Entry to Australia on expired OZ passport?

[ozbeachbabe]

Hi All,

Happy new year to all here at AFF.

Anyway, just realised our five year old son's Australian passport will expire whilst we are in the UK. He has both a UK and Australian passport.

Being the tight@rse I am, I would rather leave renewing his Australian passport as late as possible.

My thoughts are, depart Australia on Aus passport, enter and leave UK on UK passport, arrive back into Australia on expired Aus passport (with UK as back up)

I know UK passport holders can enter UK on expired UK passport, but can't find anything allowing Aussies to enter Aus on expired Aus passport.

Anyone have experience or knowledge of this?

To be perfectly honest I doubt your family would get off the ground at LHR as it's the airline's responsibility to check all pax have valid documentation to enter their country of destination which would either be a valid Australian Passport for an Australian Citizen or a foreign passport with an appropriate visa. As your son would have neither I believe you would be denied uplift.

Australian passports don't come cheap and I understand wanting to delay its renewal for as long as possible but I second getting a replacement. Being an Australian citizen your son will be allowed entry into Australia but with an expired Australian passport there will be delays and fiddling around.

He won't be able to enter on the UK passport - a visa cannot be granted to an Australian citizen.

I would second what others have already posted about getting the young fella a new Australian Passport in plenty of time before you leave in order to avoid the urgent processing fee.

At first glance it may appear that you may save some money by delaying the passport renewal however when the airline at LHR insists you must get a new passport then you're going to be up for the cost of not only a new passport but the urgent processing fee plus more money for hotel accommodation & meals until the new passport is ready so we're talking hundreds of dollars.

You'd also hope the airline would change your flights without charging you a fee but there may be additional fees at stake here. There's just way too much at stake here, never mind your son feeling all the hoo haa is his fault because it's his passport.

Really? What would they do to you? They can't deport an Australian citizen. Surely, it'll just take a bit longer while they confirm you are who you say you are on your expired passport.

(Assuming the expired passport is an Australian one, which it is in this case.)

They won't even get the opportunity to arrive in Australia as is because the airline will refuse to check them in at LHR without the valid documentation.

 

[Deleted member]

I am surprised you would even consider travelling and not renewing his passport. Dual nationality notwithstanding

 

[jgm]

There will be no problem coming back with an expired passport, but you will be delayed at check-in OS. The airline has to contact Australian immigration to get permission for you to enter (can take considerable time), and then you will be held at immigration when you get to OZ while they check your details. I had this happen to me a couple of years ago when I lost my passport in the LOTFAP. We were held over in LA for an extra day, as the airline couldn't contact OZ immigration in time for us to make the flight. The agent was on the phone for nearly 3/4 hour the next day getting permission (I made sure we were 1st in line when check-in opened). The only photo ID I had on me was a driver's licence. This caused a slight issue going through security at LAX (also at MCO where we had come from), where they had to get a supervisor's approval for me to get through.

BTW, Australian consular bods were absolutely useless. They wanted me to travel from FL to DC & wait up to 2 days to get emergency documentation & said I wouldn't be able to travel without it. We decided to ignore them & if necessary go to the consulate in LA. The airline staff in LA were the ones who told us the process & were really helpful.

 

[OzEire]

You cannot enter Australia on an expired passport

As mentioned up thread, this is not strictly true. You 'should' not enter Australia without a passport but a legitimate Australian citizen will not be denied entry. ***HOWEVER*** it will be a royal pain in the a$$ for the Customs/Immigration staff to deal with, and you will be required to submit to any of the following, waiting, questioning, filling in forms, probably depending whether the primary line officer is having a good day or not and how friendly you are to them.

The most likely situation is that the airline will be very reluctant to board the pax, and may refuse, because the airline will bear the cost of returning him to the port of origin if Her Majesty's Customs' decides to refuse entry to the UK, but you might convince them that it will be ok because he can enter the UK on his UK passport. Similarly, on the return journey, the airline may refuse boarding if they (wrongly) believe that Aus will deny entry due to the expired Aus passport. As I said, you may need to convince an airline staff member who is just used to seeing either the passport of citizenship or a valid visa.

Anyone considering letting their passport to lapse, either in Aus or abroad, please be aware that doing so will make the relatively simple renewal process (available in Aus only) much longer and more coughbersome, but I think if your son is a child under 18 the longer process is required anyway.

Depending on how long your are in the UK, and depending on the other points made in this thread, you could apply for and renew the passport at the Australian High Commission in London....note that you will need to bring all of the original certificates and documents (Aus birth cert and depending on circumstances; son's citizenship cert, one parent's Aus birth or citizenship cert, etc.) required for the renewal which you would probably rather not carry on your trip abroad.

Simplest solution, renew it before you go. It lasts 10 years for about 250 bucks or $25 per year (and I think a child's one is half that), less than your drivers' licence.

Good luck whatever you decide.

OzEire

 

[markis10]

As mentioned up thread, this is not strictly true.

OzEire

Point being your passport needs to be current for entry, otherwise other methods are used, unlike the UK in the case of the OPs post.

 

[cove]

Reggie I recommend you get your arms to grow to reach your pocket. Being a short arms on vital documents like this is not a real saving.

 

[Reggie]

Hi All, thanks for all the advise and contributions.

