I Need a British Passport!

I think RS is sort of saying, your kids want to be grown up and independent, so move out to prove it (always knowing there is a route back). A real trailblazer should never consider a backwards step, that has noting to do with contributions made at any period in time.

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I’m not sure that is making it any clearer.
Doing a “backward step” presumably means returning to the UK after, say, a few years living in another country. But surely on returning to the UK that person would now be paying tax again in the UK, to HMRC. And if you are paying taxes then certainly you should get full access to health care, etc. There are, after all, many good reasons to decide to return to live once again in the UK, not just whimsy.
And not giving consideration for contributions made in the past raises all sorts of issues and wrongs. If someone has fully contributed to their state pension, then why would moving abroad deprive of receiving that state pension? Are they not as deserving (more deserving?) than someone who failed to fully contribute to the state pension - but always lived in the UK.

I can make it even simpler.
In my opinion, if you were born in the UK you will always be a UK citizen.
You can take citizenship in another country but it’s basically only to make life easier and receive some benefits while living in your adopted country.
Come back to Blighty and receive all the benefits without question, of being a UK citizen…Pension, healthcare, etc. All these things stay in the UK though(not transferable) until you return.

These days you only receive the new state pension if you have contributed at least 10 years or can prove you received child benefit /inherited via a spouse. You don’t receive the full pension unless you can prove 35 years of contributions (or childcare years). You only receive emergency NHS care & limited other services if you aren’t here permanently regardless of citizenship. Your care becomes the responsibility of the country where you made the most contributions, so putting aside existing pensioners, young people have to be aware of this when they leave Britain.

Also being born here no longer qualifies those whose parents are not Brits to citizenship. That changed sometime in the 70s.

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Interesting Annie, the government seem to have beaten me to it…
:wink:

ref the new state pension I think it will catch a lot of people out despite the advertising campaign. Everyone should check their eligibility on the website below

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Similar to another topic posted by you Annie…
Nobody thought it would come to this when pensions were first mooted.
Probably because old people didn’t go and live abroad…In fact, back in the day most people would never even travel abroad…Unless it was to fight, or because you were a criminal.
I can see us returning to those days after the rich and powerful realise that the common man is wasting the earths resources and must be culled and kept hungry.

I didn’t think that we were talking about people taking the citizenship of the country they went to live in. Often that is quite difficult. This seemed to just be about people who decided to live in another country and what benefits from the UK they could / should keep.
I fully understand the health care issue. If you are now a tax payer in another country then you should rely on the health care of that country - or get private insurance. You are no longer paying tax to the UK to cover UK heath care.
But no-one invests and pays up front for UK health care. Nobody who stays in the UK and nobody who does leave the UK. So health care is completely different from pensions. Pension are completely about paying up front. Pensions are created and granted after years and years of paying into the pension system. You invest in your state pension.
What you and RS appear to be saying is that even if you have paid into the UK state pension system, done so for the required number of years, then the act of simply moving to another country should remove your right to access any state pension payment. Does that not strike you are deeply wrong and unfair? You get to pay in for decades, but you don’t get your money back.
What is the principle here that you are trying to establish? Punish people for living elsewhere and not being a drain on the UK systems? Punish people for some fictitious slight to the UK by moving abroad? Punish people for trying to live their life in a challenging but exciting way? Punish people who would like to move abroad in retirement but would not be able to afford it if you took away their state pension?

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Aren’t we talking about dual nationals on this thread?

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Nobody is punishing anybody, it’s just a person taking the responsibility for the decision they made to leave the UK.
I’m not an unreasonable bloke, and the Brits who presently live abroad did so when they were allowed to take their pensions abroad, fair enough, they should continue to receive their pensions. But the state of UK finances has changed since those days, the UK is not the industrial manufacturing nation it used to be, and it cannot be allowed to carry on with giving money away to foreign economies, they should be spending their pensions here in the UK. It’s not just about sending pensions abroad is it. It’s about spending your pension benefiting British companies and businesses. So any future leavers should be made well aware that they are now on their own if they choose to adapt and to take citizenship of another country.

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Well explained @Lincolnshire.

This all seems to be getting out of hand, let’s be careful not to create hard feelings here, so I’ll just add with a smile:"It’s funny how we started talking about ETA and ended up talking about state pensions? :smiley:

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Yes Annie, we were.
I obtained dual nationality automatically when I was born in London in late 60s, my parents both being of Italian origin, having emigrated to UK, two years before I was born.

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Well then that discipline surely needs to be applied to UK citizens living in the UK. Only spend your state pension money on British things. So no foreign food. No Japanese TVs or computers. No American software. Any investments you have must in UK companies, not overseas funds. Don’t buy any of that veg that is flown in from abroad. Only British made cars. How are we going to judge the petrol we buy - can’t buy from Esso. What about clothes - the shop may be M&S but the jumper was made in Bangladesh.
For someone who I thought disliked state control of things you are now advocating state control of what people spend their money on. You are demonstrating exceptionally poor thinking.
It does look very much that your desire to punish people for simply moving abroad (and saving the NHS millions) is driven by something here that looks a lot like jealousy. Luckily its not up to you and RS to make the rules so my UK state pension is happily waiting for me when I get to 67. Fully (and much much more) paid up.

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I’m glad you cleared that up Foxy. I got a little worried when you said :" all these things stay in the UK until you return". :face_holding_back_tears:
My parents both worked in the UK, and paid taxes and made all the necessary National Insurance contributions for thirty years, and now rightly receive their UK state pension. On the contrary, they didn’t work here, so no contributions, no pension.

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I believe there are reciprocal arrangements between the UK and Australia for healthcare between the NHS and Medicare.

You have to take a test here now, when I received my Australian citizenship all that was required was permanent residency for two years. It was free, now it costs $350 or $575 just to apply (not sure why the difference).

There is a practice test you can do:

BTW I paid into the graduated pension thing for 10 years so possibly could claim something, I don’t - you’re welcome.

Still waiting to hear about the next stage of my passport application.

I wonder what kicks in first, your Australian nationality giving you the reciprocal care, or the British dual nationality meaning you only get emergency care

Adventures are just best dreamt about. no red tape.

I know my NHS number OCUK 2xx and still have the card but I understand I have to get a new number as they are now all digits.

That sounds perfect Lincs…Yes! Yes! Yes!
It’s going to take time though.
Every long walk starts with the first step…