Lynne and Geoff Crellin might cancel their trip back to the UK (Image: Lynne and Geoff Crellin)
British grandparents living abroad are binning trips home to see their loved ones due to new passport rules that come into effect today.
Lynne and Geoff Crellin were looking forward to a trip to the UK this summer, to catch up with loved ones and explore their home country, which they left in the 1970s.
However, the Grimsby, Ontario couple is considering scrapping the visit due to strict new rules that kicked in this morning. As of today, dual citizens like Lynne and Geoff must comply with new passport rules when visiting the UK as part of the electronic travel authorisation (ETA) scheme, otherwise they’ll be blocked at the border.
Anyone with dual British citizenship, including children, must now present a British passport or another valid passport containing a certificate of entitlement at border control. The certificate costs £589, but only needs to be purchased once.
An estimated 1.2 million British citizens now face high costs simply to enter their own country because they don’t have a valid British passport, despite being British citizens. Up until now, they could visit the UK using their other passport.
For the Crellins, the price and hassle is simply too high to be worth it.
Dual citizens without the right paperwork face being turned away (Image: Getty)
« This was meant to be a ‘trip of a lifetime’ – visiting old friends, maybe for the last time, a belated celebration of our recent 80th birthdays and a belated 50th wedding anniversary celebration. We have tried to do a similar trip twice over the last three years, and had to cancel for medical reasons both times, » Geoff told the Express.
Because the 81-year-olds are unlikely to make another trip to the UK, and because their planned stay this summer is short, forking out for the right documents doesn’t make financial sense.
« It makes no sense for us to rush to get new 10-year British passports for a three-day stay in London, » Geoff said.
Unless the law is changed, which seems very unlikely, the Crellins will cancel their trip in the next few weeks, arguing that it’s « a lot of hoops to obtain a new British passport ». Geoff and Lynne are far from the only ones facing a difficult and potentially expensive decision.
Clive Martin, his wife and six other family members are planning a two-week trip to London in June this year.
« When we heard about this ETA debacle, we decided that we could not risk being refused entry to the UK, so we opted to apply for new UK passports. This has cost us approximately $600 (£324) to do, » Clive said.
« Also, because the application process requires that we send our Canadian passports together with our applications, we are constrained from any other travel outside of Canada until the UK government finalises our applications and returns all of the original documents to us.
« I am concerned that, with the introduction of the revised ETA Act, the UK Passport Office may be inundated with applications such as ours, which may impact the time it takes for us to process our applications beyond our planned departure date in June. »
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The UK is moving to a modernised digital immigration system to enhance our border security. From 25th February, international carriers will check all passengers for valid permission or status to travel to the UK – just as they currently do for visa nationals.
“The correct permission for British Citizens is a British passport or a foreign passport endorsed with a certificate of entitlement. At their own discretion, carriers may accept some expired British passports as alternative documentation.”
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