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Dual British-New Zealand citizens are angry and bemused after discovering they have to pay hundreds of dollars to return to their country of birth. 

Travel agents are warning that many passengers are unaware of the change, which will come into effect for expat British and Irish dual citizens from next month. 

While other visitors can pay $37 for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA), New Zealand passport holders born in Britain will have to travel on a UK passport – and some say it is not straightforward to get one. 

Vince and Diane, who live on Auckland’s North Shore, moved from England in 1966. 

They were shocked to find they could no longer visit British family and friends without first applying for a UK passport; the last time they used one was 50 years ago. From the end of February, they cannot use their New Zealand passport, as UK citizens will no longer be eligible for ETAs. 

Vince, who asked that his surname not be published, did not believe it when he first heard the news. 

“I said, no, that’s a load of absolute rubbish. There’s no way they would do that. There’s no way they would penalise me just because I am British. So then I did some research and it is definite that on the 25th of February if you’re a dual citizen and you’re born in Britain, then you have to have a British passport. 

“If you as a Kiwi [born in NZ] wanted to go to Britain, no problem at all – just use your Kiwi passport.” 

It put British citizens in a worse position in their own country than visa-waiver travellers – such as New Zealand-born citizens using ETAs, he said. 

His shock at the cost was matched by his outrage at the bureaucracy involved – including finding a UK passport holder to confirm his identity, form-filling, the possibility of an in-person interview at the embassy in Wellington, and having to post his New Zealand passport. 

“If you don’t want to send the passport, which I didn’t, you have to send a photocopy of every page. And they make the point that even if the pages are blank, you’ve got to send a photocopy. So I sent 42 pages, 41 of which were blank. Isn’t that fantastic? So, yeah, this is bureaucracy gone mad.” 

Vince considered whether he could get around the rule by hoping authorities assumed he was New Zealand-born – but then realised his NZ passport reveals he was born in the English city of Coventry. 

The wait for a new British passport would be worrying for people with travel already booked or who had an emergency, he said. 

A new passport seemed a better option than an alternative the UK government is offering – a “certificate of entitlement” costing £589/$1373 compared to £94.50/$220 for an adult passport – but it is still much more than an ETA (£16/$37 for two years), and a lot more work. 

“Up until now, it’s cost me around about $600, copious amounts of form filling in, and now we’re still waiting to see what else they want. It has to go by special delivery – there is only one way the post office will accept old passports and that costs $121. Absolutely ridiculous. And we’re in our 80s, we’ll probably only ever go [to England] one more time.” 

‘Absolute chaos’ 

Another Briton – who asked only to be identified as Jane for privacy reasons – said her dual-citizen husband had lived in New Zealand for about 18 years. He was able to travel back with an ETA last time he went, and found out through social media he needs a passport the next time he returns. 

They are worried that others who are making urgent trips to see old or dying relatives will find out too late about the rule change, costs and potential timeframes. Hundreds of thousands of people would be affected among Commonwealth countries and elsewhere, Jane said. 

“This is what’s happening to so many expats, not just in New Zealand, but all over the world. They’re basically being forced into this because essentially, they’re not going to be able to go back to the country of their birth. And I just think it’s really, really wrong the way it’s been done. 

“When you’ve got parents that are older, you have to go back. So we’re fortunate that his [her husband’s] mum is well enough that she can actually come out here, but if God forbid anything happens to her, she’s 80, he needs to be able to get back.” 

Their children are NZ citizens by birth so only need an ETA. “So my son has just literally gone on his New Zealand passport,” she said. 

“But my husband’s had to go to Warehouse Stationery and get all 40 pages of his New Zealand passport printed out in colour. And then he’s having to post that back with his expired British passport. And now New Zealand Post are basically charging 120 bucks because they’re insisting it’s got to go registered [post]. So there’s just all this money being made. 

“And are you telling me there’s going to be people in the British passport office that are going to sit there leafing through each individual page? I think they’ve really underestimated the volume of work that this is going to actually generate and the mounds of paper.” 

She suspected it was a revenue-making exercise, though others feared it was more of a data-grab. 

“I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday who’s a travel agent, and she’s in the same situation, she’s got elderly relatives. And she said it’s going to be absolute chaos at the airports in February when this happens, because the people that are aware of it, it’s only the tip of the iceberg. 

“I think there’s so many people that are going to get caught out and not being able to board those flights. It’s going to be a nightmare. She said, ‘I don’t ask every customer what passport they’ve got’. There’s people that don’t even use travel agents. So many people nowadays just book the flights themselves.” 

No passport, no fly 

She recalled the “sheer panic” of realising she needed a US transit visa to get back to New Zealand some years ago. 

