immigration enquiry

[micky1579]

Hi,

I am an Indian citizen and currently on ILR. I have got my British citizenship approved and the ceremony is scheduled for 8th May.

I have to travel to India on 13th June for 3 weeks after which i will come back to UK.

This means that after British citizenship ceremony on 8th May, I will not have sufficient time to get British passport before my planned India travel (5 weeks) as the site states that it will take atleast 6 weeks for British passport.

My query is that even after ceremony, can I travel to India and back to UK on Indian passport and ILR status (as I will not have British passport).

Since India govt allows 3 month grace period so entry into India and exit from India should be fine however the question is more for exit from UK and entry back to UK. Since i will be a British citizen after the ceremony, is it legal to state to UK immigration that I am an Indian citizen with ILR status during exit and entry into UK. if they check in their system, won't they find that I am no more on ILR and have become British citizen and without a British passport. If they find it, will showing them the naturalisation letter (ceremony certificate) help me in getting entry into UK.

I will appreciate if I can get the response by 7th May EOD as I have the ceremony on 8th May and based on the response i may defer the ceremony and prepone my India travel.

Thanks,
Puneet

[milan69]

I have traveled few times, once just as my application was approved and the other time just after I attended citizenship ceremony. Both times I traveled on my old passport and ILR (the second time I had my certificate with me) and I still have no British passport.

[micky1579]

Thanks milan69 for sharing this information. Just want to confirm if this is legal or it was by chance that UK immigration officers are not able to catch this scenario due to some flaw in system. As what is confusing me is that after ceremony, a person is officially a British citizen so how can he quote his nationality as Indian in immigration form and continue presenting him as Indian national in front of UK immigration officers.

Does any one in this forum has had a different experience in this scenario. I can take a calculated risk but don't want to end up in an unwanted scenario of facing issues at UK immigration.

Thanks for your support with this query.

[micky1579]

Hi,

Please can someone reply to this post as my citizenship ceremony is on 8th May and i have to decide tomorrow if i have to go ahead with that or postpone it.

Thanks.

[milan69]

Maybe this could help:
http://www.immigrationboards.com/britis ... l#p1020629

[micky1579]

Thanks Milan69 for reassuring me. I have sent an email to UKBA as well explaining my condition. Hopefully i will get some response from them tomorrow. But thanks a lot for your response. I am now feeling more confident in going ahead to travel with current circumstances.