A British-Danish couple fear they will be separated from their two young children at Copenhagen airport because of new Home Office rules on British dual nationals. James Scrivens and his wife Sara, who live in Wales, were returning from a holiday visiting relatives in Norway and Denmark when they learned of the change, which requires dual nationals to present a British passport, current or expired, or a £589 certificate of entitlement attached to their other passport, to prove their right to enter the UK.
The couple's children, aged eight and 12, were born in the UK and are British citizens by birth, but currently hold only Danish passports. Mr Scrivens said the family was not directly informed of the change and only discovered it through social media while abroad. He said he and his wife must return to Wales for work, but the children may be denied boarding, leaving them with relatives while at least one parent returns home to apply for their first British passports.
Mr Scrivens has written to his MP, Plaid Cymru's Ann Davies, who said she was "deeply distressed" by the situation and has urged the Home Office to act. She described the government's communication of the rule change as "disastrous" and said it was having "real and deeply distressing consequences" for her constituents. She called on the government to prevent other families from facing the same hardship.
During an urgent question in the House of Commons, migration minister Mike Tapp dismissed claims of mishandling as "absurd", saying the information had been on the government website since 2024 and that significant sums had been spent on messaging. He defended the measures as making the border more secure and in line with other nations.
But Liberal Democrat MP Manuela Perteghella sharply criticised the communication as "wholly inadequate", noting that Canada had delayed enforcement and introduced a low-cost temporary authorisation for unaware dual nationals. Conservative MP David Davis also called for a grace period, raising concerns about a 91-year-old constituent whose dual-national daughter can no longer travel under the new rules.
