Visa or Dual Nationality!?

Question

Hi, my husband is a British National, our daughter Hannah aged 2 holds both UK & Ghanaian passports. We all live in UK and travelled from the UK to visit my relatives in Ghana when our daughter was 12 weeks old. The Ghanaian customs questioned why we were travelling with 2 passports for Hannah, saying that she does not have a dual nationality and next time should only travel on 1 passport with a UK visa in her Ghanaian passport, is this really correct?, we really find this difficult to believe as she has both passports, would it be better for us to apply for her dual nationality, if so what are the pros and cons of applying for dual nationality between the UK and Ghana and what does the process involve?, any informed advice will be very much appreciated

Answer 1

She already has dual nationality, you can't apply for dual nationality, either a person is entitled to citizenship of one or more countries or they are not - the fact that you have successfully applied for & received passports for the UK is proof your child is entitled to citizenship of both Ghana & the UK. There is nowhere dual nationality can be officially registered & it's not in anyone's interest to do so. Both countries allow dual nationality.



With dual citizenship, where the a person has two passports, you use the British passport to enter & exit the UK, you use the Ghanian passport to enter & exit Ghana - you only present ONE passport at Immigration so when you entered Ghana with the child you should have presented her Ghanian passport to the official, the British passport should have been buried at the bottom of your bag & its existence shouldn't even be mentioned, the only time that British passport should see daylight is when you re-enter the UK. You NEVER ever present 2 passports from different countries to an immigration official, unless you absolutely have no choice in the matter or your bag has been searched & they question.



I am going to be generous & suggest perhaps the guy was new in the job and doesn't understand how it works, you're giving the impression you presented 2 passports for the child at Immigration entering Ghana so perhaps you simply confused him, another official might have simply told you to put the other one away

Answer 2

I also agree that you should only present one passport but do bear in mind that if you use the Ghanaian passport, your daughter will not have the protection of the British government in the event of you needing consular assistance.



Since both countries allow dual citizenship and as long as Ghana does not insist on its citizens only entering or leaving the country on their Ghanaian passport like the US does (the UK does not) it shouldn't matter which you use. Do bear in mind that the Ghana ECO will know that the child must have a British passport if there is no UK visa in her Ghanaian passport.

Answer 3

Maggie is correct. Travel to Ghana and only show your daughters Ghana passport. And when you travel back to the UK only show your daughters British passport.



It is that easy.

Answer 4

Nationality Of Ghana

Answer 5

Contact the UK Home office to clarify the situation for you.