Naturalisation and Passport Pilot Scheme

The joint citizenship and passport applicants seem to be getting their approvals very quickly.

fielddrive wrote:The joint citizenship and passport applicants seem to be getting their approvals very quickly.

Yes, they do appear be, based on the latest timeline updates on the forum. The first one in the November timeline appears to have only taken a month from the time biometrics were submitted. Will be interesting to see what the norm is once more approvals come through.

From the timelines in other threads it appears that applications for joint passport and naturalisation are getting processed more quickly than the stand alone naturalisation applications. If that's the case it seems a bit unfair that the service is only available in certain local authorities. I applied for naturalisation in early December and they haven't even taken the money from my account yet, while others who applied a couple of weeks after me, but for a passport as well, have already been through biometrics.

It's all self made superstition that naturalization & passport application together make the process more quickly because ukba, council where ceremony takes and passport office all three are different entities although they are interconnected. Even I will not suggest new pilot scheme because it process involves several errors and staff unfamiliarity about this new scheme.

cs95tdg wrote:

fielddrive wrote:The joint citizenship and passport applicants seem to be getting their approvals very quickly.

Yes, they do appear be, based on the latest timeline updates on the forum. The first one in the November timeline appears to have only taken a month from the time biometrics were submitted. Will be interesting to see what the norm is once more approvals come through.

It's all self made superstition that naturalization & passport application together make the process more quickly because ukba, council where ceremony takes and passport office all three are different entities although they are interconnected. Even I will not suggest new pilot scheme because it process involves several errors and staff unfamiliarity about this new scheme

seagul wrote:It's all self made superstition that naturalization & passport application together make the process more quickly because ukba, council where ceremony takes and passport office all three are different entities although they are interconnected. Even I will not suggest new pilot scheme because it process involves several errors and staff unfamiliarity about this new scheme.

I'm not sure about the overall processing time, but if you look at the December processing times thread it's very clear that people who apply for both naturalisation and passport together are progressing through the initial stages more quickly.

seagul wrote: It's all self made superstition that naturalization & passport application together make the process more quickly because ukba, council where ceremony takes and passport office all three are different entities although they are interconnected. Even I will not suggest new pilot scheme because it process involves several errors and staff unfamiliarity about this new scheme

I don't understand what you mean but I believe we are just observing a trend. No one is suggesting that joint applications are guaranteed to get approval sooner or later than regular ones. It comes down to personal choice and personally I would have chosen this scheme for its convenience even if it took a little longer.

Perhaps your choice of words is wrong and you want to mean something else?

fielddrive wrote:

seagul wrote: It's all self made superstition that naturalization & passport application together make the process more quickly because ukba, council where ceremony takes and passport office all three are different entities although they are interconnected. Even I will not suggest new pilot scheme because it process involves several errors and staff unfamiliarity about this new scheme

Perhaps your choice of words is wrong and you want to mean something else?

No mate its you taking it wrong and I pray that your desire may fulfill. What I mean that if we see the trend then a lot applicants without pilot scheme got success more rapidly almost 2 Months - 2.5 months. It's just depend on each caseworker and its load of work and it's own efficiency. I am not discouraging you or intervenening your desire rather just telling you that it's superstition based on short term trend which is absolutely variable.

I agree that it's certainly too short a time to get a realistic view of whether the overall pilot scheme process is more efficient than the standard NCS process. As fielddrive too has mentioned I too was just making a cursory observation based on the timelines so far. I do realise that there are those who applied using the normal NCS service and had there applications processed quickly as well. Given that not many would have used the pilot scheme (as its not widely available), and that not everyone would have the same immigration history it would anyway be impossible to compare. The initiate steps up until receiving the biometric letter, do appear consistently quicker, if you look at the September, October, November & December timeline threads.

