travel without UK passport

[jinny2337]

Dear Members,

I am planning to travel abroad after my naturalisation and ceremony but I can't wait to apply for UK passport because of urgency. I wonder if I can travel and come back with the passport from my native contury instead of UK one?

I am thinking to apply UK passport after coming back from abroad. do you think it is no problem?

Many thanks

Gean

[CR001]

Yes you can. Use foreign passport and ILR BRP and carry your naturalisation certificate with you. My daughter has done this many times and not had any problems re-entering the UK.

[jinny2337]

thanks for the prompt reply, CR001.

I have an other question.
Would it be a problem if I stay abroad more than 2 years without UK passport but holding ILR and UK naturalisation certification? I am living in the UK but I may have to stay aborad 1 or 2 years for my old parents.

appreciate any help.

Regards
Gean

[CR001]

You can stay abroad as you will be British, but doubt you would be able to use ILR BRP after two years.

You can apply for your British passport if you are abroad, it just takes a bit longer, but would be better if you are going to be away for a long period.

[maxdemon76]

Just as a heads up to the community about traveling on your non-UK passport:

I traveled to Barcelona immediately after getting my citizenship at the end of May. When I returned, I had no problem using my BRP and my passport to enter the country as I normally had before getting citizenship.

I just returned to the UK two days ago through Heathrow. When they used my BRP and asked for my fingerprint scan, nothing came up. Apparently things have changed, and they are not allowed to store British citizens fingerprints in the system anymore. Since I wasn't traveling with my naturalization certificate, I had to stand around and wait until they verified my citizenship. It only took a few minutes, but it did extend things a bit when entering the country.

So, I wouldn't recommend anyone traveling with their BRP after getting citizenship. The woman at immigration asked me if I had my certificate with me, and I said I didn't, as they didn't tell me when I received it that I would need it for travel. My suggestion is to definitely take your certificate with you as they will eventually delete your fingerprints from the system which basically invalidates your BRP for entering the country.

Luckily, my scheduled trips are now complete, so I sent off for my British passport yesterday. That should solve this problem for me in the future.

[vivdubes]

Thanks for the information this would really help for people who wants to travel urgently after their citizenship.