{"id":155052,"date":"2026-03-08T16:40:52","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T23:40:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=155052"},"modified":"2026-03-08T16:40:52","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T23:40:52","slug":"dual-citizenship-ownership-and-authority-over-a-uk-passport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/03\/08\/dual-citizenship-ownership-and-authority-over-a-uk-passport\/","title":{"rendered":"Dual citizenship -Ownership and authority over a UK passport"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr Sarath Obeysekera<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

A UK passport is issued by the HM Passport Office under the authority of the UK Home Office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legally:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • The passport remains the property of the UK Government.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Only UK authorities can enter official endorsements about nationality or citizenship status in it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    What foreign immigration officers are allowed to do<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Immigration authorities in another country (including Sri Lanka) may only place standard immigration markings, such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • Entry stamps<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Exit stamps<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Visa or visa-cancellation stamps<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Temporary admission or landing endorsements<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      These are not statements about nationality. They simply record movement across that country\u2019s border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      What they cannot legally certify<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

      A foreign immigration officer cannot legally endorse in a UK passport that the holder is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      • A dual citizen<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • A citizen of another country<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • A resident or national of that country<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        That type of endorsement would be considered an alteration of the passport\u2019s official content, which only the issuing country may do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        How dual citizenship is normally recognized<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

        Instead of stamping another country\u2019s passport:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \n
        • The second country issues a dual citizenship certificate or national passport.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Immigration records it in their internal database.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

          In your case, Sri Lanka records dual citizenship in the Department of Immigration system and in the Dual Citizenship Certificate, not in the UK passport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \n
          • Sri Lanka can stamp entry\/exit in a UK passport.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Sri Lanka cannot legally certify or endorse dual citizenship status in that passport.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Only UK authorities could make official endorsements relating to UK nationality.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

            Regards

            Dr Sarath Obeysekera<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            Dr Sarath Obeysekera A UK passport is issued by the HM Passport Office under the authority of the UK Home Office. Legally: What foreign immigration officers are allowed to do Immigration authorities in another country (including Sri Lanka) may only place standard immigration markings, such as: These are not statements about nationality. They simply record […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-sarath-obeysekera"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155052"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":155053,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155052\/revisions\/155053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}