UKM applicants for BC--what is "too long" a wait from UKBA?

[elizababa]

To all those that have gotten a ceremony date... how was your ceremony date determined? Did you have a choice of dates? Did you call your local consulate to arrange it, or was it handled by e-mail? I'm just wondering more about the scheduling process. My mother would like to fly here to be with me for it, so it will require some coordination. Thank you!!

[matkirk]

**Update**

Received my approval letter on Friday. Total time it took is exactly three months.

Timeline:

Eligibility criteria: UKM
Nationality: South Africa
Applying from: South Africa, Cape Town
Method of application: Courier - DHL (to agency in UK)
Date of application: 07/12/2015
Payment method: Credit card
Date of receipt by UKBA: Application handed in by agency on 11/12/2015
Date money gone off account: 10/12/2015 (via agency)
Date of acknowledgement: 26/01/2016 (letter dated 12/01/2016)
Date of letter requesting biometrics: 26/01/2016 (letter dated 12/01/2016)
Biometrics done: 03/02/2016 in Cape Town
Date of approval: 11/03/2016 (letter dated the 8th)
Date of ceremony: TBA
Date applied for passports: TBA
Date passports received: TBA

[sscowden]

Hello all,

Just an update: I received my UKM claim approval form today. Now I await my ceremony letter! Almost there!!

Eligibility Criteria: UKM (born overseas to a British mother prior to 1983)
Nationality: USA (living in California)
Method of Application: Fedex International Priority USA to UKVI Liverpool
Date of Sending Application: 02-OCT-2015
Date of Application Delivery: 05-OCT-2015
Date of Debit of Fees: 09-OCT-2015
Date of Acknowledgement by Home Office: 28-OCT-2015 (biometrics delay letter)
Date of Letter Requesting Biometrics: 21-NOV-2015 (via e-mail after I requested in writing by e-mail to complete biometrics in Vancouver)
Biometrics Done: 15-DEC-2015 (in Vancouver due to no US option being available)
Date of Receipt of UKM Approval: 12-MAR-2016
Date of Ceremony: Waiting

Documents sent in with UKM claim form:
- Notarized copy of my US passport (required)
- Certified copy of my US birth certificate (required)
- Certified copy of my mother's UK birth certificate (required)
- Certified copy of my mother's and father's US marriage certificate showing my mother's surname change to my surname (optional, but recommended)
- A certified copy of my grandmother's UK birth certificate (optional, not recommended but included because I had it available to me)
- A certified copy of my grandmother's and grandfather's UK marriage certificate showing my grandmother's surname change to my mother's maiden name (optional, not recommended but included because I had it available to me)

Congrats! So I am at the very beginning of the process of UKM application (gathering docs and getting UK reco's), but I also live in Calif and may go the Vancouver route for biometrics, since i can't seem to find any info on the current status of US biometics options. Question for you, though. Been hearing the scary stories of how long passports have been kept -- are you saying you didn't send your actual passport, but a notarized copy? I didn't know that was a possibility and don't remember seeing that as an option. did i miss it, or did you inquire further? that feels way less stressful. thanks for any info! ss

[bright_star]

hey guys, my timeline is pretty similar to yours, but i applied using UKF form. i've got the approval letter saying i shouldnt e-mail them before 12 weeks. so, i am a bit confused, because the deadline to attend the ceremony is 12 weeks.

[elizababa]

Hello all,

Just an update: I received my UKM claim approval form today. Now I await my ceremony letter! Almost there!!

Eligibility Criteria: UKM (born overseas to a British mother prior to 1983)
Nationality: USA (living in California)
Method of Application: Fedex International Priority USA to UKVI Liverpool
Date of Sending Application: 02-OCT-2015
Date of Application Delivery: 05-OCT-2015
Date of Debit of Fees: 09-OCT-2015
Date of Acknowledgement by Home Office: 28-OCT-2015 (biometrics delay letter)
Date of Letter Requesting Biometrics: 21-NOV-2015 (via e-mail after I requested in writing by e-mail to complete biometrics in Vancouver)
Biometrics Done: 15-DEC-2015 (in Vancouver due to no US option being available)
Date of Receipt of UKM Approval: 12-MAR-2016
Date of Ceremony: Waiting

