Re: Over 40's Moving Back and Catching Up
 

Unfortunately not, Cheers. I don't believe they do rushes on expired passports for expats. I will be contacting an MP over there, though. Three months wait is a national disgrace!

Re: Over 40's Moving Back and Catching Up
 

So when are you going? Next week maybe?

Re: Over 40's Moving Back and Catching Up
 

By mid-July. :) I really have to hustle now to get the pets prepped, get their airline carriers, etc. I am still in shock! I will have to go in on my US passport and have my friend send the dogs the next day. I hate to do this but I have no choice. I can't take them with me when I am using my US passport because having pets with me makes it obvious I am staying.

Re: Over 40's Moving Back and Catching Up
 

Wow I envie you even though I realize it's not the time table you wanted.

Re: Over 40's Moving Back and Catching Up
 

Well, it is assuming, of course, I can still stay with my half-sister. I have to call her tomorrow to find out. Her computer needs repair apparently so no emails. I wrote to her five weeks ago but have had no response. Fingers crossed!!

At this point, I don't know how I feel. Yes, I do! Scared stiff! Also concerned because I have to try to stay calm and do all the preparation in only four weeks. Yikes!

Re: Over 40's Moving Back and Catching Up
 

OK so just think of the good stuff.

Re: Over 40's Moving Back and Catching Up
 

You are absolutely right, Cheers! After all I have been through this year, I can get through this - and, besides, there's all good stuff at the end of it! :D Can't wait to touch the green, green grass of home! ;)

Re: Over 40's Moving Back and Catching Up
 

I don't get the dog situation: surely if you are entering the UK on a non-UK passport (even though you do hold a UK passport which is expired) how will your dogs enter? Are they being sent to your sister's care?

Re: Over 40's Moving Back and Catching Up
 

The housing situation IS a national disgrace. The fact that there are ex-council houses for sale in the £200K price range makes my blood boil, when the housing lists are so long. They do happen to be amongst the best built places, with the largest gardens which adds to my fury as I want a garden but my conscience fights me all the time when I see these types of properties on the open market.
Now do you want to talk about the wheelie bins or the dog poo? I am in the mood to take this on verbally again.....

Re: Over 40's Moving Back and Catching Up
 

Yes, the housing situation is so difficult. When we were looking for flats here in Gloucestershire, my husband made the mistake of looking in the US to see what he could get there for the same money--it is agonising!! You have to WANT to be in UK to make this extra cost worth it.

Wheelie bins RUIN the look of so many pretty streets, it is a great shame.

Dog poo--actually here the problem is not nearly as bad as it was where we lived in France, so that is less of an issue for me.

Re: Over 40's Moving Back and Catching Up
 

I don't see why your US passport would be a problem in this situation. For one thing, you will go through passport control before you pick up the dogs. For another, you are a UK citizen (didn't someone say you can actually enter on an expired passport - or something similar?).

For another, what's to stop you saying you are bringing the dogs back, leaving them with your sister, having a holiday, returning to the US, and will return on your UK passport at a later date? Non-UK citizens bring dogs into the country all the time ... so even if you were only a US citizen, why would that stop you bringing your dogs to leave with your sister?

During your "holiday", you can apply for your UK passport and the question is then moot... surely?

It seems like you are over-complicating things, but I could be wrong about any of what I said above.

Re: Over 40's Moving Back and Catching Up
 

Hi Tina

I thought I would just let you know that when I returned to the UK in November 2011, I travelled on my US passport, which meant filling out a landing card for the UK, but also carried my expired British passport. When going through immigration I showed both my expired UK passport as well as the US one, and was lucky as the officer allowed me to go through as if I had just travelled on a British passport, and handed me back the landing card with my passport, which meant no restrictions whatsoever. I did mention that I was moving back permanently.

Good luck in the upcoming few weeks.

Sue

Re: Over 40's Moving Back and Catching Up
 

A trip to Bletchly Park is a good day out and very cheap as the entrance fee gives an annual pass. Engineers have also rebuilt The Bombe that was designed by Gordon Welchman and Alan Turing (the father of the modern day computers) to help decipher the 157,000,000(?) combinations of the daily enimga code. http://www.ellsbury.com/enigmabombe.htm Named the Bombe in honour of the Polish mathmaticians who first worked out how the German enigma code could be cracked.

There are also details and photos of the Royal Navy ships and men on them who captured the first enigma machine. Normal practice was for the Germans to flood their U-boat before jumping overboard, the allies would then collect those sailors and ram the u-boat as it sank. On this occasion the captain of the u-boat didn't sink it properly and it was going down slowly. The order to ram the u-boat was called off by one RN captain when he realised what an opportunity this offered and young British sailors were diving into the sea to board the u-boat. The German captain saw the Brits swimming to his vessel and tried to swim back to it to make sure it did sink, but he never made it.

It's staggering to see how many young British sailers gave their lives trying to get the daily codes and enigmas machines off sinking U-boats. There are life stories and pictures of some of those men, in the huts at Bletchley.

Also a good section from the pigeon society in Hut 4. Once the Germans realised how useful messenger pigeons were (and people on the coastine of the UK shot down the hawks they sent up to kill our pigeons) they used them too. There was a fine in the UK if you shot a pigeon, but a reward if you shot a hawk.

The pigeon breeders got up to lots of tricks too i.e. they would capture German pigeons and replace them with one that looked like it, then drop that pigeon in a special pigeon partachute (one on display at Bletchley) over Germany, so that it was too tired to fly home and would follow German pigeons to a German coup. Then when the Germans used that pigeon again, it would fly to it's coup in the UK with the german message:D

Re: Over 40's Moving Back and Catching Up
 

This thread addresses the possibility of entering the UK on an expired UK passport:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=642808

- It's 5 years old so still needs further research, but there are several links that may add further detail.
- I also used Google and found loads of sources addressing the same question issue (e.g., simply Googling Can I enter the UK on an expired passport). Might be worthwhile using Google as well as asking BE'ers to answer the question, especially as there seems to be some urgency about the situation..

Re: Over 40's Moving Back and Catching Up
 

Thanks, Dunroving. I read the thread at the link you posted and will also Google this.

I am confused about why I cannot enter the UK as a visitor on my US passport and simply renew my UK passport when in the UK. I will have my pets with me and I know it looks suspicious but surely I could simply be visiting and taking my dogs to live with my relative over there. Surely, someone must have done that at some point in time.

I thought of having my friend take my dogs over. She is a US citizen and there is no dual citizenship issue with her. After I thought of that idea, I thought well why can't I do the very same thing? It is so confusing.

I don't want to end up in jail over there simply because my passport is expired and nor do I want to return to the USA. I am really worried about this.