February-2015 Naturalisation Application Timeline

[MrBrilliant]

Eligibility criteria: 5 years work permit/Tier2 + 1 year ILR
Language criteria met (UK degree, exempt countries, PBS used documents, NARIC, or B1 test): IELTS + Life in UK test
Current nationality: Iranian
Method of application: Post (Special Delivery)
Council name if NCS used:
Date of application: 26-Feb-2015
Payment method CC/DC, Personal cheque, Bankers cheque etc: Bankers Draft
Date of receipt by UKBA: 27-Feb-2015
Date of acknowledgment: (waiting)
Date approval received: (waiting)
Date of ceremony: (waiting)

[VickySpice]

Eligibility criteria:5 Years on Tier-1 + 2 Year on ILR
Language criteria met: Degree + Naaric SOC+ Life in UK Test
Current nationality: Indian
Method of application: NCS
Council name if NCS used: NCS Basingstoke
Date of application:25-02-2015
Payment method: Credit Card
Date of receipt by UKBA:26-02-2015
Date of debit or clearance of fees: 28-02-2015
Date of acknowledgment: By Post 05-03-2015 (Letter dated 28-02-2015)
Date approval received:Waiting
Date of ceremony:Waiting

[comcomu]

Eligibility Criteria : 3 years Marriage with BC + 1.5 year ILR
Language criteria : Life in the UK test + B1 +expired IELTS
Method of application: Postal
Current Nationality: Pakistani
Date of application: 16.02.2015
Date of receipt by UKVI: ?????Special Delivery Tracking. 18-02-15
Payment method: Credit Card YES
Date of receipt by UKBA:18-.02-.15
Date of acknowledgment:24-02-2015 Email - by Post 27-02-2015 dated: 23-02-2015
Date of debit or clearance of fees: 23-02-2015
Date approval received: 06-03-2015
Date of ceremony: ??

My journey has come to an end. Thank you so much for your help guys.
I am moving to passport application topic but will still keep my eyes on this topic.
Good luck however has not received it yet![/quote][/quote][/quote]


Many congrats fqvision.

[comcomu]

Feb 2015 is a favoured month. We can see a high turnarounds and approvals already. It shall be an happy ending for all.

[blueberry1986]

Still no payment has been taken for my application I made on 14/02.
HO requested new payment slip to be sent and it arrived on 27/02.
Dreading I will come home one day and have a letter saying they didn't receive it so have sent application back.

[MrBrilliant]

Still no payment has been taken for my application I made on 14/02.
HO requested new payment slip to be sent and it arrived on 27/02.
Dreading I will come home one day and have a letter saying they didn't receive it so have sent application back.

Why not send a banker's draft? It's the safest way as the payment is guaranteed.

[rohangk_83]

Hi all,

Dear all,

Update on acknowledgement letter!

Number of applicants: 1 adult + 1 child
Eligibility criteria: 5 years + 1 year ILR
KOLL: Degree certificate (obtained abroad) + PBS print out + Letter from uni confirming that my degree was taught and researched in English + Life in the UK test certificate
Current nationality: Indian
Method of application: NCS
Council name if NCS used: Sutton (Surrey)
Date of application: 18/Feb/15
Payment method CC/DC, Personal cheque, Bankers cheque etc : DC
Date of receipt by UKBA : 19/feb/2015 (DX Tracking)
Date of acknowledgment : Letter dated 25/feb/2015 reached us on 27/feb/2015
Date of debit or clearance of fees : 25/feb/2015
Date approval received : TBC
Date of ceremony : TBC

Hi Buzz bee,

Any update on your approval?
I am expecting to get mine 4-5 days after you.

rohangk_83

[farmer]

Dear all,

Update on acknowledgement letter!

Number of applicants: 1 adult + 1 child
Eligibility criteria: 5 years + 1 year ILR
KOLL: Degree certificate (obtained abroad) + PBS print out + Letter from uni confirming that my degree was taught and researched in English + Life in the UK test certificate
Current nationality: Indian
Method of application: NCS
Council name if NCS used: Sutton (Surrey)
Date of application: 18/Feb/15
Payment method CC/DC, Personal cheque, Bankers cheque etc : DC
Date of receipt by UKBA : 19/feb/2015 (DX Tracking)
Date of acknowledgment : Letter dated 25/feb/2015 reached us on 27/feb/2015
Date of debit or clearance of fees : 25/feb/2015
Date approval received : TBC
Date of ceremony : TBC

[/quote]



Hi Buzz bee,

Any update on your approval?
I am expecting to get mine 4-5 days after you.


