New regulations concerning passports might prevent British children born overseas from entering the UK starting next week.

For the first time, dual citizens, including infants and children, will be required to present a passport when traveling to Britain via flights, ferries, or trains. Alternatively, they can purchase a ‘certificate of entitlement’ for £589.

These new border rules are set to be implemented next Wednesday, sparking criticism from Britons living abroad who feel unprepared for this sudden change.

Children born outside the UK to a British parent are automatically granted dual citizenship, which cannot be renounced until they reach the age of 18.

However, to enter the UK, they will now need to either obtain a British passport or pay the £589 fee for a ‘certificate of entitlement’.

The updated requirements for dual citizens in Britain are part of the Home Office’s new Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) initiative.

Under the new rules, visitors from nations that did not previously need visas to travel to Britain will have to obtain ETAs before coming over – including Canada and France.

And there will be knock-on effects for British dual citizens, it has also been warned. 

Dual nationals may have to pay nearly £600 for a ‘certificate of entitlement’ to enter the UK under new Home Office rules 

Britons fear they could be left ‘stranded’ when the new rules come into force next week

Anyone travelling to the UK must prove permission to enter – with airline, ferry and train firms able to deny boarding if not given the correct documents.

The changes that come into force from next Wednesday, February 25, stipulate that dual citizenship Britons have to present a valid UK passport or certificate of entitlement when arriving in the country.

That is because British and Irish citizens are exempt from ETAs which permit people from overrseas to pay £16 to visit the UK for up to six months. 

In the past they would have been able to travel with non-British passports and using other documents to back up their citizenship if necessary.

Dual nationals include UK-born people who have acquired nationality from another country, those who naturalised or registered as British later in life and people who have been dual nationals since birth.

The Home Office’s new rules mean a British couple’s 10-month-old baby could be ‘turned back at the border’ when they depart for New Zealand in two weeks.  

His grandmother told The Times: ‘We’ve sent off an application with all the documentation requested but have received a reply saying “you need to send his NZ passport as well”. 

‘We’re not going to do that because then he certainly won’t be able to travel, with no passport at all.’

The family has tried to get through to the Home Office – but they ‘don’t have lines that deal with this’. 

The grandmother added they have also been to the High Commission in New Zealand but were ‘told to go away’ because ‘they don’t deal with this’. 

In other case, Rebecca Witham lives in France with her son who only holds a French passport. 

She fears the new rules could stop families visiting the UK, which she described as ‘discrimination’ that would ‘affect millions’ of British citizens with dual nationality. 

Ms Witham added that the added cost of £589 per person means families could no longer visit the UK where they are ‘legal citizens’.  

Elsewhere, James, a British-Italian born and educated in London, had booked a flight for a business trip to New York last week, departing on Friday, but now fears he could be stranded because he returns after the new rules come into force. 

He has never had a British passport but was previously able to travel freely for his job with an Italian one. 

James told The Guardian: ‘I found myself having to travel at short notice and am now facing the idea that I may not be allowed back into the country.’ 

Asked whether would pay the £589 fee, he said the weeks-long backlog makes it impossible to get a certificate of entitlement before Friday.

A Home Office spokesperson said: ‘From 25 February 2026, all dual British citizens will need to present either a valid British passport or certificate of entitlement to avoid delays at the border.’ 

They said the move was part of a programme to introduce a ‘seamless travel experience’, adding that the rules would give the Government ‘greater power to stop those who pose a threat from setting foot in the country and gives us a fuller picture of immigration’.

It comes after Sir Jim Ratcliffe last week said the UK had been ‘colonised by immigrants’. 

In an interview with Sky News, the billionaire Manchester United co-owner claimed the population of the UK had increased by 12million in six years, from 58million in 2020 to 70million today. 

He was forced to apologise for his comments, with the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer saying his comments were ‘offensive and wrong’. 

Backtracking on his remarks, Sir Jim said he was ‘sorry that my choice of language has offended some people in the UK and Europe’.

Earlier this month it emerged that the total number of small boat migrants to have reached the UK under Sir Keir’s administration had passed 66,000. 

More migrants have arrived during his time in Downing Street than under any other prime minister, overtaking the previous high of 65,811 under Boris Johnson.

The record under Sir Keir has been reached in just over 19 months, compared with three years under Mr Johnson.