Hi everyone,

I thought I would start this thread to get some good, information about situations arriving like I have had myself regarding passports and british citizenship.

I moved to the Algarve around 11 months ago, to cut a long story short I decided to move back to the UK only to find that my British passport had expired. I recently looked on the internet in forums etc to see if there is a way around this and came across something called "right of abode." WHat this apparently means is that because you are a british citizen, you do not need an immigration officer's permission to enter the UK. My problem is that because I do not have a valid passport I cannot work (legally) and because I cannot work (legally) I do not have money to pay the local british embassy 130€ to renew my passport.

I have heard of people travelling from France to the UK with either just a driving license as a form of ID or without a passport at all, in some cases I have heard that they do not check for ID's etc whatsoever.

Can anyone share any information on this as I feel it is a very grey area and more solid information is needed for this scenario.

The official text on the UK Border Control website is like this:

"All British citizens have the right of abode in the United Kingdom.

Some Commonwealth citizens also have the right of abode.

If you wish to claim the right of abode, you must prove it by producing:

a United Kingdom passport describing you as a British citizen or a British subject with the right of abode; or
a United Kingdom identity card describing you as a British citizen or a British subject with the right of abode; or
a certificate of entitlement to the right of abode in the United Kingdom that has been issued by the Government of the United Kingdom or on its behalf. "

Note that where it says to prove the right of abode in the UK its merely states "a United Kingdom passport describing you as a British citizen or a British subject with the right of abode" and not a "valid United Kindom passport". Does this mean in fact that even if your british passport has expired, you can still gain entry into the UK???

You'll see my response on the other thread where you mentioned this.

But you know, to go from France to the UK (for instance) EU nationals need only show their national i.d. card. There is no more need to have a passport to travel within the EU. (Or so I'm told.)
Cheers,
Bev