I applied before you so Ideally I should expect and get it before you but Sadly it doesn't work like this with HO. They are very random in processing applications unfortunately.

[blueberry1986]

Still no payment has been taken for my application I made on 14/02.
HO requested new payment slip to be sent and it arrived on 27/02.
Dreading I will come home one day and have a letter saying they didn't receive it so have sent application back.

Why not send a banker's draft? It's the safest way as the payment is guaranteed.

I didn't think payment by CC would be a problem
the funds are available and I have notified the CC provider.
HO claim there was no payment form included with the original application (I disagree but anyways)
I sent them a new one with their ref number on it well within their requested time frame.
Received by them on 27/02 yet no money has been charged

[blueberry1986]

UPDATE:

I managed to get through to the Home Office just now on the telephone.
They informed me they tried to take a payment on 19/02 but it was declined, this is when the letter was sent to me (stating I didnt include the fee NOT that it had been declined)
I then resent the information again and they tried to take the payment on 03/03 and it was declined AGAIN.
I have now paid over the phone.

Really annoyed with Santander as this card has NO balance on it and thousands of ££ available. I contacted Santander the day I sent the second payment form and they said no contact was necessary and if there was a large charge attempted they would hold it and ring me to verify. They did not ring once nor did they tell me it was attempted the first time which was well over a week before I rang them to verify this. They have all my contact details and I have no missed phone calls from them or any unknown/private numbers.

Hopefully my application will move along now

[MrBrilliant]

UPDATE:

I managed to get through to the Home Office just now on the telephone.
They informed me they tried to take a payment on 19/02 but it was declined, this is when the letter was sent to me (stating I didnt include the fee NOT that it had been declined)
I then resent the information again and they tried to take the payment on 03/03 and it was declined AGAIN.
I have now paid over the phone.

Really annoyed with Santander as this card has NO balance on it and thousands of ££ available. I contacted Santander the day I sent the second payment form and they said no contact was necessary and if there was a large charge attempted they would hold it and ring me to verify. They did not ring once nor did they tell me it was attempted the first time which was well over a week before I rang them to verify this. They have all my contact details and I have no missed phone calls from them or any unknown/private numbers.

Hopefully my application will move along now

Yeah I talked to my bank about letting them know about the credit card transfer and they started telling me its ok and they can't manually put a note in anyway, etc. so I said **** it I'll just pay the £20 for a banker's draft and rest easy.

[zonkkk]

Are you sure they accept banker's draft?
On the Fee Form they only say Credit Card or Cheque crossed a/c payee (nothing about banker's draft).

[Sail4real]

I applied through NCS on 11.02.15, and it got delivered to HO on 13.02.15, payment was deducted on 19.02.15, however I haven't heard anything from the HO, no letter of acknowledgement nothing, have anyone being through this situation before, I don't know what's going on or what to do, can anyone give me an idea of what's going in thanks

[meb4ne1]

I applied through NCS on 11.02.15, and it got delivered to HO on 13.02.15, payment was deducted on 19.02.15, however I haven't heard anything from the HO, no letter of acknowledgement nothing, have anyone being through this situation before, I don't know what's going on or what to do, can anyone give me an idea of what's going in thanks

I'd say give them a ring and tell then you have been charged but haven't received an acknowledgement letter. The letter (and email) usually arrives around the time you are charged. I would also get the Home Office Reference number from them in case you need to contact them again in the future.

[Jaeger]

It seems like they use this e-mail facility on a random basis. That's too bad. I have only received an acknowledgement letter through the post.

[Sail4real]

Thanks meb4ne1 for the message, I called the HO twice within a week, the first person said spoke to said they don't always send acknowledgement letter, and if they have taken money from account that should serve as acknowledge, but I doubt that, the second person said it takes about 4 to 6 weeks after the money has been debited from my account, it come across to me that they are just call handlers and they don't know much about the process because they contradict what's on HO websites and the letter I got from NCS when applied which states that acknowledge letter will be sent to me within 2 weeks. Just confuse

[MrBrilliant]

Are you sure they accept banker's draft?
On the Fee Form they only say Credit Card or Cheque crossed a/c payee (nothing about banker's draft).

