Comment on King's coat of arms to feature on new UK passports
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 1 day ago
Natural landscapes from all four UK nations will also feature inside the updated documents, including Ben Nevis, the Lake District, Three Cliffs Bay and the Giant’s Causeway.
Honestly, good. The current passport is actually hideous. Each page is just a random boring soulless geometric pattern. It is a significant downgrade from the previous passport design which had a charming chaotic assortment of statues, buildings, the london tube map, British inventions, etc. It was a lovely patriotic tribute to the UK. Then when it went blue it just turned into bland shapes (although the floral emblem on the back cover is nice)
Meanwhile the Irish passport not only has images on each visa page and little musical notes from their anthem, but even the ribbon holding it all together is green, white and orange like their national flag (The only reference to it I think, makes sense considering that the passport is given to people from Northern Ireland as well)
The Chinese passport is also cool, each page is themed off of a different Chinese province.
moderatecentrist@feddit.uk 1 day ago
Another advantage of the Irish passport over the British passport is that the Irish passport allows you to live and work in 26 other European countries. But hey ho.
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 1 day ago
lol true. I am a Protestant in Northern Ireland, but even then I had to resort to getting an Irish passport to visit my girlfriend in China, as the Irish Passport has 30 day visa-free entry, and was cheaper to get one than a visa on my British one.
However, just say I wanted to cross into Vietnam, I’d need to present my British passport as it’s the other way around.
From what I hear, the British passport is better for long-term stays in some places. You get 180 days in Hong Kong SAR vs the Irish passport’s 90 days. And if you’re migrating to or having a long-term stay in Australia, it’s more straightforward with a British passport.
Some reckon that the consular assistance is better with a British passport (People in Northern Ireland typically used this to justify a British passport which was slightly more expensive), but I don’t know if that’s the case post brexit. I remember the crisis in Sudan a number of years ago, the Brits were still stuck there while the Irish had already been evacuated by the Germans on account of the EU. I believe every EU diplomatic mission is actually supposed to support EU citizens regardless of nationality, although possibly in cases where their home country’s mission is inaccessible. Still would be nice, for example, a German citizen staying in Belfast could seek help from the Polish consulate if needs be.
moderatecentrist@feddit.uk 1 day ago
That’s cool. I guess Brits will have to go without such benefits for the time being. And if Reform are the next government then the UK’s ties to Europe will probably be reduced. I suppose there is time for the public to change their voting intentions before the next election though.
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 1 day ago
Please please please no reform UK…
ohulancutash@feddit.uk 1 day ago
Britain is pants at consular assistance. Always the last european nation to organise evacuation flights, if at all, in hurricane season. At least in the before times you could go on EU flights.
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 1 day ago
Yeah. I’m probably best with my Irish passport honestly. Not that the Irish will help me, but the Germans or the French might.
echodot@feddit.uk 11 hours ago
Yeah they should add that feature to the British passport.