Timeline for Does a British Italian dual national need to carry both passports when traveling from Italy to the UK?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
10 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Oct 30 at 12:44 | comment | added | JonathanReez♦ | @phoog OP has been warned about the possible delays. If they accept those, then it’s their decision. I just wanted to point out that “grumblings” from the Border Force can be safely ignored by citizens. | |
| Oct 30 at 11:21 | comment | added | phoog | "if you're an experienced traveler who doesn't care much about a potential border delay you have nothing to fear from the Border Force": in my experience, the more experienced the traveler, the greater the concern about potential border delay. If you cross a border a couple of times a year, an hour or two is unpleasant but manageable. If you do it a few times a week, it's another matter entirely. "If you're a citizen the government works for you": the government serves all citizens collectively, and that sometimes means treating certain citizens (especially suspected noncitizens) unpleasantly. | |
| Oct 30 at 9:03 | comment | added | Jack Aidley | @JonathanReez: I think the number of people who would consider being held in a cell "a fun adventure" is relatively small, even on top of the inconvenience and potential cost of having your arrival delayed by hours. | |
| Oct 30 at 0:24 | comment | added | JonathanReez♦ | @phoog eh, if you're an experienced traveler who doesn't care much about a potential border delay you have nothing to fear from the Border Force. They can delay your journey a bit but at the end of the day OP is not violating any laws by traveling with an Italian passport. If you're a citizen the government works for you, not the other way around, though of course you should always be polite and courteous. | |
| Oct 30 at 0:19 | comment | added | JonathanReez♦ | @JackAidley we have a first-hand report about the Heathrow detention center: it's a bit unpleasant but not an actual prison and doesn't count as an "arrest". Even if you were to be deported, the Border Force cannot place a ban on you and you could just hop over the very next day, in addition to filing a complaint against the officers involved. Could make for a nice news story too and could help revamp the operations at the border if it happens. Honestly if I was a British citizen I'd consider it a fun adventure to visit it. | |
| Oct 29 at 14:34 | comment | added | phoog | "there's not much they can do about it other than grumble and then let you through": this is only true to the extent that they believe the claim of British citizenship. It's not enough simply to be a British citizen; you have to be able to convince them that you are. If they're saying that OP needs to be able to prove this, then at some point they could well start making it more difficult, for example by being (or pretending to be) more skeptical of whatever evidence is actually presented. | |
| Oct 29 at 12:07 | comment | added | Jack Aidley | Also, the Border Force absolutely have power over British citizens which they are able to use for matters of customs and excise as well as counter-terrorism. | |
| Oct 29 at 12:04 | comment | added | Jack Aidley | What guarantee do you have that you will be treated as British if you have no proof that you are? And even if you are eventually able to prove it, they can hold you in a cell until you do so. | |
| Oct 29 at 9:29 | comment | added | Anish Sheela | I wish Indian border agents are similar. Amount of questions they ask to let me in my own country is ridiculous. | |
| Oct 29 at 7:47 | history | answered | JonathanReez♦ | CC BY-SA 4.0 |