Travelling to UK on a South African Passport

If you were born in the UK and have a birth certificate and would like to travel for a 2 week holiday to the UK, but only have a South African Passport, can this be done by providing birth certificate on arrival at UK? Any advice please.

Being born in the UK does not give you any particular rights to visa-free travel to the UK. You will be treated as just any other South African passport holder and will need the relevant visa, if any is needed for South Africa.

The UK does not give citizenship or settlement based purely on jus soli.

Ok, but if you also have an expired British passport as well as the birth certificate, does this change matters? As below..

If you want to enter the UK as a British citizen and you have an expired UK passport, your case is covered by Paragraph 12 of the Immigration Rules...

A person claiming to be a British citizen must prove that he has the right of abode in the United Kingdom by producing either:

(i) a United Kingdom passport describing him as a British citizen or as a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies having the right of abode in the United Kingdom; or
(ii) a certificate of entitlement duly issued by or on behalf of the Government of the United Kingdom certifying that he has the right of abode.
If you want to enter the UK as a British citizen, you need to show them a UK passport. There is no stipulation in the rule that says the passport must be current. However, the keyword in this rule is 'describing', so the passport needs to reasonably sync up with your appearance, age, and so on.

As always, carry a print out of Paragraph 12 with you when you travel. It's the so-called "letter of the law" and you can't get more authoritative than that.

How can you have a UK passport, expired or not, if you are not a British Citizen?

It's not mentioned in the original post that you are a British citizen.

If you are a British citizen, you need to convince the Immigration Officer of it. An expired UK passport would help. A British birth certificate is not proof of citizenship and is neither necessary nor sufficient to prove citizenship.

You could also apply for an Emergency Travel Document from the British High Commission/Embassy in South Africa.

secret.simon wrote:It's not mentioned in the original post that you are a British citizen.

If you are a British citizen, you need to convince the Immigration Officer of it. An expired UK passport would help.

You could also apply for an Emergency Travel Document from the British High Commission/Embassy in South Africa.

OP says he only has a South African passport though. If OP is a BC with an expired (or lost) British Passport surely it's easier just to get a new one?

Was born in the UK and emigrated here 40 years ago. The British passport expired 13 years ago. We still have it. You cannot get an emergency passport if it has expired over 10 years. The purpose of going to the UK is to renew the British passport. We have a current South African passport.

Why not just renew it from South Africa? I know they are processed in the UK but it would make things a lot easier.

Alternatively, apply for a visitor visa, meeting all the requirements, through VFS in Sandton if you are in Joburg or the ones in the other major cities if you are elsewhere.

Ricke wrote:Ok, but if you also have an expired British passport as well as the birth certificate, does this change matters? As below..

If you want to enter the UK as a British citizen and you have an expired UK passport, your case is covered by Paragraph 12 of the Immigration Rules...

A person claiming to be a British citizen must prove that he has the right of abode in the United Kingdom by producing either:

...

(ii) a certificate of entitlement duly issued by or on behalf of the Government of the United Kingdom certifying that he has the right of abode.

...

As always, carry a print out of Paragraph 12 with you when you travel. It's the so-called "letter of the law" and you can't get more authoritative than that.

Alternately, why not apply for a UK proof of right of abode for your SA passport?

Actually paragraph 12 just says "a passport" for people with the right of abode. If you do not have the right of abode, then you need a "valid passport". So an expired passport is fine.

The hard part will probably be convincing the airline to let you board. They should consult with TIMATIC, which agrees:

Passport required.
- Expired British passport (no time limit) endorsed British
Citizen is accepted.

You will still need a valid SA passport to enter and leave SA though.