Dual nationals face scramble

FE Team | Published: February 18, 2026 23:56:35

LONDON, Feb 18 (BBC): When Jelena returns home from a "holiday of a lifetime" travelling around South America later this year, she faces being told she can no longer enter the UK.
The British-Latvian dual national is among those who say they have been caught out by upcoming changes to passport rules for dual nationals, which are due to kick in on 25 February.
Entry requirements for dual nationals are being overhauled as part of sweeping changes to the immigration system the government says will streamline and modernise the UK border.
But for Jelena, who has lived in the UK for 16 years, the changes are a "betrayal", and others in the same situation have told BBC News the prospect of being denied entry is causing anger and concern.
Here are how the new rules will work - and why Jelena and others like her are furious about it.
Under the existing rules, a British dual national - whose other nationality is from a country not subject to a UK visa requirement - could travel to the UK using their foreign passport. But from 25 February that will no longer be the case.
Instead, they will need to show either a British passport, or a new digital version of the certificate of entitlement to attach to their second nationality passport - and without one of them, they could face being denied the right to travel back to the UK.
Neither British passports or certificates of entitlement are automatically issued to people who obtain citizenship, which means some dual nationals have never applied for them, even if they have lived in the UK for decades.
Both documents take several weeks to obtain and there are costs too. A British passport costs around £100 for an adult, while the certificate of entitlement costs £589.
These new rules for dual nationals are linked to the roll out of the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) system this month, a major immigration reform which will require visitors to the UK who do not have a visa to apply for a £16 entry document before arriving.
The government said it plans to increase the ETA fee to £20 in the future. Dual nationals cannot apply for an ETA and must meet the new documentation requirements instead, with checks now carried out by airlines when departing en route back to the UK.
The new rules do not apply to Irish passport holders but other EU citizens will be affected. According to the latest census in 2021, 1.2% of UK-born residents were UK-other dual citizens (587,600) and 6.5% of non-UK-born residents were UK-other dual citizens (648,700).
The government has said the reforms bring the UK's immigration system into line with countries like the US and Australia.
But critics say the looming deadline and a lack of communication around the changes have left people scrambling to apply for new documents, with dual nationals who are out of the country on holiday or visiting family facing the prospect of being stranded until they can acquire a passport or the certificate.