Travelling after UK Citizenship / no time to apply for passport

Hi everyone,

Long time member here who has valued the advice to no end over the years. I can very excitedly say after 10 years of various visa applications and many headaches - I have had my citizenship application approved!!

Of course it's not without a hiccup though..

My husband and I booked a holiday leaving on the 8th of May before I even made my citizenship application. I made my application in November assuming I would not hear back until April or May - would attend my ceremony after we were back from the holiday and all would be grand.
Unfortunately (?)  the home office have been too quick! I need to attend my ceremony by the 30th of April and the only group ceremony date my local authority seem to have available is the 28th of April - obviously not enough time to then submit an application for a first UK passport.

Is it possible to travel without the UK passport after I've attended my citizenship ceremony?

If that's not on the cards at all, the only potential option I could see is possibly paying for a private ceremony with my local authority (although I don't know what the date availability for these would be as of this moment) and hoping it leaves me enough time to apply for my passport.

Any experience, tips or advice?

TIA

Is it possible to travel without the UK passport after I've attended my citizenship ceremony?

You can travel out of the UK on your US passport, but how will you board a plane to the UK without a British Citizen passport? ILR is gone when you become a British Citizen. You can't have an ETA as British citizens can't have these.

"Stricter enforcement from 25 February 2026

The Home Office has been advising British dual nationals to travel on a British passport or with a certificate of entitlement for many months. But in practice it hasn’t been strictly enforcing the ETA requirement for non-visa nationals, to allow people time to adjust. Those transitional arrangements will end next month.

From 25 February 2026, the Home Office will be fully applying the ETA requirement. The Home Office is advising British dual citizens to make sure they have a valid UK or Irish passport or certificate of entitlement if they will be travelling on or after that date. If they don’t, they may not be able to board their transport to the UK."
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10344/


"British and Irish citizens, including dual citizens, are exempt from needing an ETA. The UK government strongly advises dual British citizens to make sure they have a valid British passport or certificate of entitlement, to avoid problems like being denied boarding when travelling to the UK from 25 February 2026."
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/no-permission-no-travel-uk-set-to-enforce-eta-scheme