UX issue with new email verification link
The only way I found to accomplish this was with a custom controller that essentially overrode actionVerifyEmail and _processTokenRequest from UsersController. (With a hook into email.onBeforeSendEmail to rewrite the verification {{link}} to use the custom controller action). It's fragile, but it works.

I've created a feature request to smooth out this experience:
https://github.com/craftcms/cms/issues/1228