Englishmum

Perhaps they don't want 'nun' to do a runner with some top secrets and using the British passport to make a devious escape from the US!

JAJ

They could insist he formally signs away his British citizenship via the Home Office. If all they want is that he hands back his British passport, then I would suggest doing that and not pushing the issue.

Be aware that the issue may arise again at a later date.

nun

Quick update. Thanks to Dan for the adjudication pdfs. I'd read a few similar cases. I'll be surrendering my UK passport in the next few days prior to filling out a lot of forms. I've been told that they shred it and keep it in a security file. The next question is really for British Counsul, should I fill out a lost/stolen passport form and use the "OTHER" category on there to explain what's happened to the passport.

British Consul

Just contact your nearest Consulate for advice. They may charge you a fee for surrendering your passport. A consular officer will explain.

Dean

nun

Care to elaborate?

nun

OK so i tried to call the consulate today. Just a series of phone messages. The passport one advised that I call the passport help line, and have my credit card info ready. I did this and after 2 mins of admin stuff with the meter ticking i got to ask my question. The advice was to use form LS01, Lost or Stolen Passport, and report the passport as destroyed. Not sure it was worth it just to have my thoughts confirmed. There was no mention of a fee other than the one for the call itself

nun

Ok here's an update
In the end I was just too uncomfortable about invalidating my UK passport
so I passed on my job offer despite it being very attractive.
The experience made me think long and hard and I definitely have loyalty to both the US and the UK so to deny either was just too hard.
My UK friends were dubious about giving up the UK passport. I'm also eligible for UK SS in 15 years and part of getting the clearance would have been to promise not to take advantage of that. Bottomline I couldn't make those promises in good faith. I would have just been making them to get the clearance and once I'd left the company and lost the clearance I would have applied for a new passport. Some people might be ok with that, but National Security is really important and so is my integrity and I couldn't swear to something with caveats. I would have been really saying "I promise not to use my UK citizenship as long as it's convenient for me and I need the security clearance", and I just couldn't live with that. In the end that was the deciding factor.

scrubbedexpat099

I do not know what percentage of British Citizens have a Passport, probably less than half. A much higher percentage than US Citizens who have a US passport.

The one thing both have in common is that it has nothing to do with pretty much anything else, including eligibility for social security.

nun

True, giving up my UK passport would not have affected my UK citizenship or eligibility for a UK state pension. However, I would have had to promise not to exercise any of my rights as a UK citizen and my heart really wasn't in that so I thought it best not to go forward. I would have been hiding my true feelings and just waiting for an investigator to find me out which isn't worth any job

scrubbedexpat099

You are a British Citizen, not a UK one, so it would have been no problem.

nun

semantics wasn't really a consideration

Dan725

Thanks for the update - interesting.

scrubbedexpat099

Of course it is, the whole issue is semantics.

I learnt a long time ago that there are so many stupid issues created by stupid people that you have no ability to impact.

So you just have to go with the flow. Personally I would have ignored the whole issue, but if it worries you and they screw up with with the wording then it also becomes a non issue.

No need to do your head in about it.

nun

Not sure you really understand, it has nothing to do with UK vs British, it's all about my personal feelings and not wanting to compromising them to get a job. I probably did think myself out of the job and many would have gone ahead without thinking too deeply about it, however, that's not me.

nun

Hey Dan,
I probably read too many of those clearance cases that pop up with a Google search and I might have got through, even though I have family in the UK, renewed my passport after I took US citizenship and continue to pay Class II NI contributions. Still I realized that I think of myself as British rather than American and felt uncomfortable declaring anything else.