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How is a British Overseas Territories passport different from a U.K. passport?

I applied for Cayman Islands’ RBI program last year. I was told that after five years, I will be eligible to naturalize and become a British Overseas Territories (BOT) citizen. I am wondering how a BOT passport is different from a U.K. passport in terms of visa-free travel, work and resident permits in U.K.?


Answers
  • Bedell Cristin
    September 01, 2021

    It is slightly different in the sense that a British Overseas Territory Citizen (BOTC) can enjoy visa-free entry to a number of countries and territories but in some cases, foreign authorities only grant them a visa-free entry if they present a passport with an endorsement stating their right of abode in the United Kingdom. The reality for the vast majority of my clients of their families is that it is purely a stepping stone to full British citizenship. This is because once you have been naturalized as BOTCs and obtained BOT (Cayman Islands) passports, you are immediately eligible to submit applications to register as full British citizens with all the privileges that entails, including obtaining full British passports. Once registered (that process generally takes four-six months), you can apply immediately for their full British passports (a process which generally takes a month). As of July 2, 2019, British citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 183 countries and territories, ranking the British passport 6th in terms of travel freedom according to the Henley & Partners Passport Index.