Documents sent in with UKM claim form:
- Notarized copy of my US passport (required)
- Certified copy of my US birth certificate (required)
- Certified copy of my mother's UK birth certificate (required)
- Certified copy of my mother's and father's US marriage certificate showing my mother's surname change to my surname (optional, but recommended)
- A certified copy of my grandmother's UK birth certificate (optional, not recommended but included because I had it available to me)
- A certified copy of my grandmother's and grandfather's UK marriage certificate showing my grandmother's surname change to my mother's maiden name (optional, not recommended but included because I had it available to me)

Congrats! So I am at the very beginning of the process of UKM application (gathering docs and getting UK reco's), but I also live in Calif and may go the Vancouver route for biometrics, since i can't seem to find any info on the current status of US biometics options. Question for you, though. Been hearing the scary stories of how long passports have been kept -- are you saying you didn't send your actual passport, but a notarized copy? I didn't know that was a possibility and don't remember seeing that as an option. did i miss it, or did you inquire further? that feels way less stressful. thanks for any info! ss

Sscowden, regarding the notarized copy of my passport, yes I did send in a notarized color copy of my passport. I retained my original, and stated in my cover letter that I required it for international travel during the UKM review period, so I was only able to provide a notarized copy of it. Sending the copy presented no issue or delay whatsoever.

[sscowden]

Thank you, elizababa! This is very encouraging.

May I also ask you about setting the Vancouver biometrics appt?

it may be a moot point as it sounds like they may have recently stopped letting people go to Canada since US biometrics will allegedly be fixed soon. In any case, i have a 5 day trip to Vancouver in the late summer for other reasons, and am wondering about the feasability of scheduling biometrics during that time window. Being able to time it just right sounds like a pipe dream, but worth trying i suppose. : ) So if i understand the process correctly, you put in a request to do biometrics in Canada after a delay letter came, you got approval about 3 weeks later, you then had 30 days from the date of that letter to complete your biometrics? So, in that 30-day window, were you given a lot of options with dates/times? i think I read that the Toronto biometrics office was only open one day a week.

Thanks in advance for the help!

steve

[Julie8ball]

Hi All, for anyone applying from South Africa via UKM, here's how my application process went:
Eligibility Criteria: UKM (born overseas to a British mother prior to 1983)
Nationality: South Africa
Method of Application: DHL Express to UKVI Liverpool
Date of Sending Application: 13 July 2015
Date of Application Delivery: 16 July 2015
Date of Debit of Fees: 21 July 2015
Date of Acknowledgement by Home Office: None received
Date of Letter Requesting Biometrics: 02 December 2015 via registered post only received 28 December (this was their 2nd letter to me, the first never arrived)
Biometrics Done: 31 December 2015 in Durban
Date of Receipt of UKM Approval: 8 January 2016
Date of Ceremony: 18 March 2016 (in Durban at an Attorney's office)

[elizababa]

Thank you, elizababa! This is very encouraging.

May I also ask you about setting the Vancouver biometrics appt?

it may be a moot point as it sounds like they may have recently stopped letting people go to Canada since US biometrics will allegedly be fixed soon. In any case, i have a 5 day trip to Vancouver in the late summer for other reasons, and am wondering about the feasability of scheduling biometrics during that time window. Being able to time it just right sounds like a pipe dream, but worth trying i suppose. : ) So if i understand the process correctly, you put in a request to do biometrics in Canada after a delay letter came, you got approval about 3 weeks later, you then had 30 days from the date of that letter to complete your biometrics? So, in that 30-day window, were you given a lot of options with dates/times? i think I read that the Toronto biometrics office was only open one day a week.

Thanks in advance for the help!

steve

Hi Steve,

Apologies in advance for the long-winded reply here.

Arranging for biometrics in Canada was not at all straightforward. I first received the biometrics delay letter via paper mail. I then wrote to the Home Office via e-mail indicating I'd be willing to travel to Vancouver for the appointment. Shortly thereafter, I received an e-mail with a barcode from the biometrics office with instructions to go online and book an appointment.

