Re-entering UK with Citizenship Certificate?

Having read the whole chapter, I also think that Certificate of Entitlement is NOT Citizenship Certificate, it just doesn't sound right.

So, Citizenship Certificate, as Victoria rightly pointed out earlier, and JAY, does not seem to have any power to prove the immigration status. It is a bit odd when one thinks logically, but that's the way it is.

So after a huge amount of help here, I am going to go the safer way and not rely just on Yugo passport, old Aussie and COSitizenship. It may work, but I have to be really lucky. I will get my new Aussie passport, at least it will get me on the plane back, and then I will argue my case at Heathrow. And I won't travel anywhere else until I get my British Passport in my hands, or at least some kind of stamp in one of my other passports.

THANK YOU SO MUCH.

Just a thought. How long are you in Oz for? Enough time to get Right of Abode stamped by the British High Commission?

Victoria

Victoria, I am not going to OZ, but to Serbia, and only for a bit over a week.
I also thought about the same thing, just get the visa or a stamp there, but being the time of Orthodox Christmas, everything will be shut while I am there (they take it seriously!), so no luck.

I do hope that I will be fine at Heathrow with all my documents (I will also take with me the bank account bills for proof of address, my UK drivers licence, and similar). But to get on the plane back from Serbia to UK, I think that I need to have a passport that does not require a visa to enter UK (such as Aussie one), rather then Serbian which does, so I'll get it then. Thank you so much for your time.

I REALLY think that you should speak to the Immigration Officers at your port of entry before you get on the plane. Then, at least they will be ready for you, and you can (hopefully) get committment from them that they will let you back in.

In my experience, the IO's at airports are the only people in the system who are helpful.

Victoria

Thank you, that is the sound advise, and I will speak to them from here, before I even make the trip, as I won't make the trip if they won't let me back on the plane to UK.

Now, I just have to find the right phone number...

Thanks for really useful advice, Piglet.

If I were you, I wouldn't just go with your Serbain passport and the Certificate. Endless grief is possible.

The new Aussie passport is the way forward!

I renewed by British passport recently. I am now stuck for 10 years with a photo of me taken when I had bronchitis, and looking like death warmed up. I know how you feel!

Thanks, Amanda

I have decided to do exactly that. I will just hide the passport from everyone's view. It will come in handy for scaring kids on Halloween though ....and I do take slight comfort that I am not the only one with the same problem.
I will get the Aussie passport, and am investigating the small possibility of getting the passport stamped with the ROA in Serbia. In theory, it can be done, but I am going at the bad time when everything is closed. We'll see.
Cheers!

If you do decide to apply for certficate of entitlement whilst in Belgrade, note that it is not possible to hold both a CoE and a British passport simultaneously. Should you subsequently appy for a British passport, the CoE, whether endorsed in either your Australian or Serbian passport, will cease to be valid.

Gee, unbelievable, one can't win one way or another

On one hand, it saves me going through the big beaurocratic process to acquire CoE in Serbia, but on the other hand, I still don't have a visa in my passport to return. Damn, that's no good.
Anyway, I'll just go with my new Aussie passport and old passport with ILR and hope for the best.
I really don't understand it, I did think that even beside the British Passport, one could have CoE in another, but I wasn't sure. Are you sure about this?
Also, people that have the RoA in their passports, can they go through the EEC queue at Heathrow, or do they still have to queue with everyone else?

piglet wrote: Also, people that have the RoA in their passports, can they go through the EEC queue at Heathrow,

Yes.

Thank you, that's good to know!

piglet wrote:I really don't understand it, I did think that even beside the British Passport, one could have CoE in another, but I wasn't sure. Are you sure about this?

They sneakily introduced some new regulations about a year ago without much fanfare - The Immigration (Certificate of Entitlement to Right of Abode in the UK) Regulations 2006. Section 9 states inter alia:

9. A certificate of entitlement may be revoked by the Secretary of State for the Home Department, an immigration officer, a consular officer or a person responsible for the grant or refusal of entry clearance, where the person who revokes the certificate is satisfied that the person in possession of the certificate (whether or not this is the person to whom the certificate was issued)—
.......
(b) is the holder of:

(i) a United Kingdom passport describing him as a British citizen,....

If, however, you have a CoE vignette in your "foreign" passport, you can pass through the Brit. queue at immigration.

Thanks, DeT

I had no idea about this. So there is no point really getting the ROA stamp, if one plans to get the British Passport soon. Well, this saves me 135 quid, thank you!!! I just hope now that I will get my British Passport soon, who knows what other issues will come up when I apply for it.

Well, thank you everyone, I now know what I need to know, you are all darlings!

paulp wrote:piglet, Have you phoned the airline to ask them if they'll let your board on the return flight? Fighting with immigration here for a couple of hours is ok. Would you like to be fighting with airline staff abroad, with only 1 hour left before check-in is closed?

I saw an airoport program once when the Officer had to allow a person without any stamp after an interview. he said he was convinced that she was british

tinux wrote:

paulp wrote:piglet, Have you phoned the airline to ask them if they'll let your board on the return flight? Fighting with immigration here for a couple of hours is ok. Would you like to be fighting with airline staff abroad, with only 1 hour left before check-in is closed?

I saw an airoport program once when the Officer had to allow a person without any stamp after an interview. he said he was convinced that she was british

An Immigration Officer can take that decision. But if you show up at an airline check-in desk without the right documents to board a U.K. bound flight, you will most likely never get as far as Immigration.

Oh yes, it is a great risk.

All depends what IO you come across. I travelled extensively in the last three years, so I know exactly what to expect.

From the start I had ILR in my Aussie passport. And while majority of the officers would not ask me anything else but "who did you travel with on this trip", there were, luckily very few others, who liked to ask a couple of extra questions. But I generally never had any problems. However, I witnessed some major grilling (almost torturing) of other people in the queue, to the point that people were on the verge of tears.

So, if you don't have "black and white" documentation, it is too much of a risk, I think.

Bottom line is if you are a bona fide British citizen you cannot be refused entry to the UK no matter what documentation you hold. Immigration officers have a duty of care towards British citizens to give them every opportunity to prove they are British citizens.

Dawie wrote:Bottom line is if you are a bona fide British citizen you cannot be refused entry to the UK no matter what documentation you hold. Immigration officers have a duty of care towards British citizens to give them every opportunity to prove they are British citizens.

It's what I have said all along. You are British, end of story. There is no way on earth an IO will refuse you and send you back to where you came.

Dawie and Insider are both right, however without the documents the airline might very well refuse you on the 'plane, and it wouldn't get to the IO.

avjones wrote:Dawie and Insider are both right, however without the documents the airline might very well refuse you on the 'plane, and it wouldn't get to the IO.

Aah, yes, the airline is another matter entirely

Were I the OP, I wouldn't risk it.

Yes, it is the airline I worry about.

I actually found most IO at the airport quite reasonable, and I am sure that I could prove my status very easily with all my documents.

It is the airline officers that could be a real pain in the neck, for the want of a better word. This is a real pain, as I would love to not to have to bother getting the Aussie passport at all, but I will probably need it for the airline people. Thank you for your opinions.