First Passport Application: Options for Emergency Travel

Hello all, I have been an avid lurker and this board has been tremendously helpful. I have received my citizenship ceremony date which is booked. I intend to immediately apply for British passport and it is a requirement to submit my foreign passport to HMPO. It is now obvious that I may need to travel due to an unfortunate family illness. I cannot delay the ceremony until my return to the UK as my UK visa expires next month.

1. Can I request my foreign passport from HMPO for emergency travel? Or,
2. Should I apply for an emergency travel document from my foreign embassy (travelling to my home country)? If I do not make it back to the UK before my visa expires (conscious too of possible travel restrictions which can suddenly be implemented due to COVID-19), my newly issued passport could be received by post and held safely by other family members who are unable to travel for this emergency.

Does anyone know if Option 2 would be advisable? Has it ever been done?

I suppose a third option is to travel to your home country and then apply for your UK passport from there. Overseas applications only require copies of foreign passports, not originals. But this opens up a whole new can of worms. Applying for a first passport from abroad will make the passport office look hard at your 'intent to settle in the UK' status. And you will probably return to the UK before you receive your passport.

Your visa expires next month. Is the expiry date after the date of your ceremony? I think this is a requirement.

You are normally not eligible for UK Emergency Travel Documents if you have never had a UK passport.

Hopefully some experts will jump in here. Your post raises some very important questions.

Many thanks for your reply.

Can anyone write out what specific documents are needed to send in with the naturalisation certificate? The instructions say, "the passport you used to come into the UK". If the passport I used to enter the UK has expired and I have a renewed passport that is now active, do I send in the expired, the renewed passport which I have been travelling on, or do I send both?

You need to submit all uncancelled passports of all nationalities held by you, both current ones and expired ones that have not been cancelled by the relevant embassy/consulate.