Overview
- From February 25, British and Irish citizens, including dual nationals and children who are citizens by descent, must present a UK or Irish passport or a Certificate of Entitlement to travel to the UK.
- Officials warn travellers without these documents may face additional identity checks, be unable to clear UK passport control until nationality is verified, or be denied boarding.
- Certificates of Entitlement will be issued digitally from February 26 as a one‑off registration linked to a UKVI account, though applications require visa‑centre appointments and a fee.
- Passport renewals currently take about three to six weeks and COE decisions can take up to three weeks, prompting some travellers with near‑term trips to report delays or reconsider plans.
- Emergency Travel Documents are available only in narrowly defined urgent cases and are not a general workaround, and ETAs are not available to British or Irish citizens.