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My kids have British Passports and US passports. Mom is US, Dad is UK citizen, kids born in US. The kids' UK passports have just expired and I will renew them. The (now online) application asks for color copies of any foreign passports they have. Why is this? Will acknowledging their US citizenship jeopardize the renewal? Even cause their British citizenship to be revoked?

I anticipate that they will use their British passports in the future to spend some time (ie. a year or more) in the UK or Europe for education, work or travel, so I don't want them to lose them. Also (being a bit of a pessimist here) but if ever the US fell into chaos or they had to flee because their ethnic group had become unpopular, having a UK passport would make it much easier.

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    Acknowledging their US citizenship will have no adverse effect on their British citizenship. There are probably thousands of dual nationals and nobody is losing either nationality as a result.
    – phoog
    May 25, 2016 at 19:18
  • @phoog incredibly, estimated 1/4 million US/UK duals in the UK.
    – Gayot Fow
    May 25, 2016 at 20:54
  • @GayotFow well, hundreds of thousands is still thousands!
    – phoog
    May 26, 2016 at 0:24

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Asked and answered here: https://www.quora.com/When-renewing-a-UK-passport-is-it-unnecessary-to-disclose-other-foreign-passports-dual-nationality-to-the-UK-Passport-Agency

Reviewing the documents supplied under the FOIA, the most appropriate part of the documentation seems to be this:

The Royal Prerogative provides that Passports are issued when the Home Secretary is satisfied as to: (i) the identity of an applicant; and (ii) the British nationality of applicants, in accordance with relevant nationality legislation; and (iii) there being no other reasons (as set out below) for refusing a passport. IPS may make any checks necessary to ensure that the applicant is entitled to a British passport. The requirement to submit an uncancelled passports relates to any uncancelled passport, British or otherwise. The document is required to support identity and nationality checks. It is also required to ensure that any British passport issued is compatible with the biographical and photographic details contained in an existing passport.

In your case, since your children were born abroad, there is an additional relevant section:

Requesting foreign passports when considering passport applications for those born abroad

Section 03 of the passport application form asks "Has the person named at section 02 had ANY sort of passport, British or otherwise, or been included in any before?" It then states "All such uncancelled passport(s) must be submitted with the application." Requesting sight of any passport currently held establishes that an applicant who was born abroad is currently in the UK. It also provides additional evidence that can assist in determining identity, and entitlement in descent claims.

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    That next-to-last sentence is untrue, though I can't imagine why it would matter. There are a few ways a British citizen who was born abroad could leave the UK while leaving all currently-held passports in the country. Even someone who's not a dual citizen could go to Ireland; anyone holding dual citizenship with an EU country that issues national ID cards could leave the UK with the national ID card.
    – phoog
    May 25, 2016 at 19:41
  • They also ask you for any foreign passports even if you were born in the UK. I imagine they just want to grab every bit of information they can.
    – Berwyn
    May 25, 2016 at 20:54
  • Is it legal to refuse providing that information though?
    – JonathanReez
    May 25, 2016 at 21:38
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    "Should it subsequently come to HMPO's notice that a person had failed to disclose at the point of application for a British passport that they hold a passport in another nationality, it would be a criminal offence on the basis that they would have made a false statement on theapplication form. "
    – Berwyn
    May 25, 2016 at 21:54
  • @Berwyn indeed. It would be more honest of them just to say so rather than to make lame excuses.
    – phoog
    May 26, 2016 at 0:23

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