‘I spent years getting UK passport but I do this at airport’

A woman who spent seven years trying to obtain a British passport has revealed what she does every time she’s at an airport to save time. Selen Ozcan, who divides her time between London and Bahrain, took to TikTok to detail her handy trick in a short video. The travel content creator now holds dual citizenship, and carries her native Romanian passport with her at all times too.

Heading through security at one particular airport, Selen shared a video which she captioned: “When the immigration line is too long so I have to pull out the stronger passport.” Holding her blue British passport, she quickly pushed it aside to reveal her maroon Romanian one underneath.

When the UK was a member of the European Union, British people had the right to visit, live, work, or study in a member state without needing a visa. But this ended when the Brexit transition period expired on December 31, 2020.

As a result, British citizens can no longer use the – usually quicker – border control lanes for EU citizens in airports. “British citizens also usually need to have their passport stamped upon entry/exit to the EU unless they are family members of EU citizens and resident in the EU,” the government explains.

Writing in response, one TikTok user said: “Got my British kid a Romanian passport and now she’s my fast track pass through EU airports haha. My missus is Romanian.”

A second person shared his similar experience. “All my UK boys had to wait 15 minutes in a queue at Amsterdam Airport,” they said. “I skipped all that with my Romanian passport.”

However, a third person claimed: “Romania passport is just stronger than UK when entering schengen and EU. But UK has more access than Romania worldwide.” And a fourth TikTok user told Selen: “Travel to USA with Romanian passport and you’ll see the difference between British and Romanian. No offence intended.”

The Henley Passport Index ranks all the world’s passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa, meanwhile. “The index is based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) – the largest, most accurate travel information database – and enhanced by Henley & Partners’ research team,” Henly & Partners explain.

The index includes 199 different passports and 227 different travel destinations, and is updated monthly. According to Henley & Partners’ statistics, Singapore boasts the “strongest” passport, allowing access to 192 nations without a prior visa.

Japan, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates are tied in second, with 187, with Sweden in third, with 186. Great Britain is in joint sixth place, alongside Malaysia and Poland, with 183 destinations available – which is actually higher than Romania, which is joint 11th with Bulgaria, with 177.