New regulations for dual British nationals entering UK – sort of

While many British citizens who are also citizens of Cyprus and other countries have expressed fears regarding the “new” requirement for them to have and produce a valid British passport when entering the UK, the British government has sought to clarify that in fact technically this has always been the case.

“They have always been required to have a valid British passport to enter the UK,” a spokesman for the UK’s home office told the Cyprus Mail. However, he did admit that it has “always been possible” for British dual nationals to enter the UK on their non-British passports because “no enforcement operations” were carried out to combat this.

With the UK now set to fully roll out its electronic travel authorisation (ETA) system in February for non-British nationals who wish to travel to the country, the UK’s government took the opportunity to clarify how the rules will now apply for its dual citizens.

The home office spokesman said that in practice British dual nationals will be able to obtain an ETA certificate through the online portal, as there is no mechanism to prevent them from entering the details of their non-British passport and paying £16 (€18.47) for the privilege.

But there is a catch. “They would have to lie” to do so, the spokesman said.

This is because one of the questions on the ETA’s online application form is whether the applicant is a British national or not. If the applicant clicks the option indicating that they are a British national, they will be unable to proceed with the application.

Lying on a visa application is technically a criminal offence, with the spokesperson saying that it is “as much of an offence as to arrive on the back of a lorry”, though they did once again stress that there is “little to no enforcement” of it.

“There is no increase in enforcement coming, and there is not an incentive to enforcement. If British nationals are in the UK, that’s great, but the rules state that they must come to the UK on a valid British passport,” the spokesperson said.

He added in this regard that they would “never advise a British national to travel to the UK without a British passport”, and made reference to the UK’s government’s official advice on the matter.

That advice states that British dual nationals who do not present a valid British passport may face “delays at the border”, with the spokesperson clarifying that this could entail a long process of proving British nationality in the event that a dual national is stopped at the border.

The only alternative to a valid British passport as per the rules is a certificate of entitlement, which, like the ETA, will be fully digitised in February, with previous iterations having come in the form of vignette stickers stuck in the page of dual nationals’ non-British passports.

The certificate proves that an individual has the right of abode in the UK, with the holder required to apply for a new certificate every time they get a new passport. It costs £589 (€679.65), with online applications available to British nationals and others who have the right of abode in the UK who are located in every country on earth – including Cyprus – except for North Korea.

Regarding why only a valid British passport or a certificate of entitlement are the only options available, the House of Commons library has professed some possible reasons.

It pointed out that the home office has confirmed that certificates of naturalisation, for example, are considered to be legal evidence of their holder’s British citizenship but cannot be used for travel purposes.

This, it said, “might be because the home office is concerned about risks of fraud and misuse, or accidental loss or theft of these documents”.

“Passports include the holder’s photo and biometrics, and certificates of entitlement are linked to the owner’s passport, so both are arguably more secure than citizenship certificates,” it said.