British dual nationals who are EU citizens with post-Brexit settlement status in the UK will not have to use a British passport to return to the UK, the Home Office has said in a significant U-turn on its controversial dual national border rules.

The change, which critics say was “hidden away” on a government web page, comes weeks after controversy erupted over the new rules that came into effect on 25 February. They require British dual nationals to present a British passport or certificate of entitlement, costing £589, before they board a plane to the UK.

Thousands of people have been affected by the rules, including EU citizens with settlement status in the UK who had successfully applied for citizenship but had not yet received British passports. They were effectively locked out of the country, but are now free to return on their EU passport.

An updated Home Office citizenship web page states: “If you got British citizenship after settling in the UK under the EU settlement scheme, you can travel to the UK using a valid: passport of your other nationality; [or] national identity card from the EU, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Switzerland.”

Jelena, a Latvian-British dual national who learned of the rule change on a social media post by the campaign group the3million said she was “absolutely devastated and angry” that the rule change was only being made now.

Last September, she and her British husband had booked a “trip of a lifetime” to South America for the end of March and her plans had already been disrupted at great financial and emotional cost.

A chartered surveyor, she completed her British citizenship test in November and has yet to get a passport, but did not want to miss the trip.

After discussing it with her firm, where she is an associate director, the couple decided to go ahead with the holiday but she would return to Latvia rather than the UK and wait there for up to 24 weeks for her British passport to arrive.

“I was meant to be excited about the upcoming holiday, but instead I had to stress about this and rearrange travel,” she said.

“I have already spent £2,000 on the naturalisation process, and the certificate is an extra £600, and as it stood, after South America I wouldn’t be able to return to my flat which we own in a country I have lived in for nearly 16 years,” she said.

Jelena received an email two days ago saying she no longer needed to show a British passport to enter the UK.

“I don’t really understand how people were meant to know about these changes,” she said, adding she was pleased the Home Office had seen sense but that the experience had left a “bitter aftertaste”.

The3million welcomed the rule change but criticised the Home Office for not communicating it widely. The campaign group was notified of the change in an email on 10 March.

It said the rule change was “hidden away” on a gov.uk site about citizenship but not on the main page detailing the new border rules for dual nationals.

“We are really pleased that this change will help those who faced an effective travel ban following their naturalisation ceremony,” said Monique Hawkins, the head of policy and advocacy. “But it is so disappointing that these changes come without any consultation, and several weeks too late.

“The changes are hidden away on obscure Home Office pages. People are hearing about it from us, rather than from the government.”

Hawkins pointed out the rule change did not apply to British nationals in the EU who had naturalised post-Brexit, or EU citizens in the UK who had naturalised rather than applied for settled status, or people with Windrush independent leave to remain status.

Another woman, Florence, missed out on a trip on 28 February to see her elderly and frail father in France because she had naturalised but was waiting for her passport.

“My husband went without me to France to see the family while I applied for the British passport. The ferry ticket had to be amended and obviously cost more. I stayed here and went to work instead,” Florence said.

“Now, I hear that the government has made a U-turn. Why now? There was plenty of evidence back on the 25th [of February] that people would be stuck,” she said.

The migration minister Mike Tapp called the criticism of the Home Office’s communications “absurd” during an urgent question debate the day after the dual national change was introduced.

The Home Office has been approached for comment.