Souvenir

I just got back from my first trip to the UK since the Spring and passport controls have changed a bit. My habit is to use my Canadian passport when leaving here, my British passport when entering the UK and the Canadian one when leaving the UK. At LHR they are now doing passport checks after security. The woman checking me spent some time looking for the entry stamp in my Canadian passport before asking me if I'd entered on a different one. She was reasonably OK about it but I can see it being a hassle if you pick the wrong officer.

BTW, if a Mr Harvey (AC889 LHR-YOW) is reading this, you owe me a beer.

Biiiiink

I had the fear of God put in me about doing that, so never have. On the other hand, I've been had UK officers give me a talking to when entering the UK on a Canadian passport, so you don't escape it that way either

Incidentally, now that I say I'm visiting the UK rather than living there I get (can't read stamps exactly) "6 months, no employment or recourse to public funds" entry stamps instead of "indefinite leave to enter the UK" which is fair enoughI suppose, but means I need to pack 2 passports in case a visit were to become a stay. Unless they stamp "no employment or dole" in UK passports too if you say you're non-resident visiting?

P.S. What did you do for Mr Harvey?

Souvenir

Saved him some hassle, I think. On my way to the gate I stopped off at the last refreshment place for a, er, coffee. While I was queueing, a passer-by picked up an ID card that someone had dropped and handed it over to the girl on the till. I only got a brief glimpse of it but it looked a bit familiar. When I came to pay, I asked to see it. Sure enough; a Canadian PR card. I mentioned that to the AC staff when I went to board and boy were they happy. The guy had noticed that it was missing and nobody knew where it was, except me and the coffee shop girl (who clearly didn't give a toss).

Helen Parnell

I know it was only a little gesture for you to see the card and assist but I must admit that was a life saver for him. I think he owes you more than a beer, at least a meal out.(I hope he was tall dark and handsome).

He might not have been able to get back in when he arrived here?

Souvenir

I've been Canadianised, although I stopped being Canadian shortly afterwards. The old bat who insisted that my seat was really her seat got rather short shrift and moved as soon as the door shut.

walkerv05

ill never forget my brother inlaw getting his canadian passport stampted with a 6 month visitors visa after going on holiday to greece,
the holiday was a bit of a rush and the british passport office would not issue a british passport because his birth certificate didnot show proof that his parents where born in the UK and he had to apply for the full one from toronto (where he was born came back when he was 4)
meanwhile he went down to the Canadian embassy and he had a passport within a couple of hours!
he did 5 years of service in the british army, had a wife and 2 kids, a job and a morgage and was livid on his return from his first proper holiday!!! didnt occur to him they would do that!, needless to say he was issued with his british passport in the end and didnt have to return to Canada after all

thundercat600

just out of interest, why do you use your Canadian passport to leave the UK? why not British one entering/leaving UK and Canadian entering/leaving Canada?

i asked my godmother what she did (she comes back to the UK for 3 weeks every year) she said she does as i've written above.

loose moose

glad you said that, i was just thinking the same!

wizzard

I would have thought nowadays that if you show up at passport control with a different passport than the one you showed getting on the plane they would be more suspiscious. I always figured that you would use the UK passport outbound (i.e. at Canadian airpot check in to prove you could fly to the UK and at UK customs to show you can enter the UK) and then use the Canadian one on the wya out, but that seems to have been the original posts problem.
I seem to recall that once upon a time they would stamp your Canadian passport with a special stamp after verifying you were a British Citizen so that you could just use that but possibly that was a while ago.

blueeyes2002

I have a Canadian and a Guernsey passport and was told by immigration in Guernsey to travel from there on my canadian passport and back on my GCI as there will be no hassles with stamps etc.

I did that on both trips in July and August this year thru LGW and had no problems.

JAJ

A general rule is that if a country has exit control (Canada doesn't, but the U.K. is bringing these controls back) then show the same passport you used to enter the country.

You can show both passports to airline check-in staff if you like.


Right of Abode (ROA) stamp. In fact it proved you had ROA rather than British citizenship, as some Canadians have ROA without being British citizens.

Since December 2006, they will no longer give you an ROA stamp if you also have a British citizen passport.

Souvenir

It was the exit check that tripped me up. In the past I could just present the passport most appropriate to the official in front of me. I wasn't expecting that particular official, so I had the wrong passport in my hand.

clynnog

How is a 'Guensey
passport different from a passport issued anywhere else in the UK. I have a friend born in NI and he told me that the numbering scheme on his passport identified it as an NI issued UK passport. It caused us no end of problems crossing from Belgium to France in the late 80's (when they had douane there)

clynnog

So nothing has changed at LHR then...staff who couldn't give a toss about the well being of the people who are keeping them employed.

Paul Wildy

Why wouldn't UK officers want you to enter the UK on a Canadian passport if you live in Canada? Is there some sort of rule that says if you have a British passport you are supposed to use that when entering Britain?

Also, I have often wondered about this: when you arrive in the UK you show your passport and they presumably then know who you are (i.e. you can be tracked back to previous visits, residence or other activity in the UK) but if you enter on a passport from another country (so not your UK one) then as far as their computers are concerned are you actually a different person (comparred to the UK citizen of same name that visited last time)?