Resident in UK (on work visa) and lost passport and BRP while in holiday in Norway

[kaush261]

My sister and her family, who live and work in the UK, are currently stranded in Norway while on holiday. They've lost their passports and BRP cards and are unable to return to the UK. When they contacted the Sri Lankan embassy in Sweden, they were advised to apply for an emergency travel document and return to Sri Lanka to reapply for their UK visas. Given how unfortunate this situation is, is there any alternative way for them to enter the UK directly? Has anyone else experienced a similar situation? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[CR001]

Without proof of a visa, no way they can even board a flight.

They also need to check if they can enter the uk on an emergency travel document. My understanding is they cannot.

They would need to apply for a BRP replacement visa at £154 each from abroad.

https://www.gov.uk/biometric-residence- ... en-damaged

[secret.simon]

An Emergency Travel Document (ETD) is generally only issued for a single one way trip back to the country issuing that document. And it is generally issued only to countries of which they are citizens. So, if the Sri Lankan embassy won't issue a full passport (something you will need to check with them) but just an ETD, then they can't travel back to the UK on that ETD.

This is what the Stockholm Embassy of Sri Lanka has to say on the topic. Presumably the Sri Lankan embassy in Oslo would have the same procedure.

Note that your family needs a proper travel document, such as a passport, to travel back to the UK (or indeed anywhere outside Sri Lanka, the land of their citizenship).

Given how unfortunate this situation is, is there any alternative way for them to enter the UK directly? Has anyone else experienced a similar situation? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

If you are outside your country of citizenship(s), generally the only proof of identity that is accepted is a passport issued by your country of citizenship and you need one of those to travel. There are exceptions; refugees and asylum seekers, national IDs within the Schengen Zone, etc.

But your family will need to get full/proper passports to travel back to and reside in the UK.