Hubby, I and our two children were all born in the UK and despite us being Canadian citizens, we are also British citizens so we hold dual nationality. Imagine our surprise when we found out over the weekend that as of today, February 25th, 2026 we were no longer eligible to travel to the UK on our Canadian passports, that we had to have a UK Passport 😕😠
These past few days have been interesting to say the least trying to sort all this out. We have family in the UK and my mother is getting up there in years, so the ability to travel to the UK is paramount. We have no intention of going this year, but I will be probably going next year to celebrate my mother's 80th birthday. Our daughter and family were there last year and we were all over in 2024 for a funeral.
We have ran into numerous issues sorting all this out but are slowly getting through the issues. Our last UK passports ran out in 2000, and the kids were on my passport at the time. Both kids are applying for their own passports, so they need my birth certificate to include with their paperwork. I need my birth certificate for my passport. No photocopies are allowed. Luckily the UK government were very prompt to our son's email enquiry about this and we are all sending our applications in together as a family group.
Because our UK passports had expired, we all need our parents dates of birth and places of birth, plus the info on whether they were married or not. Hubby is in his late 60's, his dad died 43 years ago, so he has no idea of their dates of birth etc. So when we put unknown he had to supply names, dates of birth etc of his grandparents, didn't know that either 😕All to prove he was born in the UK.
All these changes have been in the works for a while now, but were done very quietly. I hadn't heard of this happening. To my mind it's a total waste of time and a money grab, but what do I know??? It cost us just under 130 British Pounds which included 20 British pounds for courier costs from them to mail them back to us. I am praying and hoping it's for a 10 year passport, as that wasn't made clear?
Overall no one is impressed with this, especially as we have never ever had an issue entering or leaving the UK.
So if you hold a dual citizenship with the UK, don't even think of traveling to the UK without have a UK passport.
24 comments:
Couldn’t you travel like any other tourist?
I presume you have a Canadian passport? Why do you not just get an ETA which will cost £16 and last for 2 years.
Who would have thought this up. A plan to keep British born people out of Britain. Fly to France, cross the channel in a rubber boat and they will welcome you. As well as a money laundering exercise, the purpose is to make international travel as complicated as they can.
Because we have dual citizenship and we were born in the UK which is says on our passport.
no we can't do that, as we were born in the UK and it says that on our Canadian passport.
totally agree with you!
Yep! This starts officially February 25th (today). It's because there have been so many issues with immigration and security due to this loophole. (Not you... just unscrupulous people). It's being done to tighten security and fix some border and immigration issues.
I doubt it has to do with keeping Brits out of Britain. I saw an article that it is about "border control in the digital age". I personally don't see why I as a Canadian citizen need the ETA to enter the UK, I think Canadians shouldn't need it but the UK govt has said everyone needs it. That's also a digital age thing.
You're right - it does sound like a money grab. Wonder how long it will be before other countries start the same system.
Don't forget the want you to send colour copies of each page of your Canadian passport in addition to all the documents.
My UK passport expired in the late 80s. Yes, one of the old hardbacks issued in the name of the Queen.
Our sons were born in Canada and regard themselves as only Canadian for them to suddenly become British may cause problems with their security clearances at work. They've always said if they wanted a second passport they would choose the one from the EU country that their father was born in.
Definite cash grab. My husband can get an ETA and I can't.
it's still a pain in the butt though...LOL
I too can see it happening all over the world......
Yes everyone else will be following suit....
Yes did that, wouldn't be so bad but we are sending all four applications in at once, I dread to think how much Canada Post is going to charge for shipping it all!!
I heard about this just a couple of weeks ago, however, it was announced.... quietly... late last year but ws certainly not headline news at the time. I am so angry that my Canadian passport will allow me to travel to most countries around the world but not the country of my birth! It makes me feel like an alien. My 2 sons were born in Canada and both held UK passports when they were teenagers. My UK passport expired 20 years ago... didn't need to keep it up as I could travel on my Canadian passport. Not any more! What a mess. Good luck in getting all the passports organised.
Thanks for that info. Like you I have dual citizenship and both my passports have expired. I had better get on with renewing them both!
Oh I am a dual citizen, and I haven't renewed the 2nd one since Trump came into office. And our renewal process is SO annoying, plus my birth certificate would have to be reissued as they changed the document type or something or the other. It's all annoying, but if it was a British passport / EU passport that was my 2nd, I'd probably have kept on renewing it.
I agree a big mess for sure.
from what I can gather it's between a 4 to 12 week turn around time......
I agree bloody annoying all around.........
I haven't had a passport for several years but I remember it being a faff and expensive to renew. I had to chuckle at the fact that your husband didn't know the dates of birth of his parents, the dates of mine are imprinted in my brain but if you were to ask my husband his parents dates of birth he would probably have to think hard, I suppose that's a man thing, lol
I had read this online a couple of days ago. My lord, making things so much more complicated than they need to be. Annoying to say the least. I also find it kind of ridiculous that we would need to apply and get an ETA to travel to a place my ancestors on one side came from.
God bless.
I looked this up and yes, you CAN travel to the UK with your Canadian passport, but you will need an Electronic Travel Visa (ETV) -- we need those traveling from the states to the UK too. They're about $20 US dollars. Double check but I think that's right. (You need your passport too. Google "Can You Travel to UK with Canadian Passport).
we are hold dual citizenship and it says on our Canadian passport we were born in the UK, so we need the British one now as well.
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