Citizen application approved- now for the passport!

Hi everyone,

Happy to say my application for citizenship was approved!

I did my biometrics in mid February and received my approval in mid April!

My ceremony is scheduled for May, but was not sure how and when  I apply for the passport. I would like to get it done ASAP so any advice would be great!

Many thanks for all your help on this forum - I could not have done it without all of you!!!!

 

Congratulations .

You can apply for your UK passport once you have attended the ceremony and have received your naturalisation certificate.

It can take up to 10 weeks for processing.

See here for how to apply:
https://www.gov.uk/apply-first-adult-passport


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Thanks Ks and 24!

I am a bit worried as my citizen ceremony is May 20th and I plan to travel to the states on July 28th.

-Would there be enough time to get my passport in time? 10 weeks seem like a long time

-Can I pay extra to expedite this?

-Could I travel to the states without it and have someone send it to me in the states if it does not make it in time?

Many thanks for any feedback- this forum has been so amazingly helpful!!!

 

You will not get your passport in time and as it's your first passport there is no expedited service with this. Also, you must submit your US passport as part of your application and you receive this back AFTER your new British passport. There is also a risk for this delay as my daughter's US passport has still not been returned five weeks after receiving her British passport. So applying is out of the question before your travels.

Many people have managed to get through UK Border Control with their US passport and naturalisation certificate with an explanation that you could not attend a ceremony after your travels and your passport would take too long. Ensure to bring this though as you have no other proof you'll be a citizen as your BRP is returned to the Home Office and is no longer valid.

Hi Ben 1989,

Ok that is concerning - then maybe I will just delay my ceremony a bit longer to July?

I received my notification that my application was approved on April 11. So I guess I have until July 11th? There were other places I wanted to travel in between my trip to the states as well so maybe I will delay.

I wonder if anyone has had luck with traveling with just proof of naturalization?

I will investigate further, but thanks so much for sharing this info!

And best of luck for your daughter and her passport!

Many thanks,

Lori

 

That's your call about delaying. You need to get in touch with the council and see when they offer citizenship appointments as they may only do "last Thursday of the month" type of appointments, for example. Personally, being a bit of a pessimist, I wouldn't take the risk having the latest appointment you can possibly have. You could get ill, car breaks down, train gets cancelled etc. But that's just me and likely just being over the top.

Jimbo travelled to the UK in this situation and my wife will be in three weeks also.

I've entered the UK twice on my US passport since having my citizenship ceremony.  The first time I talked with the border guards before leaving and coming back and explained everything.  They were fine with it and said not to worry.  The second time was coming into Heathrow and I just used the egates.  Just my experience, I don't know enough to give out any real advice on this stuff. 

Thanks for sharing your experience Jimbocz and feedback Ben1989!

I think I will just go ahead with ceremony and delay the passport and try to travel just with my American passport.

I will ask a few other American friends as well and see if I get any further advice.

Many thanks everyone!!

Lori