I fully understand that once you take up Australian Citizenship the visa in your UK passport is invalid. But if you need to travel back to the UK in an emergency and don't have an Australian passport can you travel on your British passport with a re-entry visa to get back in to Australia?

Think you can leave on UK one but its the re-entering that might be a prob... Not 100% sure but somebody soon will be along who will know for sure

Yep, getting back in is the problem as your UK passport won't get you back into Aus cos any visas in it are no longer valid.
Some people on here have travelled with just their citizenship certificates if they have done the ceremony but not had time to get a passport - Moneypenny and Mrs Soapy come to mind. You need to leave extra time to board the flight in the UK though as they will need to check you out with DIAC. I would imagine if you've just not bothered to get a passport (rather than had too tight a timeline from the ceremony) then you'll get a hard time at Immigration this end too.

Yes can be done but you need to carry a certified copy of the citizenship certificate and a good reason as to why you haven't got a passport. Saying that, it may be harder or impossible now, I did it three years ago but I didn't have time between ceremony and flying to get the passport. You can get a passport turned around in 48 hours in an emergency if you can get to a passport office - much more preferable and less stress when coming in to land.

Thanks for the info ladies.

dont you love a thread that leave you without having to type lol

Hi, I would like to know if that is still doable. A friend of mine will need to travel urgently due to family matters back to her Asian country a day after the citizenship ceremony on Tuesday next week. She will be travelling back using her Malaysian passport.
ddk

She'll need her citizenship certificate and extra time at check-in coming back, and at Immigration when entering Australia.

Also, tell her to carry a couple of certified copies of the certificate as well. Saves them having to copy the original and shows you've made the effort to sort things out. It worked for me, so tell her not to worry too much. The point that was made to my by both DIAC and the Passport Office was although you are now a citizen and so the visa is cancelled, if the visa use by date is still valid then in circumstances like this, it can be used as an RRV - a very simplistic way of thinking about it, more technical than that but tell her she must sort out the passport after she gets back. Doing it like this only works if theres no time between ceremony and travel to sort out the passport so anything over 48 hours people can get passports done.

Why not just get the passport? The passport office can do it in 24 hours for a higher fee.

May depend on whether they actually live close enough to an office to get it done. With the ceremony one day and a flight the next I doubt that even living in the next street would give enough time.

True, the only other option would be the emergency passport which is done the same day. This happened to my brother while overseas, his flight was at 5pm he went to embassy at lunch time and they got one made up for him within an hour. It had restrictions though, I think it was only valid for a year or one time use, something like that. I don't know if this is still possible though. The passport website does mention emergency passports but doesn't give much info.

Discussed here:
http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Austra...eign_Passports

Does she understand that if the Malaysians find out she has become an Australian citizen, they will most likely revoke her Malaysian citizenship (and passport).

Hi all
according to my friend, the experience was a nice one. She told the immigration officer about the issue, and after talking with another more senior officer, she was let in with a proper exit stamp on the foreign passport. the process did not take more than 30 mins. she offered the photocopy but was told not necessary. the existing RRV still can be used although she is already an Australian citizen.

cheers
ddk

good feedback thank you