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Hi

I'm a national of a country that doesn't allow dual nationality and my country doesn't have any special measure like India. My country assumes that I have lost my citizenship automatically when get another citizenship.

When I get BC, how will my country know that I have obtained BC? Does thr UKBA tell them?

Would it be feasable to keep it a secret?

Assuming you are a visa national ... don't you need a valid visa to return to the UK from your country if you don't want to use your British passport?

Danbrix wrote:Assuming you are a visa national ... don't you need a valid visa to return to the UK from your country if you don't want to use your British passport?

Could still show ILR even I guess if it was in an old passport. Obviously it wouldn't be valid, but I don't think it would be possible for other countries to check.

djb123 wrote:Could still show ILR even I guess if it was in an old passport. Obviously it wouldn't be valid, but I don't think it would be possible for other countries to check.

djb123, you are right he can show his ILR but it would be going back to square one once his passport expired.

ILR ceases once you get British Citizenship and if you want to travel on your original countries passport you would have to apply for Right of abode stamp which last only as long as the passport does and cannot be renewed. The IO at point of entry can make it really difficult if you don't have British passport but are trying to enter as a British Citizen. If your previous country of residence does not allow dual nationality you are supposed to surrender your documents once you get another nationality, so make your choice as to which is more important

Your ILR may no longer be valid but does anyone other than UK immigration actually know? I question whether UK immigration always know either (my wife entered the UK after she got British citizenship using the ILR visa in her non-UK passport).

And the BIA suggests you could use the ILR stamp in your old (expired) passport if you get a new passport.

http://www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/ukresi ... opassport/

You can choose not to have the residence permit transferred to your new passport. In that case, you should carry both your old passport and your new passport when you travel to the United Kingdom, as evidence of your resident status. If you cannot produce your original permit, you may not be allowed to enter the country.

From a UK perspective, your ILR becomes invalid on acquisition of Citizenship, so strictly, an Border Agency Officer at your port of entry maynot be satisfied that you have a right to be here. Practically, it is unlikely you would be turned away if it is a one-off. It's therefore advisabel to have a British Passport for purposes of re-entry to the UK. Of course, getting a Right of Abode stamp in your home country passport could resolve this.

From your country of origin's perspective, you are correct, they won't know that you have taken up citizenship elsewhere and therefore for the validity of your current home country passport, you would be able to enter and leave that country on that passport, provided that immigration and airline check-in staff are different (you would need to show airline check-in staff your British Passport).

You will nonetheless encounter problems should you wish to renew or extend your home country passport, as many UK based missions that do not permit dual citizenship require Permanent Residents to present confirmation from HO that they have not taken up British Citizenship. Obviously HO will not issue this if you are a British citizen.

Practically it is therefore feasible to travel on your home country passport, but this is only workable over the short term. Longer term, you are likely to run into trouble and potentially cause yourself avoidable legal hassles in your home country.

My understanding is that in your case you lose your previous citizenship on acquisition of BC. And it happens automatically.

Now if your old passport says you are a national of a certain country, but in reality you are not because you automatically lost that nationality on acquisition of BC, does it not make your old passport invalid because not all details are correct? You can’t say it’s still valid because some of the details on your passport are still correct, can you?

From another point of view your nationality is part of your identity so when you are trying to enter another country on your old passport you are claiming to be a national of a country you are no longer citizen of. Would it be too far fetched to say that on your old passport you would be entering a country with false identity?

You would be claiming to have nationality you no longer have? And nationality is part of your identity? You can’t possibly say nationality doesn’t matter, can you? Most of immigration rules revolve about what nationality you have. Following from there if technically you were using false identity it might attract heavy penalty, go as far as prison? I don’t know. Perhaps far fetched, but a lot of things especially immigration law based on technicalities.

Would any legal documents, such as proxy for example, made after acquiring BC and referring to your old passport lose their validity?
You can also argue by claiming to be a national of a country you are no longer of you are trying to deceive immigration officer. And this would apply when entering any country, even UK.

joh118 wrote:Hi

I'm a national of a country that doesn't allow dual nationality and my country doesn't have any special measure like India. My country assumes that I have lost my citizenship automatically when get another citizenship.

When I get BC, how will my country know that I have obtained BC? Does thr UKBA tell them?

Would it be feasable to keep it a secret?

To cut the long story short, let me tell you a few things. Your home country would never find out if you have got British nationality, until you yourselves go and tell them.

You can travel on your old passport with your ILR on. You will see people arguing that ILR is cancelled once you get Citizenship. But there is no process of UKBA that does actually go and cancel ILR from their system once anyone gets Citizenship. Dont worry thinking that you might not be allowed to enter UK on your old passport. If you are BC then there is no way on earth you could be denied entry.

You may be asked however to show proof of your BC on re-entry into the UK. This is usually done by presenting your British Citizenship certificate, but if your country of previous nationality find this on you, this is where the problem will arise.

If you live in greater manchester, you can now apply for a ID card. When coming back to UK you can show your ID card at passport control. I think in the new year people from other areas in North West will be able to apply for ID cards too.

But as Casa pointed out, the real problem will be if you home countrys immigration discovers anything on you mentioning you as BC.

joh118 wrote:Hi

I'm a national of a country that doesn't allow dual nationality and my country doesn't have any special measure like India. My country assumes that I have lost my citizenship automatically when get another citizenship.

When I get BC, how will my country know that I have obtained BC? Does thr UKBA tell them?

Would it be feasable to keep it a secret?

No such thing as "assumption". There are three possible outcomes:

1. Your old country will ignore you becoming British and still consider you a citizen of that country.

2. If your country finds out you have become British, they will revoke your citizenship (Malaysia, also Singapore).

3. Your citizenship is automatically revoked and your passport invalid (eg Denmark, Norway, India).


To cut out all the speculation and incorrect advice, you need to tell us the country.