From 25 Feb, British and Irish dual citizens will no longer be able to use their Australian passport to enter the UK, forcing some to apply for a new British or Irish passport to visit the country.
Wait times for a British passport are between six and 13 weeks.
“This is going to cause unbelievable confusion and frustration, especially at airline check-in desks,” Traveltoo managing director Neil Wood told travelBulletin.
“If you were born in the UK, you can’t relinquish citizenship, unlike most other nationalities…to my knowledge, no other country applies this rule.
Similarly, Travellers Choice managing director Christian Hunter noted the “major headaches” for people with British heritage, such as those who were born in Australia to British parents who could be considered a British citizen, despite never having a British passport or visiting the UK.
“As always, travel agents will play a major role in helping customers comply with the rules and ensure they avoid costly pitfalls – as such these changes provide another opportunity for smart consultants to demonstrate the enormous value they offer international travellers,” he told travelBulletin.
Meanwhile, Main Beach Travel’s Mike Dwyer was concerned that some clients may not have recorded their dual-nationality with advisors, making it difficult for the full extent of the problem to be identified.
“An airline may also uplift a passenger who presents an Australian passport without being aware of a client’s dual-nationality status,” Dwyer said.
“It’s crazy and unfair to introduce a policy like this at such short notice, especially when the processing time for new documents is so long,” he added, noting that some clients may be forced to either cancel their travel plans in the near future, or change their itinerary to avoid the UK.
“Longer-term, we have to hope the new rules will be more widely known by the travelling public, but we expect some very significant impact in the short- to medium- term,” Dwyer said.
While individual passport and entry requirements are the traveller’s responsibility, TravelManagers executive general manager Michael Gazal observed “that there is still a level of confusion for both travellers and the travel trade”.
“We’re liaising with ATIA and seeking our own advice to ensure our personal travel managers are well equipped to appropriately guide affected clients,” he told travelBulletin.
Travelmanagers agent Jessica Bennett said that advisors will be “playing detective for a while, double checking passengers’ passports for where they were born and then asking where their parents were born.”
“Ridiculous, but necessary.”
“They should have released this info when they started the ETA a year ago and given everyone 12 months to prepare,” Bennett pointed out.
However, Travelmanagers advisor Jessica Gravenor, a dual citizen who travels with two passports, described it as “a simple and easy process”, as it saves travellers a lot of time, with no need for visa applications or questions at immigration.
“I’m looking forward to it being introduced, I think it will actually make travellers and travel agents’ lives easier,” she said.
