A new wave of outrage is sweeping the community of British citizens living abroad. At issue are the new border control rules which, according to a report in the British newspaper The Guardianpublished this Tuesday (17), could prevent around 1.2 million people from boarding flights, trains or ferries bound for the United Kingdom.
The rules, which come into force on February 25, 2026, stipulate that citizens with dual nationality can no longer travel to British territory using only their foreign passport – Australian, French or German. Instead, are now required to present a valid British passport or certificates of Authorization to (or, in the English version, the Right to) Residence (Certificate of Entitlement), the cost of which reaches 589 pounds sterling (about 700 euros).
Bureaucracy and exorbitant costs
According to testimonies collected by the The Guardianthe measure is being received with a mix of “disgust, fury and anguish”. Among the most dramatic cases is that of a 78-year-old former civil servant, who has lived in Australia for half a century. To make what could be her last trip to her home country, Sandra now faces a “mountain of bureaucracy” to prove your citizenship, requiring original documents from decades agosuch as Birth and Marriage Certificates, which you no longer have.
The revolt is shared by a resident in France, who describes renouncing British citizenship as the only viable solution. With a daughter who also has dual nationality, John (not his real name) refuses to pay the British government the 1178 pounds sterling (about 1400 euros) needed for both of them to obtain documentation required to visit family in the United Kingdom, questioning whether this is the authorities’ true objective.
Another British citizen, aged 79 and living in Germany since 1968, describes the feeling of being “excluded from her own country”. The dual national highlights the irony of her husband, being only a German citizen, being able to enter the United Kingdom without any fees or restrictions, while she, a British woman by birth, is treated as a potential threat and forced to pay high fees for the privilege of returning home.
Finally, another British woman, also residing in France, decided that she will not travel to the United Kingdom again. For this citizen, theLogistical obstacles proved to be insurmountable, as the new digital certificate requires expensive trips to Paris or Marseille to collect biometric data, in addition to the exorbitant costs of official document translations.
The government’s justification
In response to the criticism, a Home Office spokesperson (Home Office) explained that this measure is needed so that carriers can verify British citizenship effectivelyavoiding delays or denied boarding. The government also highlights that this approach is similar to that adopted by other countries, such as the United States, Canada and Australia.
However, for families who depend on these annual visits, such as an elderly woman whose grandchildren live in Australia, the feeling is that the government did not consider the emotional and practical impact on these citizens, many of whom are already elderly and do not have up-to-date documents.
Leave a Reply