A female friend born in Australia and married to a Swiss 35 years ago and living in Switerland with both a Swiss and Australian passports, lost her Austalian one.

She is due to fly to Australia in A few days and is in blind panic as she insists she cannot use her Swiss passport to enter Australia.

She is having great difficulty getting a replacement for some reason. I told her to use her Swiss passport and get an online visa for A$30 like all non-Austalians do. But she won't have it and claims as an Austlralian, it's not possible. Whatcha think??

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It's very true that the rules are that Australian citizens cannot enter Australia on a foreign passport...

A friend of ours found this out the hard way - delayed 3 hours in Rome whilst the security staff desperately tried to contact someone in Canberra (via telephone, email and fax) - it was midnight in Canberra on a Saturday night - luckily there was someone working late who picked up the fax.

I would suggest that your friend urgently contact the Australian consulate/embassy - http://www.dfat.gov.au/missions/countries/ch.html

Losing your passport is a serious problem - they are going to wonder why she didn't immediately report the loss and have it replaced...

Thanks! So my friend is right. But I don't quite see how the immigration officer would know she was an Australian (assuming she said nothing).

It's more complicated in that as her name changed in marriage, although 35 years ago, she requires some sworn form completing which confirms the change. This is new, so she did this, but the spelled her Swiss surname wrongly!

Although she has had an Australian passport in that name for over 30 years, this make no difference...

PS. I entered the UK on my Swiss passport, just for the fun of it without problem...

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...if her place of birth in her Swiss passport is Australia, think that will be a show-stopper. They might miss it at passport control, but don't think I'd risk it.

My Swiss passport only shows my Heimatort, not my place of birth. While my UK passport does show my place of birth (in the UK).

So I presume an Australian entering Australia with a Swiss passport, would not be detected as an Australian...

Maiden name in her Swiss passport?

Aussie-sounding first/middle name?

...then if it is a biometric Swiss passport, how much does that give away?

Dunno about Oz, but I hear the US and some other countries can get very stuffy over this issue.

Biometric Passports don't give anything extra away, they just display what is written. In the UK passport office there is a biometric reader so you can see for yourself.