For the past month, tens of thousands of dual nationals holding UK and other citizenships have faced stress and expense trying to organise travel to Britain. However, The Independent has revealed a risk-free route via Ireland – the 'Dublin Dodge' – which does not breach any rules.
On 25 February 2026, the electronic travel authorisation (ETA) became mandatory for all non-British and Irish visitors to the UK. Ministers warned UK dual nationals that they could not travel using an ETA on their other passport, leading many to begin long and frustrating attempts to obtain proof of British citizenship. The 'dormant diaspora' includes children born to British parents without a UK passport, and older people who have let their passports lapse.
Until the ETA became mandatory, they could use the passport of their other nationality to travel to the UK. But the government now insists they must prove British citizenship using a passport or a 'certificate of entitlement' costing £589. The policy is enforced by airlines and ferry firms, which expect all non-British and Irish passengers to have an ETA, but UK dual nationals are not supposed to apply for the online permit costing £16.
All such stress can be avoided by flying to Dublin and taking advantage of the Common Travel Area (CTA), which allows travel without passports between Ireland and the UK for citizens of either country. A dual national with a passport or identity card from an EU or Schengen nation can freely travel to Ireland, then board a bus from Dublin airport to Belfast, which runs about three times an hour. Under the Good Friday Agreement, there are no frontier checks at the border. Once in Belfast, the traveller can continue to Great Britain by ferry or air without a passport.
An alternative is to go to Dublin port and board a ferry to Holyhead. Irish Ferries allows a wide range of photographic ID, or a birth certificate for under-18s. On the return journey, the passenger uses their foreign travel document as identification. The Home Office declined to comment on 'hypothetical routes into the UK'.
