Refused Certificate Right of Abode - British Passport - Dual

[cintapants]

Hi everyone -

I've noticed that this has been touched on a few times in the forums, but with no real result.

I gather that many others have experience of this - so would be very grateful if you could share your experiences.

- I am a Malaysian national that was born in the UK
- Malaysia does not recognise Dual Nationality
- Back in 1992 when I returned to the UK after living in Malaysia with my parents, I was given the CoE-Right to Abode
- I became resident in this country, but returning to Malaysia frequently
- Over time, my career required a significant amount of EU and US travel - and the Malaysian passport caused real issues with my frequent travel in and out of the non-UK countries
- I decided to take-up the option to get a British Passport in 2004 to get over this. It was simple at the time, I could have 2 passports, one with a ROA in. I also renewed my Malaysian passport in 2004 - which has been a dream, because this gave me almost border-less travel around the world on my British passport and Asia on my Malaysian one. Malaysia assumes that I have ROA as per my passport, so no questions asked about entry stamps and length of time spent in the UK

... UNTIL NOW...

- I renewed my Malaysian passport this month in London and need to transfer my ROA from one passport to another
- But as per the British rule change in 2006, I am now no longer allowed to have a CoE of Right to Abode in my Malaysian passport, because I also have a British one - PROBLEMO!
- The next time I go back to Malaysia (which is usually an annual event), they will notice that I have no ROA stamp in my passport. This will ultimately raise suspicions about dual nationality and I will be faced with the horror of having to CHOOSE one nationality over the other.

- I do not want to give up my Malaysian citizenship. I don't want my cultural identity wrenched away from me. Moreover, I am an East Malaysian - which means that I can travel to and from Malaysian Borneo without ANY restriction - a real luxury as even Peninsula Malaysians are only granted a 3-month leave to remain in Sabah/Sarawak
- My folks live in Malaysia - I want to be able to see them often and stay in my 'motherland'
- My career still means I travel a lot within the EU and USA, I don't want to have to queue at embassies (let alone being singled out at US immigration because of my Malaysian passport (which has happened about 6 times now) everytime I need to go away for a meeting in New York.
- In the future, I may want to return to East Malaysia - and should I have children, I want them to have the choice of being Malaysian or British too

Can anyone offer any advice????
(1) How can I retain both?
(2) How can I come and go through Malaysia without been 'found-out'?

Ie - How can I have my cake and eat it? LOL

Thanks so much in advance!

[barbar]

Under the latest legislation you cannot have a current British passport AND Right of Abode certificate in another passport. That's it.

Maybe you could get your British passport cancelled and then apply again for the ROA certificate in your Malaysian passport?

I would think that Malaysian immigration could choose to search your bags etc if they have concerns such as your lack of entry stamps into the UK and if they found your British passport presumably they would withdraw your Malaysian citizenship? Is this automatic?

I can't see any way round this except surrendering the British passport if you want to keep your Malaysian citizenship but maybe someone else will know of a way. Good luck.

[c1mth0g]

Are you sure Malaysia actually checks for the ROA sticker or entry stamps? That would be surprising - do they check every citizen who comes in to see if they have evidence of permanent residence in another country? How would they know that you are just not a frequent traveller who is out of the country a lot?

[Mr Rusty]

[quote="cintapants"]

- The next time I go back to Malaysia (which is usually an annual event), they will notice that I have no ROA stamp in my passport.....quote]

....in common with most Malaysian citizens. The Certificate of Right of Abode signals to a UK Immigration Officer that you are a British Citizen. Do you think Malaysian Immigration Officers are so ignorant that they don't realise the significance of this endorsement?
I think you're worrying about nothing. If you need to get some stamps in your passport, transit Bangkok or somewhere.

[barbar]

I think only you can decide if you want to take the risk of maintaining both passports. It seems to me you would need to carry both when travelling to Malaysia.

However IF you were found to be carrying a passport showing that you had another nationality in addition to your Malaysian one then I think the Malaysian immigration authorities would have no alternative but to act. Whereas a ROA certificate is not another passport. Yes I know it indicates you would almost certainly qualify for one but it is not actually a passport for another country and as far as I know at the moment Malaysian immigration have no issues with it.

Maybe the risk of being found out is small but it seems to me you have to weigh this against the outcome if it were to happen. And it seems likely that you would lose your Malaysian citizenship which is clearly very important to you.

A difficult dilemma for you - shame Malaysia does not recognise dual nationality. I'm not sure why this is - although I know a lot of other countries take the same stance.

[cintapants]

Thanks for your replies so far.

The problem is that British law now won't put an ROA sticker in a passport if you have a British passport. This hasn't always been the case - the law changed in 2006.

So now - there's a Malaysian Passport without a British ROA.

On arrival, it's fine - because I can say I'm returning. But should I want to leave for the UK again, border control will then say "Where's your ROA, what entitles you to visit Britain?" I can say, I'm visiting.

On arrival in Britain, they will want to see my British passport as there's no ROA in my Malaysian passport = no stamp on the way in.

So should I visit Malaysia again in a year's time... I'll have a passport with no ROA and documentary evidence that I've gone AWOL for a year?
Ie - you've got no visa to enter England = you must have a british passport because you've been let in without an entry stamp or ROA.

See my predicament?

[c1mth0g]

Yes, I completely follow your line of reasoning. But I find it hard to believe that the Malaysian immigration officer will actually go through the trouble of looking through your passport (however many pages it has) to find the UK entry stamp corresponding to your last departure from Malaysia. That would take a huge amount of time for every person, and that assumes they know for sure that you were leaving for the UK the last time you left (I assume they know when you last left Malaysia but do they keep track of where?)