1st British passport

[saleemyaseen]

I was on tier 2 work visa and got my ILR last year in 2021. 

This year, I am planning to apply for naturalisation. The process is once I receive the approval email of naturalisation, I'll then need to book the ceremony with council and eventually get the certificate. After receiving the certificate, I will need to return my ILR card and apply for 1st british passport which takes around 10 weeks.

My question or the advice I want is - can the first british passport be applied from outside UK?.

And if yes then what is the procedure and anything that I should be worried about?

Once I receive naturalisation certificate then I understand that I can travel out of UK on my pakistani passport but cannot come back into UK as after naturalisation my ILR would be invalid.

TIA

[WyrmKin]

Yes, you can apply for the passport from outside of the UK, just use the online application form here (https://www.gov.uk/apply-renew-passport)

I have just started my application and had to:

- Pay the application fee + courier fee (coming to a total of around 100 Pounds)

- Fill in the online application

- Get someone to electronically confirm my identity (they get emailed and have to confirm the picture you use during the application is of you, how they know you etc)

- Send in my documents (in my case it was my registration certificate, Copy of my Identification, proof of address, copies of every page of my South African passport)

After that it is just waiting for the application to be processed.

[CR001]

Yes, you can apply for the passport from outside of the UK, just use the online application form here (https://www.gov.uk/apply-renew-passport)

I have just started my application and had to:

- Pay the application fee + courier fee (coming to a total of around 100 Pounds)

- Fill in the online application

- Get someone to electronically confirm my identity (they get emailed and have to confirm the picture you use during the application is of you, how they know you etc)

- Send in my documents (in my case it was my registration certificate, Copy of my Identification, proof of address, copies of every page of my South African passport)

After that it is just waiting for the application to be processed.

Your route to citizenship is different to the poster in this topic.

There have been at least 2/3 users on the forum who naturalised as British and applied for a passport abroad and ended up being investigated and lost the British citizenship for failing the future intentions requirement they declared in the form when naturalising, which doesn't apply to your ukf route.

Please be careful in advising that something applies equally to all. It does not always.

[secret.simon]

My question or the advice I want is - can the first british passport be applied from outside UK?.

I would advise against it.

As CR001 has advised above, there have been two cases reported on these forums where people who had naturalised in the UK but who then applied for their first British passport from abroad had their naturalisation application reexamined, for potentially having not been honest about the "future intentions" requirement.

@WyrmKin seems to have registered as a British citizen under Form UKF, a route that does not have the "future intentions" requirement. Most people who have naturalised as British citizens do. So I would be cautious about applying for your first British passport from abroad.