In Reply to: Don't understand ? Please explain posted by Colleen on Thursday, 4. November 2004 at 00:53 Bali Time:
I came to Australia from England over 42 years ago [as an adult with wife and son]. As soon as we got here, I felt that we were amongst our own kind of people and officially changing nationality seemed pointless. Also, I decided when I was 17 that I was not a monarchist and I strongly objected to swearing allegiance to the queen.
Years later, I was travelling on a British passport with an Australian re-entry visa stamped into it. Along the way I had changed my first name by license [do-it-yourself, cheaper than a lawyer] to Rex, because that was the only name I had ever been known as, but not one of the three names I was registered with.
When my passport expired, I got another British one with the name Rex and a photo with comparatively short hair, not shoulder length like on the one with the re-entry visa. I couldn't get a re-entry visa stamped into my new passport due to some govt regulation, so I had to carry the first passport as well, with different name and different appearance. Every time we went through customs, it seemed to get more and more difficult and took longer.
By then, we no longer had to swear allegiance to a foreign head of state to become Australian citizens, so that's what I did and I now have dual citizenship. I travel on an Australian passport, but in the unlikely event that I visit Britain and Europe, I can get a British passport as well, which would offer distinct advantages there.