Flying to the UK without a British passport via Ireland

Hello, I'm a dual Italian/US citizen. My British citizenship application (based on EUSS) was successful and I've a scheduled ceremony in July.

I will be attending a wedding in the USA end of August and will need to travel. Can someone please advise if it's a viable plan to:
- attend the citizenship ceremony in July, as scheduled
- travel back to the UK with a flight from USA to Dublin, change planes to a flight to London
- apply for a British passport when I will not have any travel plans for a few weeks

My understanding is that as I will clear CTA immigration control in Ireland, using an Italian passport won't pose an issue. As long as the USA isn't on the UK red list, nothing in my mind could go wrong in regards to entering the UK - am I correct?

Of course, I can delay the citizenship ceremony until after any travels but frankly, dealing with my council has been a nightmare and I just want to have it over with. The only disadvantage of this plan is I need to comply with Irish travel restrictions, in addition to those in the UK and what to put down on the UK passenger locator form.

As an aside, is it correct that the passport application reference can't live with the applicant, whilst there is no such requirement for the naturalisation application? I found that very strange.

Any help is appreciated.

No direct experience of what you are describing, however, it would appear from postings on various forums that the Settled Status record is not cleared immediately you become a British citizen so it may be a possibility that your Settled Status may still be flagged against your current passport. You may also consider carrying your naturalisation certificate and present with your passport. Note that the certificate is not a travel document and can't be used to board flights from abroad to the UK. Be prepared for extra waiting time whilst your status is being checked.

Ideally you want to apply for a British passport ASAP but July/August are likely to be very busy at HMPO who already quote a processing time of up to 10 weeks.

oozadam wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 21, 2021 8:59 pm

My understanding is that as I will clear CTA immigration control in Ireland, using an Italian passport won't pose an issue. As long as the USA isn't on the UK red list, nothing in my mind could go wrong in regards to entering the UK - am I correct?

Note the CTA is only applicable to Irish and British citizens - if you don't have either passport you will still be going through immigration control in London.

alterhase58 wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 21, 2021 10:05 pm

oozadam wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 21, 2021 8:59 pm

My understanding is that as I will clear CTA immigration control in Ireland, using an Italian passport won't pose an issue. As long as the USA isn't on the UK red list, nothing in my mind could go wrong in regards to entering the UK - am I correct?

Note the CTA is only applicable to Irish and British citizens - if you don't have either passport you will still be going through immigration control in London.

I haven't transferred USA-UK via Dublin for 5+ years now but I flew from Dublin to Britain many times. Always went through domestic arrivals, just like landing from Scotland so I wonder how I got that wrong.

Not sure what is the best way to proceed now. I'm hesitant to just fly to the UK with an Italian passport as a naturalised citizen, even through from what I've read you can get away with it.

oozadam wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 22, 2021 7:42 am

alterhase58 wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 21, 2021 10:05 pm

oozadam wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 21, 2021 8:59 pm

My understanding is that as I will clear CTA immigration control in Ireland, using an Italian passport won't pose an issue. As long as the USA isn't on the UK red list, nothing in my mind could go wrong in regards to entering the UK - am I correct?

Note the CTA is only applicable to Irish and British citizens - if you don't have either passport you will still be going through immigration control in London.

I haven't transferred USA-UK via Dublin for 5+ years now but I flew from Dublin to Britain many times. Always went through domestic arrivals, just like landing from Scotland so I wonder how I got that wrong.

Not sure what is the best way to proceed now. I'm hesitant to just fly to the UK with an Italian passport as a naturalised citizen, even through from what I've read you can get away with it.

Whilst the rights included in the CTA do apply only to UK and Irish nationals there are no passport controls in the UK when you land from Ireland, all flights coming from Ireland are treated as domestic flights. So there's no immigration to clear when you land.

Thanks for the clarification on CTA - I flew twice during the last 10 years LHR>Dublin & return and had my EU passport checked on LHR arrival.

alterhase58 wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 22, 2021 9:22 am

Thanks for the clarification on CTA - I flew twice during the last 10 years LHR>Dublin & return and had my EU passport checked on LHR arrival.

Probably an exception - no immigration controls when you land in the North West and North East, and looks like none in Scotland which is in line with the CTA provisions.

dexmo wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 22, 2021 11:29 am

alterhase58 wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 22, 2021 9:22 am

Thanks for the clarification on CTA - I flew twice during the last 10 years LHR>Dublin & return and had my EU passport checked on LHR arrival.

Probably an exception - no immigration controls when you land in the North West and North East, and looks like none in Scotland which is in line with the CTA provisions.

Thinking about it again, even if there are checks on landing in England, it would surely be fine to just present a UK drivers license and if asked, my naturalisation certificate? Those are 100% valid on arrival from Ireland based on my understanding and I'll have the Italian passport if they insist.

The question then becomes what to put down on the PLF (passport/nationality, not trying to avoid Day 2/8 testing of course), but I think that's really minor.

Out of curiosity, what issues can cause if an EU/British dual citizen enters the UK using their EU passport? As EU/EEA/Swiss citizens can still visit the UK without a visa and stay for a short period of time, they most probably wouldn't be asked about the reason for entering the country (especially as it seems the eGates can still be used). Would it be only an issue if for some reason they are actually asked by the border force to declare why they are coming to the UK (obviously you don't want to tell them that you are just a tourist if you live here)?

Vhaelan wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 26, 2021 10:59 am

Out of curiosity, what issues can cause if an EU/British dual citizen enters the UK using their EU passport? As EU/EEA/Swiss citizens can still visit the UK without a visa and stay for a short period of time, they most probably wouldn't be asked about the reason for entering the country (especially as it seems the eGates can still be used). Would it be only an issue if for some reason they are actually asked by the border force to declare why they are coming to the UK (obviously you don't want to tell them that you are just a tourist if you live here)?

I'm a rule follower and it's not a big deal for me to route via Ireland as there are multiple flights with Aer Lingus. I just wanted to check if what I'm doing makes any sense.

I don't think using the e-Gates would be a good idea in case I'm given 6 months visa in the system? These days I've no certainty I will leave the UK again within that time and don't want to have any problems down the line. Although as some say my settled status shouldn't just disappear immediately but who knows.