SunNeverSets

Hi fellow expats!

I've been living in Belgium for the past 19 years now along with my family.
Officialy my ID card says my nationality is Belgian, but I was born and raised in England. Lived there for ten years, and have always felt more British than Belgian.

Recently my brother decided to get a British passport. (or English, not entirely sure how that works) But I don't really see the advantages to having one. To me it's more of a blood connection or knowing where I'm from that matters, but am I missing something? In which cases would having a British passport be beneficial? :-)

Regards!

JAJ

Are you in fact a British citizen? If you were born before 1983 then you would automatically be a British citizen.

If you were born in 1983 or later, then it depends on whether your parents were British citizens or legally settled in the United Kingdom.

SunNeverSets

Oh I didn't know that. '84 actually. I should look that up.
But aside from that, what would the advantages be?

dmu

Hi, the only advantage that I and my two Anglo-French daughters get from having UK and French Passports is that some Visas are cheaper depending on the country to be visited. But the second Passport hardly pays for itself unless you travel extensively to "cheaper-Visa" countries during its validity (not my case)

JAJ

Were your parents British, Belgian or another nationality. IF they were Belgian citizens, they would normally have been considered settled at the time, so you should be a British citizen. But proving it may be difficult.

Did you spend the first 10 years of your life in the U.K.? If so, you can apply for registration as a British citizen, if you're not already British.

Some discussion at:
http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Acquir...te_Citizenship

FlyingDutchman6666

Ok, I'll bite. What are the advantages of holding a UK passport vs. a Belgian passport when you're a citizen of both?

Used within Europe, there is little difference. Both countries are EU members and their passports provide freedom of movement within the EU. For now at least, because the UK is clearly on its way out.

Let's move on to the rest of the world. In 2013, British citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 173 countries and territories, ranking the British passport 1st in the world. The Belgian passport had access to 171, ranking it 3rd in the world.

The slight differences only become apparent for countries that are err... less popular tourist destinations. For example, a British citizen would need a visa for Iran, but a Belgian may travel visa-free. The opposite applies to Rwanda.

That's about it.

BritInParis

Depends on whether you travel or not. If your intention is to remain in Belgium and only travel within the EU then there's little advantage to having both passports beyond sentimental value.

FlyingDutchman6666 raises the issue of visa-free travel but there are more subtle advantages as well. A British passport would give you six months in Hong Kong and New Zealand without a visa for example whereas a Belgian passport would only get you three.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_r...itish_citizens

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_r...lgian_citizens

Price of visas often vary between countries as well. You may have a cheaper or simplified visa application with one passport rather than the other.

British citizenship also confers Commonwealth citizenship which can have advantages if you ever live in a Commonwealth country such as the ability to vote without being a citizen of the country in question.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_citizen

Finally there is the consular assistance advantage. If you are planning to travel outside the EU, perhaps to countries which are less than safe, then travelling on a British passport and having access to British consular services is likely to trump whatever Belgium can offer you.

The price of obtaining a ten year adult British passport from Belgium is £102.86 which works out at around €12.50 a year. If that seems like value for money to you then go for it.

FlyingDutchman6666

If the OP is going to venture into places where consular assistance is a realistic concern, it might make sense to choose the passport on the basis of international relations.

For example, I would not use a British passport to enter Iran, or a Belgian one to travel to Rwanda. Irrespective of visa or consular service considerations.

BritInParis

That is very true. I would say however that the difficulty/expense or not of obtaining a visa for either passport is usually a dead giveaway, Iran being a classic example, especially since the British Embassy was attacked and burnt out a few years ago and has yet to reopen as diplomatic relations are still severed over the incident.

babyposer

Hi

I have another example. If you're a british citizen and wanna move to Australia to reside permanently, you don't have to sit the IELTS exam.

BritInParis

Speaking of Australia you can use a British ePassport to skip the immigration queue and enter via a Smartgate.

emmacurlin31

I think that British passport is more beneficial, because it will allow you to travel 152 countries without visa. One more advantage is, it will grant you to stay in any country for unlimited period. Besides any other password has limit of 90 days!

emmacurlin31

Apart from advantages which I mentioned in previous post, another very good advantage of British passport is that, you can work anywhere in Europe.

gioppino

Another advantage of being British is that when you move abroad you're an expat, while if you are foreigner and move to Britain, you're an immigrant.

Pollyana

Where on earth did you get that from?