It's a just a general sense from seeing/reading the timelines & experiences on this forum. I too only chose the pilot scheme as I felt it was more convenient for me personally, and not because I thought it would be any quicker.

anniecc wrote:

seagul wrote:It's all self made superstition that naturalization & passport application together make the process more quickly because ukba, council where ceremony takes and passport office all three are different entities although they are interconnected. Even I will not suggest new pilot scheme because it process involves several errors and staff unfamiliarity about this new scheme.

I'm not sure about the overall processing time, but if you look at the December processing times thread it's very clear that people who apply for both naturalisation and passport together are progressing through the initial stages more quickly.

I am not sure if this will be of any consolation. but I see your point. As am one of the first few who applied in the first week of Dec. I applied for both Nat and Passpt through NCS- Cheltenham (Gloucestershire) on the 2/12, on the 4/12 money for Naturalisation was taken, then I did my Biometrics on the 6th or 9th/12 and passpt money was taken out my account on the 8/12.
So am now just waiting for the outcome, coz everything has been done!

Hello
My husband applied Oct 23rd through this new scheme and got his approval on the 18th Dec. We only received the letter when we got back from holiday on 1st Jan. Today he did a private ceremony and was told his passport will follow automatically within 4 weeks. Will let you know if this is indeed the case.

Just an information from pilot scheme users that whether the original foreign passport the NCS staff send with naturalization & passport application or just photocopy??

seagul wrote:Just an information from pilot scheme users that whether the original foreign passport the NCS staff send with naturalization & passport application or just photocopy??

All original supporting documents (other than the LITUK Test result sheet) including passport & BRP are returned to you, same as if you were using the NCS service alone. They send certified copies (to the Home office) with your application form(s).

cs95tdg wrote:

seagul wrote:Just an information from pilot scheme users that whether the original foreign passport the NCS staff send with naturalization & passport application or just photocopy??

All original supporting documents (other than the LITUK Test result sheet) including passport & BRP are returned to you, same as if you were using the NCS service alone. They send certified copies (to the Home office) with your application form(s).

Thanks for your reply. Does it also means that by this pilot scheme the applicant even not need to send original foreign passport to passport office to get British passport which normally need to send if applying later after naturalization ceremony through post office click n send service??

seagul wrote: Does it also means that by this pilot scheme the applicant even not need to send original foreign passport to passport office to get British passport which normally need to send if applying later after naturalization ceremony through post office click n send service??

Yes, that's correct. Unless the passport office request it at a later stage for verification (if they have any questions), what I've been advised by the council is that the originals are not required. I've not seen any pilot scheme applicants who've received their passport yet, so would be best to see what happens in practice. I should find out towards the end of this month once I attend the ceremony, and will post what happens then.

legend786 wrote:Hi guys,
C
Here is latest on my passport app,

Spoke with lady (Passport advisor) directly after the guy over the phone directed me to her and she claimed she was my personal passport advisor, anyway I asked her about my application's progress, she replied as "I have applied through pilot scheme that's why I no need to attend interview, passport will come in post directly as soon as they finish examining my application" so that's how it is, at least they recognising it but let's see how it goes then i'll update accordingly

Hyde

I've seen a few pilot scheme approvals on his forum since your initial post (including mine), but I think you may be the only one who has already attended the ceremony - so would be in the position to receive your passport. Was just wondering whether you've either already received your passport or whether you've heard anything else from the passport office since your last update above.

cs95tdg wrote:

legend786 wrote:Hi guys,
C
Here is latest on my passport app,

Spoke with lady (Passport advisor) directly after the guy over the phone directed me to her and she claimed she was my personal passport advisor, anyway I asked her about my application's progress, she replied as "I have applied through pilot scheme that's why I no need to attend interview, passport will come in post directly as soon as they finish examining my application" so that's how it is, at least they recognising it but let's see how it goes then i'll update accordingly

Hyde

I've seen a few pilot scheme approvals on his forum since your initial post (including mine), but I think you may be the only one who has already attended the ceremony - so would be in the position to receive your passport. Was just wondering whether you've either already received your passport or whether you've heard anything else from the passport office since your last update above.

