British citizen travelling on foreign passport? Visa?

peachyprice

InsideInsurance wrote: »

I dont have a scoobies of what checks they ever do on visa applications. Went through the whole process with a few relatives and the wife's naturalisation etc and beyond the basic documents you send its a black art as far as I am concerned

It also probably depends on the type of visa too, I wouldn't expect the same checks for a tourist visa as a residency visa.

Voyager2002

peachyprice wrote: »

And sureky, by the same token, OP's friend does not cease to be Bolivian and is entitled to apply for a visa to enter the UK on his Bolivian passport.

You can't have it both ways.

If the visa officer knows that the Bolivian applicant is also a British citizen then the visa will be refused. Otherwise, the applicant would need to provide details of his life and income in Bolivia in order to satisfy the visa requirements: doing so without revealing that he is British could prove difficult.

benjus

Well this is the response I got by email from the British Consulate in La Paz:

• The Passport Office is extremely busy at the moment and their target times for overseas applications have been raised to 8 weeks. The consulate has offered to escalate the matter with the Passport Office as it has now exceeded this time.
• They can provide an emergency travel document which would be valid for travel to the UK and back - as long as he doesn't travel via certain countries like the US or Argentina, and transits no more than 5 countries. It would not invalidate his current passport application.
• He could apply for a UK visa in his Bolivian passport, however they warned me that the process is neither simple nor friendly.

littlereddevil

Nothing we didn't know then

benjus

littlereddevil wrote: »

Nothing we didn't know then

Except that it contradicts what people said about not being able to apply for a UK visa as a British citizen, and it clarifies that the emergency travel document would be valid for the return trip and would not have to replace the outstanding passport application...

System

benjus wrote: »

Well this is the response I got by email from the British Consulate in La Paz:

• The Passport Office is extremely busy at the moment and their target times for overseas applications have been raised to 8 weeks. The consulate has offered to escalate the matter with the Passport Office as it has now exceeded this time.
• They can provide an emergency travel document which would be valid for travel to the UK and back - as long as he doesn't travel via certain countries like the US or Argentina, and transits no more than 5 countries. It would not invalidate his current passport application.
• He could apply for a UK visa in his Bolivian passport, however they warned me that the process is neither simple nor friendly.

I'm sure that PolishBigSpender will tell you that the Consulate is wrong :whistle:

duchy

martindow wrote: »

Yes, but the problem is that you will not get to London to argue your case. In the OP's example the airline in Bolivia will not allow a passenger on with a Bolivian passport and no UK visa. I don't think they will be swayed by any paperwork apart from a valid visa or a UK passport.

This is correct.
Airlines are subject to fines amounting to thousands of pounds for allowing even one person to travel who then gets turned around at destination due to incorrect documentation and check in staff (even managers) don't have the authority to over-ride that instruction.

Whilst I agree once landed in the UK it might take a few hours but he'd be allowed to enter - realistically he won't get to that point- especially from a non EU country. The airlines aren't prepared to risk the fines......and why should they ? It's not their fault if a passenger hasn't organized the correct documentation in time (in general- not taking a pot shot at the OP who frankly I think is over worrying and the PP will arrive in time but us Mums like to worry )

duchy

You are missing the point.
Once arrived at UK point of entry they will be detained until satisfied the traveller has right of entry etc -usually same day but they could be held overnight if needed but most people never get to that point as they are simply denied boarding at point of departure by the airlines as it is a condition of travel to produce proof satisfactory to them that you are entitled to entry.

(Source-I'm an ex travel agent and have had clients in exactly that situation.........and little brother holds a senior position in UK Immigration and has dealt with such cases both at Heathrow and Gatwick when he was an Immigration officer).

Two entirely different criteria to satisfy - and the airline at departure point is the tougher of the two to satisfy.

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

There are no holes. A British citizen remains a British citizen irrespective of any documents held. I do not cease to be a Polish citizen when using my other citizenship for some purposes. The Polish authorities, just like the British authorities to British citizens, regard me as being Polish at all times.


No amount of bluster will change the core fact that a British citizen remains such. A British citizen cannot by nature be issued a visa for the United Kingdom, as they are exempt from control under the relevant Immigration Act.





Now you really are clutching at straws. Many British people have no documentary proof of their citizenship, does it mean that they become automatically stateless? Of course not. They rely on other means of documentation. Someone who doesn't have a British passport but is a British citizen remains a British citizen at all times!


Even on this forum, there are examples of individuals entering the UK without any valid travel documents.








Wrong. The foundations were laid to prevent people claiming asylum upon arrival. If the airline is satisfied as to the person's British citizenship, then there is no problem. How to satisfy them? Impossible to say, and individuals should contact the relevant carriers to obtain clarification.


The amount of disinformation on this thread is unbelievable.

benjus

duchy wrote: »

(in general- not taking a pot shot at the OP who frankly I think is over worrying and the PP will arrive in time but us Mums like to worry )

I do expect the PP to arrive in time. But I always like to have a contingency plan in place if it looks like there's the possibility of something not going to plan.

InsideInsurance

duchy wrote: »

Two entirely different criteria to satisfy - and the airline at departure point is the tougher of the two to satisfy.

That depends on a number of things.

When the brother in law came to visit he was held at immigration for 10 hours because they didn't think he had sufficient funds with him even though we had vouched for the fact that we would be paying everything for him, he was staying with us and had provided bank statement showing we could afford to support him.

At departure it was all no problems as no visas are required for them to visit the UK for under 6 months as a tourist/ family.