UK Passport Application - After Naturalisation

My wife is now a UK Citizen and has her Naturalisation Certificate.

She has paid for her UK Passport application online and has had her reference requirements completed.

She has now been told that she will need to send her US Passport in the post (along with other documents), to progress her application.

We will be leaving the UK for a 3 week holiday in around 6 weeks.

We are nervous to send her passport and not get it back before we go away. Does anyone have any advice?

She has to send her US passport.

Current passport applications are taking around 2 to 3 weeks.

Would she be allowed to send off the documents when we return in January, but leave / re-enter the UK on her US Passport?

There is likely a deadline to send documents before an application is voided. New referee would also be required.

If you knew you had travel plans, she should have waited to apply for a British passport.

In saying that, there is sufficient time to receive a British passport and her US passport back. It is NOT taking many many weeks at the moment.

Read the timelines yourself to see the short duration it is currently taking.

https://www.immigrationboards.com/briti ... -9650.html

Thanks. We will send out the documents tomorrow.

It says that we need to provide the ‘passport used to enter the UK’.

Is this the original passport used to enter the UK to reside permanently? Or just the most recent passport.

My wife has an old passport in her maiden name which she used to originally enter into the UK on a student visa over 8 years ago. Do we provide that along with her current passport?

Yes, provide it.

CR001 wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 31, 2024 8:41 pm

There is likely a deadline to send documents before an application is voided. New referee would also be required.

https://www.immigrationboards.com/briti ... -9650.html

I have just got off the phone with the passport advice line. Apparently applications are voided within 80-90 days after payment is made if no documents have been received.

We will be back in the UK after our trip within 80 days of making payment, so this may be the safer option to avoid missing our flights etc.

Is my wife allowed to leave / enter the UK on her US passport but use her Naturalisation Certificate as proof if questioned regarding her Immigration status?

She still can use her US passport to exit an re-enter the UK. For piece of mind, she can take a scanned copy of the naturalisation certificate. It's always advisable to avoid carrying the original certificate, it's not a travel document and not a requirement to show it.

I'm not sure how she applied for the first British passport without noticing that submitting the current passport is one of the main requirements. The same form advises to avoid booking any travel "until you receive your new (British) passport".

As advised above, she still has time to get her first British passport before the trip, the process is very quick, but I guess it's a personal decision.

Brining a scan of the naturalisation certificate would be of little to no use I am afraid, a border official would not accept a scan. If you decide not to send in the passport and travel anyway bring the original of the certificate and look after it carefully. Most likely won't be asked for it as US is a visa free nation and your wife can probably use the eGates to re enter the UK.

Thanks all.

We decided to send the documents off this morning anyway.

As some of you have said, there should be enough time.

I will keep this forum updated.

Slightly off topic, but do BRP cards still need to be returned upon obtaining British Citizenship?

The guidance on this hasn't changed.
However, personally I would hold onto BRPs, as they expire at the end of the year anyway.
And who knows whether/why you might need it.
The "threat" of a fine I would discount, we still haven't seen a substantiated report that someone has actually been fined.

Robstin2014 wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 03, 2024 10:29 pm

Slightly off topic, but do BRP cards still need to be returned upon obtaining British Citizenship?

The approval email from the Home Office says that any BRP card should be returned after receiving the certificate of British citizenship, it will no longer be valid. The card expiry date is irrelevant.

For the benefit of anyone else in the forum who may be in a similar situation; from the date of posting our original documents to HMPO, to receiving my wife's first British Passport, the process took 8 days. Extremely quick.

Thanks to everyone who encouraged us to apply for her passport before our trip!