UK ETA (I'm a dual national)

silvercar

jimi_man said:

Emmia said:

adamL said:

Hello,

I am flying back to the UK on Monday. I'm a dual national - British and Finnish. I have for years and years travelled around Europe with just my Finnish passport and this trip was no different - my UK passport is in the UK and I'm in the EU. 

I completely forgot about the ETA now in place though. 

According to the rules I am exempt. But how do I prove that without my British passport (I have a copy of it but not the actual passport). 

I'm willing to pay the ETA fee online but I can't enter a UK address (so I would need to make up an address abroad). 

I have my UK driving licence with me. I also have my 4 year old daughter with me - same problem. 

Any helpful tips would be hugely appreciated. 

Thank you

Why are you travelling without both passports, for both of you? It's against the rules to enter a country of which you are a citizen without a passport to demonstrate this. 

What address is on your UK licence?

In your situation you may end up having to fill in ETA, even though it's not applicable.

It's unfortunate that posts like this are allowed to remain on this forum since not only is it completely wrong and misleading, other people might see it and act incorrectly on the information contained within.

If you are a UK citizen then you have a right of abode and entry cannot be denied, whether or not you are in possession of any sort of passport at all. It may take a bit longer but once your citizenship has been established then entry will follow.

Just to reiterate, you can enter and leave the UK on any passport that you own. If anything other than a UK passport then there may well be associated issues relevant to that countries passport (e.g. for a EU/US passport then an ETA may well be expected and technically entry will be granted for six months, no work etc, but once you can prove UK citizenship then there won't be a problem, but will just be a few more questions than you'd get on a UK Passport. It's recommended that a UK passport is used just because it's easier and entry is straightforward, however it's not a problem using a (Finnish) passport, especially if one has a copy of your UK Passport on your phone, so that the BF Officer can run that through the machine if necessary. Most won't bother once they've seen it. 

Lots of  EU dual nationals don't bother carrying a UK passport since you don't need it to enter the UK and an EU one is far more convenient to travel round Europe. The ETA has caused a little headache but as long as one has a copy of the UK passport with clearly readable print then the headache will disappear.

I agree with most of what you say, except that a British citizen can’t have an ETA. With the right to enter the UK and a copy of your UK passport to prove it, you shouldn’t have a problem. The only issue is whether the airline accepts this. If they won’t, you have a case of involuntary denied boarding, which does offer compensation in most countries, but doesn’t actually help you board the flight.

jimi_man

silvercar said:

jimi_man said:

Emmia said:

adamL said:

Hello,

I am flying back to the UK on Monday. I'm a dual national - British and Finnish. I have for years and years travelled around Europe with just my Finnish passport and this trip was no different - my UK passport is in the UK and I'm in the EU. 

I completely forgot about the ETA now in place though. 

According to the rules I am exempt. But how do I prove that without my British passport (I have a copy of it but not the actual passport). 

I'm willing to pay the ETA fee online but I can't enter a UK address (so I would need to make up an address abroad). 

I have my UK driving licence with me. I also have my 4 year old daughter with me - same problem. 

Any helpful tips would be hugely appreciated. 

Thank you

Why are you travelling without both passports, for both of you? It's against the rules to enter a country of which you are a citizen without a passport to demonstrate this. 

What address is on your UK licence?

In your situation you may end up having to fill in ETA, even though it's not applicable.

It's unfortunate that posts like this are allowed to remain on this forum since not only is it completely wrong and misleading, other people might see it and act incorrectly on the information contained within.

If you are a UK citizen then you have a right of abode and entry cannot be denied, whether or not you are in possession of any sort of passport at all. It may take a bit longer but once your citizenship has been established then entry will follow.

Just to reiterate, you can enter and leave the UK on any passport that you own. If anything other than a UK passport then there may well be associated issues relevant to that countries passport (e.g. for a EU/US passport then an ETA may well be expected and technically entry will be granted for six months, no work etc, but once you can prove UK citizenship then there won't be a problem, but will just be a few more questions than you'd get on a UK Passport. It's recommended that a UK passport is used just because it's easier and entry is straightforward, however it's not a problem using a (Finnish) passport, especially if one has a copy of your UK Passport on your phone, so that the BF Officer can run that through the machine if necessary. Most won't bother once they've seen it. 

Lots of  EU dual nationals don't bother carrying a UK passport since you don't need it to enter the UK and an EU one is far more convenient to travel round Europe. The ETA has caused a little headache but as long as one has a copy of the UK passport with clearly readable print then the headache will disappear.

I agree with most of what you say, except that a British citizen can’t have an ETA. With the right to enter the UK and a copy of your UK passport to prove it, you shouldn’t have a problem. The only issue is whether the airline accepts this. If they won’t, you have a case of involuntary denied boarding, which does offer compensation in most countries, but doesn’t actually help you board the flight.

Agreed, that's my point exactly which is why I said 'The ETA has caused a little headache but as long as one has a copy of the UK passport with clearly readable print then the headache will disappear.'

As mentioned earlier, it seems that the lower cost airlines are more likely to kick up a fuss than the mainstream ones - likely really since they want to avoid at all costs, IDB etc. 

Hopefully the OP will have no problem, maybe they could report back with a user experience.