Settled Status After Naturalisation but before British Passport

[aminkov1991]

I am an EU citizen with settled status in the UK and now a British citizen as well. I have received my naturalisation certificate and sent that away to the HM Passports Office together with my EU passport as requested to apply for a British passport. However, I still haven't received neither my new British passport nor the supporting documents back.

The problem is that I need to travel next week to the EU and I cannot wait for the British passport to arrive before I leave. I can travel there on my EU ID card which I still have so that's fine. The issue is when re-entering the UK. Will there be an issue as I will only have my EU ID with me? I have checked my immigration status online (which is tied to my EU passport that HMPO now have) and it still says that I have the settled status, however, I have read that is revoked once you become a British citizen.

I am thinking I just need to link my settled status to my EU ID card as there is an option to do that. Will this be sufficient or am I likely to have issues at immigration when coming back to the UK?

Thanks!

[alterhase58]

There's no guidance on this so just going by some reports here and elsewhere, it should be ok even if you don't manage to transfer the status to your ID document. Recommend you carry a copy of your certificate and present this at the border when returning to the UK and explain you are British and why you haven't got the passport yet. They may already see you on their system as British. It could take extra time if they carry out extra checks. Note that in law British citizens have an automatic "ride of abode" in the UK and therefore cannot be refused entry.

[kamoe]

I have checked my immigration status online (which is tied to my EU passport that HMPO now have) and it still says that I have the settled status, however, I have read that is revoked once you become a British citizen.

Purely based on facts, if you were able to check your Settled Status online after you became a British citizen, then you proved that what you heard is false.

[aminkov1991]

Thank you both for the answers. I have tied the settled status to my ID now although of course that takes a while to process so I have printed a document with the naturalisation certificate, a settled status share code and a photocopy of my EU passport just in case. Will see what happens on the way back!

[LAD917]

@aminkov1991, did you already travel? And what was your experience like? I'm in the same situation due to passport processing delays and looking to travel in the next couple of weeks. My Settled Status still shows on the online systems, and I've also attempted to upload my ID document (the old-style paper Italian carta d'identita') to the Settled Status system in addition to the passport.

I'm curious if I should expect delays or a lecture at the border, or whether it will all be uneventful. I have two upcoming trips in relatively short succession. If it's going to be a hassle, I may combine the trips into one.