or just Canadian?

Originally Posted by bats
i was given grief by UK immigration when i entered on a Canadian passport and my British one had expired. I even had an appointment to renew the UK one while i was visiting. There were no repercussions to the unpleasantness but it was deeply unpleasant.
Did you go through the UK/EU (or wharever it is now) line or International?
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Old Jul 24th 2022, 8:47 pm
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Default Re: Keep British passport as well, or just Canadian?

Originally Posted by Jerseygirl
Did you go through the UK/EU (or wharever it is now) line or International?
I can't remember! It was in EU days and not the machine. You didn't need to use a UK passport if you were a citizen she was just being vile.
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Old Jul 25th 2022, 2:39 pm
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Default Re: Keep British passport as well, or just Canadian?

I only applied for my Irish passport once Brexit was done but for the costs of each spread over their validity, I don't see a reason not to keep each of them active. One never know which consulate will be able to offer the best service in a particular situation.
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