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Hi all,

My wife's citizenship ceremony is on Tuesday but we travel to the states on 8th Feb, so less than 2 weeks after.

She won't have time to get her first British passport and just found out about having to send her BRP card back within 5 days. I doubt the right to abode certificate would be here on time (and it's a shocking price!)

Does anyone have any advise on what we can do? Can you delay sending the BRP card back if you inform them?

You definitely need to send the BRP back after 5 days; as far as I am aware there are no exceptions to this new rule. What passport does she have? Does it allow the 90 visa-free days in the UK? If so, she could come back on it and just show her naturalisation certificate to the border officer. However, if it's a passport that requires a visa it's probably best to postpone either the ceremony (within the possible limits) or to postpone travel as the airline will not let her board the plane without a valid visa (for them the naturalisation certificate is just a piece of paper and they don't consider it).

£1,000 fine for not returning the BRP within 5 days. In any event, the BRP is invalid immediately after the citizenship ceremony.

I'm confused as to how they can enforce this new rule. If I hadn't been a member of this forum there is no way I would ever have known about this rule as we applied back in October.

NMck wrote:I'm confused as to how they can enforce this new rule. If I hadn't been a member of this forum there is no way I would ever have known about this rule as we applied back in October.

Its true that they've introduced it without much publicity. I applied in November and wasn't aware of it until I saw a post on this forum, so can understand how you feel. They do appear to be notifying newly naturalised applicants at the ceremony - which is what happened in my case.

The best option for your wife would be to postpone her citizenship ceremony, unless her travel can be delayed until she receives her new passport.

cs95tdg wrote:

NMck wrote:I'm confused as to how they can enforce this new rule. If I hadn't been a member of this forum there is no way I would ever have known about this rule as we applied back in October.

Its true that they've introduced it without much publicity. I applied in November and wasn't aware of it until I saw a post on this forum, so can understand how you feel. They do appear to be notifying newly naturalised applicants at the ceremony - which is what happened in my case.

The best option for your wife would be to postpone her citizenship ceremony, unless her travel can be delayed until she receives her new passport.

Thank you for the advice. We will call tomorrow and ask about changing the date of the ceremony.