I was three years old when I went to Australia with mum dad

[welljock]

10 hours ago, Blue Manna said:

Without residency you won't get access to the NHS, plus there are many other things that residency gives you. You won't get residency without right to abode. Hence that is why residency is stronger. But of course having both residency and a British passport is even better.

That makes the need for a passport or at least proof of citizenship stronger, he is effectively an Australian tourist with no right to abode or residency; unless he can prove citizenship or has a valid visa. 

[lebourvellec]

You likely have already held British Passport if you left the UK when you were 3 years old.   Just renew your passport from a child to and Adult one, will probably only take a couple more weeks if you still have the expired Child passport. 

[welljock]

2 hours ago, lebourvellec said:

You likely have already held British Passport if you left the UK when you were 3 years old.   Just renew your passport from a child to and Adult one, will probably only take a couple more weeks if you still have the expired Child passport. 

Not necessarily, dependent on age, my son was 7 before he got his first passport and I was 18, despite many trips abroad for both of us.

It was normal for children to be included on a parent's passport, that changed around 2000 requiring children to get their own (if they weren't already included on the parent one). Some countries (USA for one) did require a separate passport, which was why I had to get one for my son, his younger sister actually had her own passport before him. 

[Ken]

On 02/05/2024 at 05:56, Amber Snowball said:

That’s what I thought. Yes NHS number from birth and it stays with you. Thank you kindly! 

No, the NHS number doesn't stay with you from birth but only until they update the computer system. I can still remember my old (alphanumeric) NHS number but I was never able to remember the (numeric only) NHS number that they replaced it with in the 1990s (because the new-fangled computer system, which they scrapped halfway through implementation, couldn't cope with alphanumeric numbers).

[Blue Manna]

4 hours ago, welljock said:

Not necessarily, dependent on age, my son was 7 before he got his first passport and I was 18, despite many trips abroad for both of us.

It was normal for children to be included on a parent's passport, that changed around 2000 requiring children to get their own (if they weren't already included on the parent one). Some countries (USA for one) did require a separate passport, which was why I had to get one for my son, his younger sister actually had her own passport before him. 

The OP is 21.

I used to be on my parents passport, but I think that ended many years ago.

[welljock]

1 hour ago, Blue Manna said:

The OP is 21.

I used to be on my parents passport, but I think that ended many years ago.

I did say that, it was around 2000/2001, if you were already on the parent's passport the UK didn't require it to change until the adult passport expired.

If the OP is 21 he probably would have required a passport to get to Australia at 3.

[Ken]

On 16/05/2024 at 18:06, welljock said:

I did say that, it was around 2000/2001, if you were already on the parent's passport the UK didn't require it to change until the adult passport expired.

If the OP is 21 he probably would have required a passport to get to Australia at 3.

I looked it up. The actual date of change was 5 October 1998 (so you weren't far off) and since (as you've said) children who were on passports issued before that date could continue to travel on their parents' passports until they expired, there could still have been some using them as late as 2008.

But there's no way someone who is now 21 would ever have been on their parent's British passport.