Looks like I finally managed to start a thread that was interesting and create some discussion.

Anyway I was reading aloud all your posts to my wife who had told me that our sons passport would be out of date, when she said something about seeing the expiry date being 29th July when she filled in their arrivals cards when on their flight home yesterday. I said, hang on you both fly back on the 17th WTF? She then said yeah but we need 6 months validity on the passport to get back into Australia WTFx2.

Anyways, I go and look at the passport and the expiry date is the 29th July, and Mrs Reggie and Reggie jnr fly home 17th July, so problem solved.

 

[Reggie]

Reggie I recommend you get your arms to grow to reach your pocket. Being a short arms on vital documents like this is not a real saving.

I agree, but I hate paying the federal government money for nothing. I already pay too much for no return, as any WA working resident would/should agree.

 

[Kieran2274]

Hi All, thanks for all the advise and contributions.

Looks like I finally managed to start a thread that was interesting and create some discussion.

Anyway I was reading aloud all your posts to my wife who had told me that our sons passport would be out of date, when she said something about seeing the expiry date being 29th July when she filled in their arrivals cards when on their flight home yesterday. I said, hang on you both fly back on the 17th WTF? She then said yeah but we need 6 months validity on the passport to get back into Australia WTFx2.

Anyways, I go and look at the passport and the expiry date is the 29th July, and Mrs Reggie and Reggie jnr fly home 17th July, so problem solved.

Questions like you posed are good - it's helps share knowledge on sometimes not well known processes or tips. Someone more erudite than me once said "There are no wrong questions..." (Just the occasional misleading answer lol) - I found the range of responses interesting, even though it's many a year before my current passport expires. So thanks for posing the question Reggie​.

 

[amaroo]

I agree, but I hate paying the federal government money for nothing. I already pay too much for no return, as any WA working resident would/should agree.

LOL.......(filler)

 

[medhead]

Point being your passport needs to be current for entry, otherwise other methods are used, unlike the UK in the case of the OPs post.

No the passport does not need to be current to enter. As you say you can enter with an expired passport using other methods.

 

[medhead]

I agree, but I hate paying the federal government money for nothing. I already pay too much for no return, as any WA working resident would/should agree.

Actually you are paying for a travel document.

As for this complete BS about WA getting a bad deal from the commonwealth government. Start by paying back all the money that the commonwealth government has subsidised WA with then come and talk to us.

 

[Reggie]

As for this complete BS about WA getting a bad deal from the commonwealth government.

8[SUP]th [/SUP]of April 1933

Question 1: Are you in favour of the State of Western Australia withdrawing from the Federal Commonwealth established under the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act (Imperial)?
Result - 138,653 in favour and 70,706 against

Question 2: Are you in favour of a Convention of Representatives of equal number from each of the Australian states being summoned for the purpose of proposing such alterations in the Constitution of the Commonwealth as may appear to such Convention to be necessary?
Result - 119,031 against to 88,275 in favour

BTW calm down its Saturday night

 

[Austman]

Good to know that you won't have a problem! These are tricky areas that different countries handle differently.

But I've taken my chances with my other passport and Australia and it's turned out OK. There was a delay but the staff were very accommodating. And I had a good excuse.

It's a bit interesting to see how other countries handle the same situation. The UK allows entry with an expired passport it seems. They told me (6 months ago) that my expired EU passport would have been OK for EU entry too. And the country of my expired EU passport actually advised me (and it's on their web site too) that it's much cheaper to just re-new it on your next visit to the country! They don't care if you arrive on another passport.

Still, I was travelling solo and I expected to take a risk. Travelling with others or family ... I'd not take the risk, I think.

 

[medhead]

8[SUP]th [/SUP]of April 1933

Question 1: Are you in favour of the State of Western Australia withdrawing from the Federal Commonwealth established under the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act (Imperial)?
Result - 138,653 in favour and 70,706 against

Question 2: Are you in favour of a Convention of Representatives of equal number from each of the Australian states being summoned for the purpose of proposing such alterations in the Constitution of the Commonwealth as may appear to such Convention to be necessary?
Result - 119,031 against to 88,275 in favour

BTW calm down its Saturday night

I think you're the one who needs to calm down. The fact is the rest of Australia has been subsidise Western Australia for a very long time. The first second that WA is expected to pay back and people like you get all fired up, proposing to do silly things like trying to enter the country on expired passports. All because they think the commonwealth government gets too much money from them. Those voting results are all very interesting but ultimately they have no apparent relevance.

Yep, it's you who needs to calm down and just pay for the passport.

 

[whatmeworry]

Gotta love the new money two bob millionaires from WA.

 

[cove]

We had to air express a passport to New Zealand when one of our travel group had left his passport behind. He was lucky that there was a very helpful person who allowed him to board the Emirates flight (but it was close). He had flown east to get the international flight to Auckland and a whole tour program was at risk.

 

[Pushka]

Why risk a delay to your flights or even worse refusal to board? Insurance will not cover any costs.

 

[TomVexille]

I've gotta agree with most here. While possible, I would just get the new passport to avoid the hassle.

 

[lukenet]

This is a very funny thread. At first, I thought the OP was being serious.

P.S. It's best not to feed trolls..