Information for British nationals: care of certificates of registration and naturalisation
Updated 11 May 2023
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Applying for a British passport
Your certificate of registration or naturalisation constitutes legal evidence of your acquisition of British citizenship and should be carefully preserved. It must not be unofficially altered or laminated as in this condition it will not be accepted as evidence of citizenship by His Majesty’s Passport Office.
You should note that HM Passport Office will not issue a British passport in a name that is different to any other passport or travel document that a person holds. This is to ensure consistency with the identities in the British passport and any other passport or travel document. If the details on your citizenship certificate and foreign passport do not match you will need to change your foreign passport into your new name before applying for a British passport.
When applying for a British passport, the photograph provided must be taken within the past month. Therefore, the photograph submitted with your citizenship application is unlikely to be acceptable.
Dual nationality
What if I have more than one nationality?
British nationality law allows you to retain any other nationality you may already hold. However, some countries do not allow dual nationality. If you were a national of a country which does not allow dual nationality, the authorities of that country may either regard you as having lost that nationality or may refuse to recognise your new nationality status.
Why is this important?
Suppose you have kept the other nationality and visit the country concerned. International law allows the authorities of that country to treat you while you are there as if that is your only nationality. The British representative there cannot give you assistance or protection against those authorities.
What can I do about it?
If you are planning to visit the country of your old nationality and you are not sure whether you have lost your old nationality, there is a way to find out. Before you travel ask the nearest Consulate or High Commission for that country in the United Kingdom. If you have not lost the old nationality and you want to renounce it, ask them what you have to do.
If they give you written confirmation that you have renounced your old nationality or that you no longer have it, send the letter or the document to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. It is evidence of your right to British protection whilst in that country.
The address is:
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Nationality and Passport Section
Consular Division
Old Admiralty Building
London SW1A 2PA
Does this affect my husband or wife and children?
Under the nationality laws of some countries but not under British nationality law, a married person automatically has the partner’s nationality and the children have the parents’ nationality wherever they are born. So if your wife, husband or child is visiting the country of your old nationality this leaflet applies to them too.
Right of abode in the United Kingdom - note for British citizens
All British Citizens have the right of abode in the United Kingdom. If, as a British Citizen, you wish to travel on a non-British passport it must be endorsed to show that you have the right of abode. Otherwise, you might experience difficulty proving your right to be re-admitted to the United Kingdom.
Certificates of entitlement to the right of abode are issued by the Home Office to applicants to the United Kingdom and by the appropriate British representative to applicants abroad. A fee is payable in both cases. Certificates can only be issued to someone who does not have a British passport or identity card describing them as a British citizen or British subject with right of abode. A certificate will cease to be valid once the passport it is attached to expires and cannot be transferred from one passport to another.
For information on current processing times, information about fees or other matters, contact the Customer Contact Centre on 0300 123 2253.
British citizens who are overseas should write to their nearest British representative. Please make sure that any application is made in good time before you wish to travel.