Travelling to/from UK
Discussion
In order to maintain some freedom of movement, our little family of seven is now made up of four different nationalities 
Two of our number who like us live and work in France have dual nationality - Brit/Fr and Brit/Irish. They are due to visit the UK shortly for the first time since the end of the transition period. They don't have cartes de sejour to present with their British passports to avoid stamps when leaving and arriving in France.
I was wondering if anyone has any views on which passports to travel on? The ideal would be to leave France using their French/Irish passports (thus not stamped), enter Britain using their British passports (thus no third degree) and at the end of their visit leave UK and re-enter France using their Fr/Irish passports (no stamps/no questions).
I jest of course (or do I?), but not getting their British passports stamped is important.
They'll be travelling in a VW camper, so the die will be cast from the moment the Border Force sets eyes on them.
Two of our number who like us live and work in France have dual nationality - Brit/Fr and Brit/Irish. They are due to visit the UK shortly for the first time since the end of the transition period. They don't have cartes de sejour to present with their British passports to avoid stamps when leaving and arriving in France.
I was wondering if anyone has any views on which passports to travel on? The ideal would be to leave France using their French/Irish passports (thus not stamped), enter Britain using their British passports (thus no third degree) and at the end of their visit leave UK and re-enter France using their Fr/Irish passports (no stamps/no questions).
I jest of course (or do I?), but not getting their British passports stamped is important.
They'll be travelling in a VW camper, so the die will be cast from the moment the Border Force sets eyes on them.
rdjohn said:
I have never known the UK to stamp a UK passport, on entry. They do scan it.
.
Thanks. My concern is that their UK passports may be stamped by the French (because no cds) which could lead to the impression in the future that they have overstayed in Schengan. `Fines are levied at the border on departure I understand..
My friend who is correctly domiciled in Fr but works short university terms in the UK, received a hefty fine last autumn when departing from Roscoff as he had a UK reg car despite having a cds. Plus reported to regional customs office. It ended costing a packet.
Thanks everyone for your replies, swapping to the more convenient passports between borders seems to be the way to go!
The fine and customs report was all to do with their car. Due to its UK plates, or rather no French plates, it was considered to have been illegally imported by its owner who was resident in France.
Rather than pay the taxes/duty on their return from the UK (they'd bought the car new a year or so beforehand), they sold it to wbac.com and bought a Fr registered one when they came back to France.
It cost them a fair bit as they'd had a good deal on the UK one and they ended up with a similar car that was 3 years older, but as I said to them, at least the French one isn't red.......(every cloud etc)
Somewhere I read that a car should be declared on arrival at the border like other goods, but I can't find that now.
This is a bit off topic, but I raised it to illustrate that French border officials are, at least some of the time, applying the rules as they see fit.
Rather than pay the taxes/duty on their return from the UK (they'd bought the car new a year or so beforehand), they sold it to wbac.com and bought a Fr registered one when they came back to France.
It cost them a fair bit as they'd had a good deal on the UK one and they ended up with a similar car that was 3 years older, but as I said to them, at least the French one isn't red.......(every cloud etc)
Somewhere I read that a car should be declared on arrival at the border like other goods, but I can't find that now.
This is a bit off topic, but I raised it to illustrate that French border officials are, at least some of the time, applying the rules as they see fit.
quote=smifffymoto]I don’t see what the fuss is about.
Many say present your CDS and you won’t be stamped but you are.
.
[/quote]
If you mean Fr-UK-Fr, mine doesn't get stamped stamped then. Likewise Fr-Es-Fr over the land border, but I've not been stopped there. If I was I would expect to be stamped in and out of Spain.
My original question wasn't about blagging, the people in my post have EU and UK passports/nationalities, and very definitely do not wish to remain in the UK, etc. My question was about using different passports on the same trip to make entry (of the UK really) hassle free. Maybe I only hear of the high profile cases, but EU citizens legally working in the UK often in very respectable and responsible positions are sometimes being stopped at the UK border for hours despite their "papers" being in order.
The UK border signs don't say "Welcome to the UK" any more. FO doesn't always refer to the Foreign Office.
(There's a wonderful video display at departures in Portsmouth warning holidaymakers to get advice before swimming abroad, that pretty obviously should be pointing to arrivals)
The early replies made me think that swapping passports mid-trip would be best, but I tend to agree with Pete54 that they know who you are and it could be dodgy to add confusion.
Craigyp79- I think craigjm explained that in an earlier post. Maybe, like my friend and his car, it will be different.
Many say present your CDS and you won’t be stamped but you are.
.
[/quote]
If you mean Fr-UK-Fr, mine doesn't get stamped stamped then. Likewise Fr-Es-Fr over the land border, but I've not been stopped there. If I was I would expect to be stamped in and out of Spain.
My original question wasn't about blagging, the people in my post have EU and UK passports/nationalities, and very definitely do not wish to remain in the UK, etc. My question was about using different passports on the same trip to make entry (of the UK really) hassle free. Maybe I only hear of the high profile cases, but EU citizens legally working in the UK often in very respectable and responsible positions are sometimes being stopped at the UK border for hours despite their "papers" being in order.
The UK border signs don't say "Welcome to the UK" any more. FO doesn't always refer to the Foreign Office.
(There's a wonderful video display at departures in Portsmouth warning holidaymakers to get advice before swimming abroad, that pretty obviously should be pointing to arrivals)
The early replies made me think that swapping passports mid-trip would be best, but I tend to agree with Pete54 that they know who you are and it could be dodgy to add confusion.
Craigyp79- I think craigjm explained that in an earlier post. Maybe, like my friend and his car, it will be different.
Gassing Station | France | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff