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An interesting issue for me, given the existing proposals for ID card registration. At present, AFAIK, the government plans to make any application for a passport a point of automatic registration. As a dual-national and holder of two passports I am afforded the luxury of allowing my UK passport to expire and only retaining my other one.
Of course there is one point of issue that does come into play here, and that is the act of making an entrance to the UK. The last time that I did this without a British passport, I was given two months by immigration control to present the necessary proof of nationality to some vaguely specified arm of the Home Office or face eviction from the UK. Not wishing to be deported under negative circumstances I made enquiries to the relevant offices and promptly fell into an administrative black hole of numbers to call, messages left, callbacks promised and so on. I gave up fairly swiftly and in the ensuing three and a half years no one ever called or came knocking at my parents house (my address as given to immigration control at my time of entry). I remain unperturbed as the passport bearing that limitation expired and I am not required to present it in any official capacity henceforth, particularly as I did obtain a UK passport within the required two months. Entertainly enough, the collective offices of the government now consider me an illegal immigrant, a taxpayer, a resident, a citizen and a security cleared former employee of three seperate departments and seven seperate offices.
However, in the future I will not be able to count on such laxity. Whilst I may be able to rely on the lack of communication between civil offices, my repeat presence at immigration control bearing a passport with such limitations is likely to raise a number of questions to which the answers may not be conduicive to continued presence in the country. It's worthy of note that as someone with dual nationality the UK government has the power to revoke my citizenship and bar me from entering the country, although I do not imagine that they would pursue sucha course of action over refusal to get an ID card. |
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