Banker's draft is a type of cheque.

(It's a prepaid cheque, basically as good as cash since the bank pays it rather than having to go through your account)

[nfornv]

Eligibility criteria: 5 years Tier -1 + 1 year ILR
Language criteria met (UK degree, exempt countries, PBS used documents, NARIC, or B1 test): UK Degree + Life in UK
Current nationality: Indian
Method of application: NCS
Council name if NCS used: NCS- Glasgow
Date of application: 19/02/2015
Payment method CC/DC, Personal cheque, Bankers cheque etc: CC
Date of receipt by UKBA: 20/02/2015
Date of acknowledgment: 25/02/2015
Date of debit or clearance of fees: 20/02/2015
Date approval received: TBC (dont know as in India right now)
Date of ceremony: TBC

[bestshow]

No of applicants: 1 Adult
Eligibility Criteria : 3 years Marriage with BC including (11 months ILR)
Language criteria : Life in the UK test + B1
Method of application: Postal
Current Nationality: Egyptian
Date of application: 26.02.2015
Date of receipt by UKVI: 27.02.2015 special delivery recorded
Payment method: Credit Card
Date of acknowledgment: 04.03.2015 received 11.03.2015
Date of debit or clearance of fees: 04.03.2015
Date approval received: xx
Date of ceremony: xx

Just want to ask, is that normal to send a survey sheet with the acknowledgement letter to tell them about my experience? I have not received the approval yet, to tell them about my experience : |

[rakeysh.patel]

UPDATE:

I managed to get through to the Home Office just now on the telephone.
They informed me they tried to take a payment on 19/02 but it was declined, this is when the letter was sent to me (stating I didnt include the fee NOT that it had been declined)
I then resent the information again and they tried to take the payment on 03/03 and it was declined AGAIN.
I have now paid over the phone.

Really annoyed with Santander as this card has NO balance on it and thousands of ££ available. I contacted Santander the day I sent the second payment form and they said no contact was necessary and if there was a large charge attempted they would hold it and ring me to verify. They did not ring once nor did they tell me it was attempted the first time which was well over a week before I rang them to verify this. They have all my contact details and I have no missed phone calls from them or any unknown/private numbers.

Hopefully my application will move along now

Take it from someone who has Payment Industry experience - With this type of transactions (where card holder is not present, amount is high etc), always goes through couple of layers of check. You mentioned that there was no balance on the card and have thousands of £ available - This is exactly why it would of been declined. There are two ways payment processing company would look at this (and I know the comp who handles processes the payment for Santander) - 1) high value transaction and 2) your account have not had previous history of any such transactions. For payment processing company, its a NO NO! Remember, its not your bank who have declined the transaction, its the processing company who has been hired in between to iron out infrastructure costs and minimise fraudulent transaction risks

Those who have applied using credit cards, my word of advice is - speak to your bank day you apply and give them an exact amount you expect your card to be charged with and by who (not only in this case but in all other similar scenarios). Your bank would green flag any such incoming transactions and while (your bank will say this to you) it is not guaranteed that the transaction would be approved without any problems, 99.99% of the time it will.

I hope this helps.

[blueberry1986]

UPDATE:

I managed to get through to the Home Office just now on the telephone.
They informed me they tried to take a payment on 19/02 but it was declined, this is when the letter was sent to me (stating I didnt include the fee NOT that it had been declined)
I then resent the information again and they tried to take the payment on 03/03 and it was declined AGAIN.
I have now paid over the phone.

Really annoyed with Santander as this card has NO balance on it and thousands of ££ available. I contacted Santander the day I sent the second payment form and they said no contact was necessary and if there was a large charge attempted they would hold it and ring me to verify. They did not ring once nor did they tell me it was attempted the first time which was well over a week before I rang them to verify this. They have all my contact details and I have no missed phone calls from them or any unknown/private numbers.

