Needing to travel but before UK passport issued

[ASK]

This is the situation: I am scheduled to attend the citizenship ceremony next Monday (14 Nov). I have made a joint passport/ naturialisation application back in July. I need to send back my residence permit card within 5 days of the ceremony (i.e. by 18/19 November). However, I have a business trip scheduled for 5 December. So, I have a couple of questions:

1.) is there enough time to get a UK passport till 5 December (based on the experiences of people to date)?
2.) In case of not receiving UK passport till then, is there a way of being able to come back into the UK?

I would appreciate feedback from anyone who has had experiences in view of the situation outlined above. Many thanks!

[ohara]

1.) is there enough time to get a UK passport till 5 December (based on the experiences of people to date)?

If you did JCAP and your ceremony is on the 14th November, you should certainly get your passport in time. I did not use JCAP, I had my ceremony on the 16th June, applied for passport immediately and had it in my hand by the 30th June. That was in the middle of summer, the busiest time of year for passport applications, and I had to attend an interview!

2.) In case of not receiving UK passport till then, is there a way of being able to come back into the UK?

Which other country passport(s) do you have? If you have a nationality that can enter the UK visa free as a visitor, you could use that passport to board the plane and then present yourself as a British citizen at the UK border with your naturalisation certificate. You may have a minor interrogation but eventually you'll be admitted.

[ASK]

Many thanks indeed.

I hope the passport comes through!

I would need a visa otherwise to get into the UK - hence the slight difficulty in coming back in without the residence card!

[ohara]

A more extreme option could be travelling out on your current passport, asking someone to collect your mail and then posting your passport to you. A friend of mine did this once, and it was a bit hairy as it took 4 days to reach us in Sweden, but thankfully it arrived on the day we were due to leave

[ASK]

Ah, I am only going for two days - otherwise would have done that! In fact, I've done it twice with the BRP card - had the agent send it to Copenhagen and Argentina respectively. Both times it worked perfectly.

I'll just have to sit tight and hope all works out for the best before the trip. It is rather strange that they have not put into place some sort of measure in case of an emergency.