“It was most stressful few hours of my life,” she said. “And this is what people are going to [go through] when they get to the airport at the end of next month and they’re not going to be allowed to board the plane. And it’ll be the first they’ve heard of it. 

“I haven’t got an issue with ETAs because even New Zealand has an ETA now and the US do the whole transit visa. It’s just the fact is they’re forcing people to get these British passports and the rigmarole you have to go through to actually do it.” 

For those without a British passport or the option of an ETA, the final option on the table is renouncing UK citizenship, but that is a step too far for many people – and still is not free (£482/$1124). 

“People don’t want to renounce their UK citizenship, but equally they don’t want to be forced into having to jump through all these hoops to travel into a country where you can legally travel into,” Jane said. 

Meanwhile, Vince said he had been tempted to arrive with his NZ passport and British birth certificate and see whether UK officials would turn him away at the border. He decided against it, as the main obstacle seemed to be getting past through check-in at the airport. 

“I’m wondering if somebody in the UK passport office will suddenly realise, ‘hey, we’ve made a huge mistake here’ – because this will affect thousands of people in so many countries,” Vince said. “I mean, Canada, NZ, Australia – it’s going to be bigger than Elvis.” 

Reasons for the change 

The High Commission in Wellington has been approached for comment. 

A House of Commons Library’s research paper published last week said there was no specific legal requirement for British citizens to travel on a British passport, but “in practice, pre-departure checks for UK-bound travellers made it difficult to travel to the UK without one”. It provided the following advice and background on why the issue had arisen. 

How do British citizens show they have the right to enter the UK? 

All British citizens have the right of abode in the UK (meaning, the entitlement to live or work in the UK without any immigration restrictions). This makes them exempt from immigration control. They don’t need an immigration officer’s permission to enter the UK, but they must be able to demonstrate that they have the right of abode. 

They are expected to do this by showing a current British passport or a certificate of entitlement of the right of abode: paragraph 12 of the immigration rules and section 3(9) of the Immigration Act 1971. 

A certificate of entitlement is an official document which confirms the holder has the right of abode in the UK. The certificate is attached to the person’s foreign passport; a new one is required each time the passport is renewed. It isn’t possible to have more than one certificate at a time, or to have a certificate and a current British passport. 

It is significantly more expensive to apply for a certificate of entitlement (£589) than a British passport (£94.50 for adults or £61.50 for under 16s when applying online). 

Travelling to the UK without a UK passport or certificate of entitlement 

British dual nationals whose other nationality is for a “non-visa national country” (meaning, one which isn’t subject to a UK visit visa requirement) used to be able to travel to the UK using their foreign passport without a certificate of entitlement. 

People travelling on a non-British passport demonstrate their permission to travel by using: 

• their digital UK immigration permission (eVisa), if they are resident in the UK; 
• their entry clearance vignette sticker or eVisa, if they are from a visa national country; or 
• their electronic travel authorisation (ETA), if they are visiting the UK and are from a non-visa national country (for example, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, USA or an EU country). 

A British dual national travelling on a foreign passport would not have any of those. They would be ineligible for an ETA, eVisa or immigration permission because of their British citizenship. 

The Home Office has been advising British dual nationals to travel on a British passport or with a certificate of entitlement for many months. But in practice it has not been strictly enforcing the ETA requirement for non-visa nationals, to allow people time to adjust. Those transitional arrangements will end in early 2026. 

From February 25, 2026, the Home Office will be fully applying the ETA requirement. The Home Office is advising British dual citizens to make sure they have a valid British passport or certificate of entitlement if they will be travelling on or after that date. If they don’t, they may not be able to board their transport to the UK. 

What can people do if they have an urgent need to travel? 

British dual citizens travelling on or before February 24, 2026 should be allowed to board transport to the UK if they have a valid passport for a non-visa national country, because of the transitional arrangements. 

British dual citizens whose other nationality is subject to a UK visit visa requirement need to travel with a British passport or certificate of entitlement. 

British nationals abroad might be able to apply for an emergency travel document if they have an urgent need to travel and can’t renew or replace their British passport in time. It might be more difficult to get an emergency travel document if the person hasn’t had a UK passport for many years. 

Why can’t people prove their right of abode in other ways? 

Some people question why they cannot use other documents to prove their right of abode and exemption from the permission to travel requirement, such as an expired British passport or a certificate of naturalisation or registration as a British citizen. 

Those documents are not listed in the Home Office’s document checking guidance for transport providers. Carriers are unlikely to deviate from the guidance because they can be penalised for bringing inadequately documented passengers to the UK. 

- Gill Bonnett, RNZ