Son Entering uk with expired British passport? ASAP advice pls?

[Izziwizzi]

Hi we are considering sending our 16 yr old son back to the uk ahead of us so he can get settled into school ASAP - he will be heading to his grandparents. He has an australian passport but his br itish passport has expired. Do we have to get him a new uk one prior to entering the uk ? Can he enter with his australian one with his birth cert and a one way ticket or will they stop him. He is a very sensible and mature young man but we do not wish him to have difficulties on the journey. He turns 16 on the -15th January is it better he flies prior to his birthday so he is an unaccompanied minor, I'm told 16 is the cut off age.

[Sammy1]

Get him a new one, surely that makes the most sense. I would not want a child of mine to have any difficulty at immigration after such a long flight on his own.

[starlight7]

As Sammy says- why would you add to the stress of the long flight for him?

[Izziwizzi]

It's more whether we need to get him one really. We travelled to uk earlier in the year and he has a brand new australian passport. We are trying to find out whether he can enter on that one without a return flight.

[Quoll]

He will probably get a bit of hassle and have his Aus passport stamped for a 6 month visit but of course he would be let in if he takes his expired passport and birth cert. the sooner UK brings in the requirement for its citizens to travel on EU passports the better IMHO (just like Aus and US). It's not something I would be risking even as an adult and certainly not a kid.

[newjez]

He may want the UK one over the next few years to travel into Europe - so you may as well get it done.

[Parley]

They will certainly let him in with an expired british passport so no need to renew if you don't wish to.

 

The expired British passport is proof that he is a British citizen with right to enter and live permanently in UK.

They will just ask him to renew his passport in the UK as soon as possible.

 

Don't listen to the worry worts who haven't done it.

[Eera]

My father did it about three months ago; he's too tight to pay the exorbitant fees a British passport costs in Australia so only ever enters the UK on his expired one.

[Lisa Anne Pope]

I know my sister came back to the UK using her Australian passport as the British one had expired and after about a year she got a letter saying she had to leave the UK - so she went back to Australia and returned on her British passport which she had renewed. I think the main problem with travelling on an expired passport is that some airlines want one that is at least 6 months valid but if you are flying out on a valid Australian passport that shouldn't be a problem. I haven't any experience of trying to get in on an expired passport, so I think the main thing to remember is to enter the UK on your British passport and not an Australian one. My husband lost or had stolen his British passport on the plane once and he managed to get in without it.

[Diane]

My 18 year old did this no problem last year. Cheaper to renew in England when he gets there anyway.

[Gbye grey sky]

I suspect it will delay him a bit getting through passport control/immigration. Speedier with a British passport. This may be an inconvenience too for grandparents waiting to meet him. No experience of it but I have seen the slow queues for non-EU passport holders.

[sarbear]

We returned to the UK for good in October with our 10 yr old son with an expired British passport and valid Australian passport and there was no problem.

 

We didn't have time to renew before we left but I was worried about it so I called UK immigration before we left. I was told they cannot deny access to a minor so there would be no problem.

 

We told immigration at the airport that we were citizens returning to take up residency and they just told us to renew his passport as soon as we could, we were not held up in any way. You just have to have a valid passport to travel on - which will be his Aussie one.

[Diane]

I suspect it will delay him a bit getting through passport control/immigration. Speedier with a British passport. This may be an inconvenience too for grandparents waiting to meet him. No experience of it but I have seen the slow queues for non-EU passport holders.

 

Last time we visited as a family OH was the only one travelling on a British passport - he went and joined the British queue and we went and joined the non-Euro queue. When he went through, the inspector chatted to him a bit and OH mentioned that we were in the other queue as travelling on the Aussie documents. He was told that he could have taken us all through the British queue with him, and even if we were not with him, we could have used that queue with our expired British passports - as long as you have a valid unexpired travel document (our aussie passports), the expired British passport still shows you are British citizens. We may have caught the inspector/official on a good day, but I'd have thought he'd know the rules and any variations on them.

[Sammy1]

Last time we visited as a family OH was the only one travelling on a British passport - he went and joined the British queue and we went and joined the non-Euro queue. When he went through, the inspector chatted to him a bit and OH mentioned that we were in the other queue as travelling on the Aussie documents. He was told that he could have taken us all through the British queue with him, and even if we were not with him, we could have used that queue with our expired British passports - as long as you have a valid unexpired travel document (our aussie passports), the expired British passport still shows you are British citizens. We may have caught the inspector/official on a good day, but I'd have thought he'd know the rules and any variations on them.

 

 

It depends who the official is......

 

I remember when I took my baby son to the UK for a visit, I used my British passport and my baby had his Aussie one.

 

I joined the British line in Heathrow (the British consulate in Oz had said that would be fine), but then a very rude official had a go at me and said we should have joined the other line because my son was not a British citizen and had no right to be in the line. I was very tired after such a long flight with a baby on my own and just flew at him and said my son had just as much right to be in the UK as he did..... The official barely spoke English and then proceeded to stamp my son's passport with a no right of extended stay and could not use NHS etc etc. My son actually needed to see a Doctor at one point (no problem) whilst we stayed at my Mum's house.

 

Interestingly, when we arrived back in Oz six weeks later it was much nicer experience. I joined the Aussie line because my baby son had an Aussie passport (I only had a British one), they even welcomed me back into the country....

[Parley]

Last time we visited as a family OH was the only one travelling on a British passport - he went and joined the British queue and we went and joined the non-Euro queue. When he went through, the inspector chatted to him a bit and OH mentioned that we were in the other queue as travelling on the Aussie documents. He was told that he could have taken us all through the British queue with him, and even if we were not with him, we could have used that queue with our expired British passports - as long as you have a valid unexpired travel document (our aussie passports), the expired British passport still shows you are British citizens. We may have caught the inspector/official on a good day, but I'd have thought he'd know the rules and any variations on them.

 

Your answer is in there. an expired British passport is still conclusive proof of British citizenship. And a British citizen cannot be refused entry to the UK.

When doing this don't let them stamp your Aussie passport as a visitor. They shouldn't anyway. Just tell them you will renew the expired passport as soon as possible.