Hopefully my application will move along now

Take it from someone who has Payment Industry experience - With this type of transactions (where card holder is not present, amount is high etc), always goes through couple of layers of check. You mentioned that there was no balance on the card and have thousands of £ available - This is exactly why it would of been declined. There are two ways payment processing company would look at this (and I know the comp who handles processes the payment for Santander) - 1) high value transaction and 2) your account have not had previous history of any such transactions. For payment processing company, its a NO NO! Remember, its not your bank who have declined the transaction, its the processing company who has been hired in between to iron out infrastructure costs and minimise fraudulent transaction risks

Those who have applied using credit cards, my word of advice is - speak to your bank day you apply and give them an exact amount you expect your card to be charged with and by who (not only in this case but in all other similar scenarios). Your bank would green flag any such incoming transactions and while (your bank will say this to you) it is not guaranteed that the transaction would be approved without any problems, 99.99% of the time it will.

I hope this helps.

Did you read my post completely? No where did I say that this was a new card with no transactions ever made. Its a card my partner and I use regularly and pay completely each month, at this moment it has no balance on it.
I DID contact Santander to warn them of £906 payment in the next few days,they told me it was unnecessary to contact them and if they suspected a fraudulent transaction THEY would ring me.

[rakeysh.patel]

UPDATE:

I managed to get through to the Home Office just now on the telephone.
They informed me they tried to take a payment on 19/02 but it was declined, this is when the letter was sent to me (stating I didnt include the fee NOT that it had been declined)
I then resent the information again and they tried to take the payment on 03/03 and it was declined AGAIN.
I have now paid over the phone.

Really annoyed with Santander as this card has NO balance on it and thousands of ££ available. I contacted Santander the day I sent the second payment form and they said no contact was necessary and if there was a large charge attempted they would hold it and ring me to verify. They did not ring once nor did they tell me it was attempted the first time which was well over a week before I rang them to verify this. They have all my contact details and I have no missed phone calls from them or any unknown/private numbers.

Hopefully my application will move along now

Take it from someone who has Payment Industry experience - With this type of transactions (where card holder is not present, amount is high etc), always goes through couple of layers of check. You mentioned that there was no balance on the card and have thousands of £ available - This is exactly why it would of been declined. There are two ways payment processing company would look at this (and I know the comp who handles processes the payment for Santander) - 1) high value transaction and 2) your account have not had previous history of any such transactions. For payment processing company, its a NO NO! Remember, its not your bank who have declined the transaction, its the processing company who has been hired in between to iron out infrastructure costs and minimise fraudulent transaction risks

Those who have applied using credit cards, my word of advice is - speak to your bank day you apply and give them an exact amount you expect your card to be charged with and by who (not only in this case but in all other similar scenarios). Your bank would green flag any such incoming transactions and while (your bank will say this to you) it is not guaranteed that the transaction would be approved without any problems, 99.99% of the time it will.

I hope this helps.

Did you read my post completely? No where did I say that this was a new card with no transactions ever made. Its a card my partner and I use regularly and pay completely each month, at this moment it has no balance on it.
I DID contact Santander to warn them of £906 payment in the next few days,they told me it was unnecessary to contact them and if they suspected a fraudulent transaction THEY would ring me.

And where exactly did I presume you have had no transaction on this card or it was a new card?

I was merely pointing out, that your account may have not had similar transactions coming in (amounting to almost £1000 or more), or even if it did, I suspect hardly any of those to be in cardholder not present scenario! Previous history of any such transaction - by that I meant such high value transactions in cardholder not present scenario!

What Santander told you is not right - any such heads up is always good for this kind [cardholder not present] of transactions and they should have marked it down on the system.

Of course, you can choose to believe/trust your bank over me, its entirely upto you. I have just highlighted how, Payment Processing companies view this type of transactions, thats all. All the best with your application!

[Buzz bee]

Dear all,

Update on acknowledgement letter!

Number of applicants: 1 adult + 1 child
Eligibility criteria: 5 years + 1 year ILR
KOLL: Degree certificate (obtained abroad) + PBS print out + Letter from uni confirming that my degree was taught and researched in English + Life in the UK test certificate
Current nationality: Indian
Method of application: NCS
Council name if NCS used: Sutton (Surrey)
Date of application: 18/Feb/15
Payment method CC/DC, Personal cheque, Bankers cheque etc : DC
Date of receipt by UKBA : 19/feb/2015 (DX Tracking)
Date of acknowledgment : Letter dated 25/feb/2015 reached us on 27/feb/2015
Date of debit or clearance of fees : 25/feb/2015
Date approval received : TBC
Date of ceremony : TBC

Hi Buzz bee,

Any update on your approval?
I am expecting to get mine 4-5 days after you.


