julescg

Hi all,

I recently got my Canadian citizenship, and the Canadian passport is on it's way to me. I'm travelling back to the UK next month, my british passport is still valid - what is the best/suggested way to travel with 2 passports, do I hand them both over, do I leave and enter Canada on my canadian one, and enter and leave the UK on my British one??

thanks
Jules

Hurlabrick

Fly back to Canada on a Canadian passport. See here for the official word:

Dual Canadian citizens need a valid Canadian passport

Pulaski

You can do that, or if you are just visiting the UK, just use your Canadian passport for the whole trip and leave your British passport at home. .... I do that with my US passport, just use it when I am visiting the UK for personal reasons.

However, if you take your British passport as well you can choose whichever immigration line is shorter when you arrive in the UK.

Snowy560

You will need to present your Canadian passport to airline staff when you leave the UK to return to Canada.

I took both on my recent trip. We put our Canadian passport details into the airline booking. We entered the UK on UK passports and left again on Canadian.

When we came back from Gibraltar we went in the non EU line as we had one Canadian PP only person with us and on that occasion the officer wouldn't allow us all to use the EU line even though we were a group. It was tediously long. 🙁

julescg

Awesome, thank you all, I think I'll err on the side of caution and take both, I'd read about needing my canadian one to get back in (hence a mad dash to the passport office as soon as I got my citizenship). I'm flying into Glasgow so hopefully the line ups won't be as mad as manchester the last time I flew in!

Snowy560

Take both but Canadian is essential.

SchnookoLoly

I'm dual Brit/Canadian.

Checking in in Canada: Use Canadian passport.
Boarding plane in Canada: Use Canadian passport.
Clear UK immigration: Use British passport. (simply because it's faster/easier, but not strictly required)

Checking in in UK: Use Canadian passport.
Boarding plane in UK: Use Canadian passport.
Clear Canadian immigration: Use Canadian passport.

julescg

Thanks SchnookoLoly (that's not an easy handle to spell!!!) that's just what I needed!!

MarylandNed

It depends on the airport and when you arrive. Sometimes the non-EU line is actually shorter.

Twitcher1958

This is what I do too. The only note of caution I would add is if you are going elsewhere in Europe - if you use your U.K. passport to enter the Schengen zone ( most other European countries), you need to also show it to border officials as you leave, rather than your Canadian one - because they will expect to see an entry stamp in the Canadian one. Best to carry both with you.

MarylandNed

Exactly. The same thing happened to me a couple of times when leaving the UK. I used my UK passport to enter the UK. I used my Canadian passport to exit the UK. I was asked why there wasn't a UK entry stamp in my Canadian passport. When I explained that I had entered on my UK passport, I was asked to show it. So if you're going to use 2 passports, make sure you have both handy in case someone asks to see the other one. Now I usually just travel on one passport (since I'm now also a US citizen, that's usually my US passport).

Snowy560

Yes when we arrived back at YVR the officer asked us where we'd been ... Probably because there was no stamp on our Canadian passports.

Gozit

This...

In my experience they ask everyone that even if its blatantly obvious where you've been. They ask me when I drive back over the border, and they always ask when I return from overseas. I don't think it has anything to do with the fact that there aren't any stamps in my Canadian passport when returning from Europe.

Snowy560

I have never been asked when returning as a PR. This was my first trip returning as a Citizen.

NavyBoy

This is how we do it for a family of four. The only exception is our three year doesn't have a UK Passport at the moment. We go through the UK lane and he has a fair few Immigration stamps in his Canadian passport that allows him 6 months entry but no recourse to public funds. Which is fine as we have Canadian travel insurance to cover us in the UK.