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Hi I’m a British citizen resident in Italy. My husband is Italian living in Italy and has UK settlement permit. My son is a newborn and has only an Italian ID card. Can my son travel with me to Uk just with an Italian ID card and with me holding a UK passport ? Hope yes, because we won’t have time to apply for a passport for the little one in order to travel! Hope you can help me because he wants to see his grandma :) Thank you so much in advance

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    Unless there’s an exception (haven’t found one yet) to the passport rule which could apply to you, I think you may need to travel via Ireland or by land through places with juxtaposed controls (Eurostar, Shuttle or some ferries) where you can make your case to British Border Force officers directly without the airline preventing you from boarding first.
    – jcaron
    Commented Nov 26 at 20:14
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    The problem is that airlines are often more restrictive than the Border Force and may refuse entry if they feel you don’t have the right documents. Also, I’m taking for granted that your baby is a UK citizen, but is it actually the case? It depends on your own history and how you hold UK citizenship yourself, among other things.
    – jcaron
    Commented Nov 26 at 20:43
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    The baby is 3 month old, and I was born and raised in the UK. The baby is born in Italy and has the Italian ID card because the father is Italian. Ps. This is my husband account my name is Gloria and not Gianluca
    – Gianluca Cara
    Commented Nov 26 at 20:51
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    @GianlucaCara There is absolutely nothing absurd about countries requiring persons, be it adults or children, to have a passport to be allowed to cross its borders. With few exceptions, that is a standard requirement all over the world. With your child already being 3 months old and it probably not being a sudden surprise that you want to visit your relatives in the UK with him, why haven't you arranged a passport for your son long ago?
    – Tor-Einar Jarnbjo
    Commented Nov 26 at 21:46
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    @jcaron UK nationality law is fairly straightforward in this case: the child of a British citizen "otherwise than by descent" is a British citizen regardless of the place of birth. A British citizen who was born in the UK must be a British citizen "otherwise than by descent," either because she had British citizenship from birth or because she was naturalized. Therefore it is safe to conclude, from the facts given in the question, that the child is a British citizen, therefore a dual citizen of the UK and Italy.
    – phoog
    Commented Nov 27 at 9:10

2 Answers 2

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Since you're British (assuming you're born in the UK), your son is as well, and so cannot be refused entry to the UK. You should get him a British passport, but if you don't, bring his birth certificate to show at the UK border.

Airport check-in staff should, according to UK instructions, board passengers with an EU ID card, but most check-in companies think the opposite. I can recommend flying with easyJet or Jet2.com from Fiumicino or Naples - you can simply verbally state your son has settled status and he'll be allowed to board

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    "bring his birth certificate to show at the UK border": to establish that the child is a British citizen, the British parent will also need to show that she was born in the UK; presumably the passport will suffice for this.
    – phoog
    Commented Nov 27 at 9:05
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    Is this up to date? This UK government page seems to say that (except for a few very specific cases) you cannot enter the UK with an EU ID card. gov.uk/guidance/visiting-the-uk-as-an-eu-eea-or-swiss-citizen
    – badjohn
    Commented Nov 27 at 9:28
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    I would also recommend you to contact your consular office to register your son (and you may get further information).
    – Giacomo Catenazzi
    Commented Nov 27 at 10:49
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    @badjohn The subtlety is that you cannot enter the UK with an EU ID card unless you are in the listed exceptions (one of them is not so specific, as there are probably millions of people under the EU Settlement Scheme), but airlines should allow you to fly to the UK with just an ID card, because for some of the cases one can use an EU ID card there is no physical proof of that (there's no EUSS card), so airlines can't check it. Result: you can land in the UK, be refused entry because you only have an EU ID card and are not in the exemptions. So some airlines tend to say no EU ID cards.
    – jcaron
    Commented Nov 27 at 12:15
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    @jcaron Weird, so the UK government says that airlines should accept passengers with an EU ID card even though many will be refused entry. I am not surprised that the airlines play safe. Another significant exception (further down the same page) is that Irish can still enter with a passport card I have not tried that yet. I'd like to travel with just the card but I also want an easy life so I usually bring my full passport.
    – badjohn
    Commented Nov 27 at 13:54
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As a general rule, you need a valid passport to enter the UK - see the UK government guidance:

https://www.gov.uk/uk-border-control/before-you-leave-for-the-uk

However there are some circumstances in which you can enter using an EU member state ID card:

You can only use a national identity card from an EU country, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein to enter the UK if one or more of the following is true:

  • you have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, or Jersey, Guernsey or the Isle of Man’s settlement schemes
  • you have an EU Settlement Scheme family permit, or the equivalent from Jersey, Guernsey or the Isle of Man
  • you have a Frontier Worker permit
  • you are an S2 Healthcare Visitor
  • you are a Swiss national and have a Service Provider from Switzerland visa
  • you are an EU, EEA or Swiss national aged 18 or under travelling as part of a French school group using a France-UK school trip travel information form
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    Why the downvote?
    – DavidRecallsMonica
    Commented Nov 26 at 18:52
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    @DavidRecallsMonica I didn't downvote, but it seems to me as an incredible convoluted way to say 'no'. Unless I am missing something, none of the exceptions listed in this answer are likely applicable to OP's situation.
    – Tor-Einar Jarnbjo
    Commented Nov 26 at 19:07
  • I was thinking point 2 might be relevant as the father has UK settled status?
    – JayFor
    Commented Nov 26 at 19:18
  • It's not clear that he has settled status ("settlement permit" isn't a term that the UK uses, but people with settled status anyway don't receive a permit -- there is a thing called a "settlement scheme family permit" but this is a visa-like document for the family member of someone who lives in the UK with settled status or pre-settled status, so it's very unlikely to be applicable in these circumstances). In general, someone with settled status loses it after being away from the UK for six months, so someone living in Italy is unlikely to have it.
    – phoog
    Commented Nov 26 at 19:26
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    @phoog "In general, someone with settled status loses it after being away from the UK for six months". Untrue, you have to be away for 5 years.
    – Crazydre
    Commented Nov 27 at 0:08

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