I applied before you so Ideally I should expect and get it before you but Sadly it doesn't work like this with HO. They are very random in processing applications unfortunately. [/quote]


Dear Farmer and Rohan,

Didn't come by the side of immigration boards for a couple of weeks time as I do not have any update. Awaiting We'll get there soon. We all will be fine. Don't wory. I'm staying positive. My case had an adult + little one's application (2). So could be delayed a bit compared to singe applications. Eagerly digging through junk in my postbox every evening.

[meb4ne1]

Take it from someone who has Payment Industry experience - With this type of transactions (where card holder is not present, amount is high etc), always goes through couple of layers of check. You mentioned that there was no balance on the card and have thousands of £ available - This is exactly why it would of been declined. There are two ways payment processing company would look at this (and I know the comp who handles processes the payment for Santander) - 1) high value transaction and 2) your account have not had previous history of any such transactions. For payment processing company, its a NO NO! Remember, its not your bank who have declined the transaction, its the processing company who has been hired in between to iron out infrastructure costs and minimise fraudulent transaction risks

Those who have applied using credit cards, my word of advice is - speak to your bank day you apply and give them an exact amount you expect your card to be charged with and by who (not only in this case but in all other similar scenarios). Your bank would green flag any such incoming transactions and while (your bank will say this to you) it is not guaranteed that the transaction would be approved without any problems, 99.99% of the time it will.

I hope this helps.

Did you read my post completely? No where did I say that this was a new card with no transactions ever made. Its a card my partner and I use regularly and pay completely each month, at this moment it has no balance on it.
I DID contact Santander to warn them of £906 payment in the next few days,they told me it was unnecessary to contact them and if they suspected a fraudulent transaction THEY would ring me.

And where exactly did I presume you have had no transaction on this card or it was a new card?

I was merely pointing out, that your account may have not had similar transactions coming in (amounting to almost £1000 or more), or even if it did, I suspect hardly any of those to be in cardholder not present scenario! Previous history of any such transaction - by that I meant such high value transactions in cardholder not present scenario!

What Santander told you is not right - any such heads up is always good for this kind [cardholder not present] of transactions and they should have marked it down on the system.

Of course, you can choose to believe/trust your bank over me, its entirely upto you. I have just highlighted how, Payment Processing companies view this type of transactions, thats all. All the best with your application!

Or just send a cheque...

[blueberry1986]

Really annoyed with Santander as this card has NO balance on it and thousands of ££ available. I contacted Santander the day I sent the second payment form and they said no contact was necessary and if there was a large charge attempted they would hold it and ring me to verify. They did not ring once nor did they tell me it was attempted the first time which was well over a week before I rang them to verify this. They have all my contact details and I have no missed phone calls from them or any unknown/private numbers.

Hopefully my application will move along
Did you read my post completely? No where did I say that this was a new card with no transactions ever made. Its a card my partner and I use regularly and pay completely each month, at this moment it has no balance on it.
I DID contact Santander to warn them of £906 payment in the next few days,they told me it was unnecessary to contact them and if they suspected a fraudulent transaction THEY would ring me.[/quote]

And where exactly did I presume you have had no transaction on this card or it was a new card?

I was merely pointing out, that your account may have not had similar transactions coming in (amounting to almost £1000 or more), or even if it did, I suspect hardly any of those to be in cardholder not present scenario! Previous history of any such transaction - by that I meant such high value transactions in cardholder not present scenario!

What Santander told you is not right - any such heads up is always good for this kind [cardholder not present] of transactions and they should have marked it down on the system.

Of course, you can choose to believe/trust your bank over me, its entirely upto you. I have just highlighted how, Payment Processing companies view this type of transactions, thats all. All the best with your application![/quote]

Sorry I obviously mis interpretated your post and I apologise, sometimes you read the tone wrong over the Internet.
I was trying to point out that there was absolutely no reason for it to be declined the second time as I had warned the bank it was going to happen. I charge thousands to this account every month for years, and yes things over £900 such as holidays and furniture etc.

Anyways im hoping in the next few weeks I will get an approval although I can see from these forms that it sometimes takes months.