British dual nationals who are also EU citizens and hold post-Brexit settled status will no longer be required to use a British passport to re-enter the UK, after the Home Office quietly revised its guidance in a move likely to ease concern among thousands affected by the policy.
The change marks a notable retreat from border rules introduced on 25 February, under which British dual nationals were told they needed either a British passport or a certificate of entitlement — priced at £589 — before being allowed to board a flight to the UK.
The policy had caused particular difficulty for EU nationals living in Britain who secured citizenship after obtaining status under the EU settlement scheme but had not yet received a British passport. Many found themselves in limbo, having become British citizens but lacking the documentation newly required for their return. Under the updated guidance, those individuals may now travel back to the UK using a valid passport from their other nationality or, in some cases, a national identity card issued by an EU country, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Switzerland.
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The revised wording appears on an updated Home Office citizenship page, which states that people who acquired British citizenship after settling in the UK through the EU settlement scheme may use either a valid non-British passport or an eligible European identity card to travel to the UK. For some, the adjustment has come only after weeks of disruption. Jelena, a dual Latvian-British national, said she had already altered long-standing travel plans because she believed she would be unable to return home to Britain without first receiving a British passport.
She and her husband had arranged what she described as a once-in-a-lifetime trip to South America, booked in September for the end of March. Having passed her citizenship test in November but still awaiting her passport, she said the couple had concluded she would need to return to Latvia after the holiday and remain there for as long as 24 weeks while her British passport application was processed.
Jelena, a chartered surveyor and associate director at her firm, said the situation had caused both financial strain and emotional upset. She said she had already spent around £2,000 on the naturalisation process and faced an additional cost of roughly £600 for a certificate, while also confronting the prospect of being unable to return to the flat she owns in the UK, where she has lived for nearly 16 years.
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She said she received an email two days ago confirming that she would no longer need to present a British passport in order to enter the UK. While welcoming the reversal, she said it was unclear how affected travellers were supposed to discover the change and described the episode as leaving a bitter aftertaste.
Campaign group the3million also welcomed the updated position, but accused the Home Office of failing to communicate it properly. The organisation said it had been informed of the change by email on 10 March and argued that the revised guidance had been placed on a little-known citizenship webpage rather than on the main page setting out the border requirements for dual nationals.
Monique Hawkins, the group’s head of policy and advocacy, said the decision would bring relief to those effectively prevented from travelling after their naturalisation ceremony, but criticised both the lack of consultation and the delay in making the change. She also said many people were hearing about the development from campaigners rather than directly from government.
The group noted that the revised approach does not cover all categories of affected travellers. According to Hawkins, it does not apply to British nationals living in the EU who naturalised after Brexit, nor to EU citizens in Britain who became British before the EU settlement scheme existed, or to people with Windrush independent leave to remain.
Another dual national, Florence, said she missed a trip to France on 28 February to visit her elderly and unwell father because she had naturalised but was still waiting for her British passport. She said her husband travelled without her, while she remained in the UK, went to work, and paid extra to amend the ferry booking. The controversy had already reached Westminster. During an urgent question in the Commons the day after the dual national rules took effect, migration minister Mike Tapp dismissed criticism of the Home Office’s communication as “absurd”.
Asked about the latest change, the Home Office did not set out why the guidance had been updated. A spokesperson said the rules requiring dual nationals to prove their right to enter the UK had been made public in October 2024 and had not changed since.