Hi Guys,

Spoke with lady on friday as she advised my passport has been sent for printing and should be with me in coming week so finger crossed. More importantly here i had to send my other nationality passport
with naturalized certificate for verification purposes plus £3 postal order in order to get these documents back in secure delivery by royal mail because british passport will be delivered by DX courier. If everybody remembers when applying your british passport at later stage once citizenship is approved then post office do offer check & send service which allows PO to send your other nationality documents in secure delivery but in my case and as well as regarding others cases, at the point of applying citizenship, paid passport fee but didn't pay any extra for secure delivery to get documents back otherwise it'll be sent in 2nd class post by royal mail and chances are, to lose documents in post so be careful at this stage of you case

Hyde

legend786 wrote:More importantly here i had to send my other nationality passport
with naturalized certificate for verification purposes plus £3 postal order in order to get these documents back in secure delivery by royal mail because british passport will be delivered by DX courier. If everybody remembers when applying your british passport at later stage once citizenship is approved then post office do offer check & send service which allows PO to send your other nationality documents in secure delivery but in my case and as well as regarding others cases, at the point of applying citizenship, paid passport fee but didn't pay any extra for secure delivery to get documents back otherwise it'll be sent in 2nd class post by royal mail and chances are, to lose documents in post so be careful at this stage of you case.

Thanks for sharing that. It appears that in this particular instance, the only advantage of using the pilot scheme is that you didn't have to attend an interview (& possibly a slightly quicker AN application processing time based on current timelines). From a cost perspective you had to pay the £10 fee to the NCS for checking the passport application and sending it off. But now on top of that you've had to incur an additional cost & slight inconvenience to send the supporting documents separately - this would have ordinarily be covered as part of the normal fee if the standard post office check and send service had been used. It's like a two step passport application process, that you've had to go through.

As for the fee for returning the supporting documents, I remember asking the NCS advisor whether I would need to select the additional payment option for this on the form, but she said that as no original documents would need to be sent, there would be no supporting documents to return - hence I was advised to leave the option unchecked.

Will watch this space to see how other pilot scheme applicants fare, over the next couple of weeks. I'm hoping the process is streamlined (with certified copies of documents being passed from the home office to the passport office directly) over the coming weeks/months, so that the passport is directly sent after the ceremony, rather than having to send supporting documents again.

Congratulations cs95tdg for a super quick approval. It is unforunate to note legend786's experience of having to send the docs again and I sure hope that it gets streamlined so that there is no need for us sending docs. I was actually under the impression that HO will have a separate office producing passports for such applicants as ourselves, but doesn't look like it.

Please keep us posted of updates.

Thanks. I hope so too, as I'd rather not have to send supporting documents out in the post. I've just seen another pilot scheme applicant who has attended their ceremony last week, who was told that the passport will be sent directly within the next 4 weeks. Lets see what happens.

I've also attempted to track my passport application through the HMPO website to see if it's in the system. No response yet, but suspect that's because it's the weekend.

I think passport office will ask original foreign passport even from pilot scheme users as in other thread one member confirm that.

Apparently my council has received my citizenship certificate so looks like an approval is on its way. I am banking on your experience to work out the best way. Hopefully don't have to send any docs to HO again.

That's great news fielddrive! Yours was certainly a super quick approval! I take it that you received your citizenship ceremony invitation letter from the council before the HO approval letter? Let's hope we all have our passports processed in a similar efficient manner.

I received an automated response on my passport application tracking request stating that my enquiry has been sent onto the passport office, & that I should hear from them within 3 working days. Will see what they come back with.

Thanks, cs95tdg I received my approval letter today as well. Date of decision 2/1/16 which means the decision took less than a month. Very excited and looking forward to the ceremony next week.

fielddrive wrote:Thanks, cs95tdg I received my approval letter today as well. Date of decision 2/1/16 which means the decision took less than a month. Very excited and looking forward to the ceremony next week.

Thats great news fielddrive as my wife applied on the same day as you through wandsworth council. Did you call council to check if they have recieved the certificate ? and what time in the post did you receive your approval today ?

Thanks