New UK citizenship - traveling without UK passport?

[Kote]

This may be a long shot but I'm wondering if anyone has experience of this. For context myself and DH are temporarily living in the US for his work.

My DH has recently applied for UK citizenship and has been approved (this all happened before our move). He is travelling back for the ceremony next week where his citizenship will be confirmed. He is not able to stay in the UK long enough to get a UK passport due to work (especially as he would have to send his foreign passport to the passport office as part of the application). When we do move back to the UK he will be travelling on his non-UK passport despite being a dual citizen by that point.

My question is whether there would be an issue entering the UK as a (dual) citizen with a foreign passport? Is it necessary to have a UK passport upon return?

Any advice/experience would be appreciated!

[HoldMyLobster]

You can be British but travel in and out of the UK on a non-UK passport.

[SimonJT]

You can travel in on a Non-British passport, it can however cause delays entering the country, but that depends on the passport.

I didn’t have a passport at first as I needed to travel, I had my usual problems re-entering the UK as I was travelling on my Pakistani passport.

[Kote]

@SimonJT Thanks for your reply, that's helpful to know as I read on other websites people said you shouldn't do it (though those were on threads from years ago). DH is Eastern European so there is a bit of a concern following Brexit.

How long was it between your gaining citizenship and your travel/re-entry if you don't mind me asking?

[SimonJT]

I was having to travel quite a bit for work, so probably around 5/6 times.

[RedCatBlueCat]

Once you are back in the US, would your husband be able to apply for his UK passport from abroad? I know we could renew our UK passports from abroad. And I know newborn babies could get their first passport that way, so I suspect it would be ok.
In pre covid times it was very efficient - fill in form online, print, and the DHL passport plus photos plus form to UK. We had to pay an additional fee, and they couriered them back to us. Took less than a week one time.

[Kote]

@RedCatBlueCat yes this would be an option. I just wanted to see whether anyone has travelled without doing so.

That's amazing it took less than a week. I suspect a first passport might be a bit longer but it's good to know they can do things quickly. We were just a bit concerned about sending his foreign passport to the UK from here in case it got lost or he needed it for something during that time. It's good to know they will courier it back. Thanks for sharing 😊

[CharlesBakerHarris]

I once packed my UK passport in my checked luggage so had to enter on my US one. Apparently because I wasn’t a UK resident at the time that was fine, but if I had been it would have been more of an issue.