So in preparation for our UK trip which I blogged about here, I was feeling rather organised by getting out our passports, ferry tickets, hotel booking etc and putting them all together ready. I did what everyone does, looked through the passports to check them, giggle at the photos, and of course check the expiry dates (I knew in the back of my mind that ours weren't due for renewal anytime soon). However, my heart dropped into my stomach (or the other way round) when I saw that Laila's expired in February 2013. Argghhh!!! One week till we travel. SH*T!!!!
Me and the kids have British passports as we were all born there, and hubby has a French one of course. So I had a look on Her Majestys website to see what I could do about Laila's passport.
Option 1: attempt to leave France on an expired passport and book an appointment to renew it in London on their premium one-day service. Risk = High, Effort=low, Cost = £106
Option 2: Go to the British Embassy in Paris and request an Emergency Travel Document to get to the UK, then go to appointment in London to renew passport on their premium one-day service. Risk = low, Effort=high, Cost = £100 return trip to Paris + £100 Emergency Travel Document + £106 passport.
Option 3: Go to the Town hall and apply for a French Passport (lucky girl has the choice of 2 nationalities). Risk = low, effort = low, cost = €17. (yes just seventeen euros)
So of course we went for Option 3, which didn't occur to me straight away, I was working through options 1 and 2 and going crazy over them both! The French passport should only take a week, we should get it back just in time to travel, but there's nothing I can do about that right now. I just have to wait and cross my fingers.
Had I checked the passports when I booked our trip (which I will ALWAYS do from now on), I would NOT have chosen option 3. I would have gone through the correct procedure to apply for a new British passport from overseas.
I am quite upset that my little girl will not have a British passport, it sounds silly maybe. But it feels like I've just officially made her French, when previously I was able to categorically state that she was British. Now if anyone asks me the question I'll hesitate and then I guess say that she's both.
Dual Nationality is a strange thing, I haven't looked into it all thoroughly. I'm not sure of the legalities of having 2 passports, it depends on your country and where you want to travel to. For example it's easier to go to the US on a British passport than a French one, fact. If she wants to travel far and wide when she's older than it could be useful for her to have both. When it comes to voting, I believe you can only vote in one country for national elections, you have to choose. In Europe anyway that's the case.
The more time we live away from Britain, the more I feel like my British identity is slipping away, and this has made it just that little bit harder....
2 comments:
The way I'd look at it is that it's something Laila will be able to decide for herself once she's old enough. Nothing you're doing now is going to affect that, she's still going to be able to make that choice for herself when the time comes, no matter which nationality her current passport is.
Of course, in a few years from now if she's an Olympic-standard gymnast, all of the above goes out of the window, get her that British passport back ASAP ;-)
The passport came in 4 days! Amazing!
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