I ran into a problem when applying for my biometrics appointment online. I registered on the VFSGlobal website and selected the US as my country of residence when doing so. I completed the biometrics appointment application, and when the calendar popped up, it was entirely blank - nothing... not one day in all of 2016 had availability. Then, I went into my profile and changed my country of residence to Canada (not my residence, but where I hoped to make an appointment). That allowed me to selected the Vancouver Visa office, but because my unique biometrics enrollment number had already been used in my first attempt at an appointment application, I could not reuse it for Vancouver. I wrote back to the Home Office, to the Canada biometrics office, and to the general help e-mail in the hopes that they could generate a new enrollment number for me. When you get to the point of getting your biometrics letter and you register on the VFSGlobal website, know that your "country of residence" in your profile is used to generate the calendar for your biometrics appointment. It is not your actual country of residence!

After e-mailing the Home Office, calling USA VFS Office (and spending $30 on that metered call), e-mailing the USA VFS office and getting a useless and irrelevant reply, and then sending my complaint back to the Home Office, I finally received a reply that was helpful from the Canada VFS office. In short, they manually made me an appointment for biometrics on December 15th in Vancouver. Total time span was a couple of weeks to get this sorted out.

Here is some important information I learned from the Canadian VFS office:
1. Their e-mail confirmation is sufficient "receipt" to be admitted for your appointment. The appointment receipt does not have to originate from the VFS website.
2. Biometrics appointments in Vancouver are only available on Tuesdays from 10:30am to 12:30pm.
3. The location where biometrics is done is:
VFS GLOBAL
Oceanic Plaza,
1066 West Hastings Street, Suite 2000
Vancouver, BC, V6E 3X2 Canada
4. They are not at all strict about the 30-day requirement.

For the appointment itself, I arrived about 15 minutes early to an office on the 20th floor of the Oceanic Plaza building. I was surprised at what a lovely office it is - not all all what I was expecting. It was more like a well-appointed attorney's office than any kind of public government office. They took me in right away, I was the only one there for a biometrics appointment, and I was out in about 25 minutes. The guy there helping me said that biometrics data is transmitted to the Home Office instantly. I was told that the US *should* have the capability by the end of February 2016, so all of this may be a moot point now.

I hope this helps!

[Will47786]

Eligibility criteria:UKM born before 1983
Language criteria met: not applicable
Nationality: Canadian
Method of application: Mailed from Vancouver, British Columbia Canada
Date of application: October 5 / 2015 (date mailed from Vancouver, BC)
Payment method: Credit Card
Date of receipt by UKBA: October 9 / 2015 (tracked via Canada Post and confirmed received that date)
Date of acknowledgement : October 19 / 2015 ( received by me on October 28/2015)
Date money gone off account: October 13 / 2015 ( credit card charged the citizenship ceremony fee)
Date of letter requesting biometrics: October 19 / 2015 [/b]( sent via Royal Mail - all original documents received back)
Biometrics done: November 3 / 2015 (in Vancouver BC at VFS Global office)
Date of request for additional documentation December 10 / 2015
***** Email request from a case worker at the Home Office *************
Request for a birth certificate confirming parentage (the one submitted and returned did not have this information as the year when it was issued the Province where I was born didn't list such information on said document.
Date additional documentation was provided: December 17 / 2015 - aforementioned document was received, scanned and emailed to the case worker at the generic email address he contacted me from and instructed me to send the requested information )document).
December 24 / 2015 - same document and email was forwarded again to the case worker after no reply for a week on the original email
Date of acknowledgment of receipt of document by the case worker: December 29 / 2015 - acknowledgement via email from noted case worker that the document had been received, no other comments provided.
Date of approval : Received approval today (Feb 5th / 2016 via E-mail)
Date of ceremony : March 10th / 2016 at the British Consulate-General in Vancouver
Date applied for passports : March 12/ 2016 (online)
Date passports received : April 1/ 2016

[Will47786]

**************** UPDATE!!!!!*****************************

Eligibility criteria:UKM born before 1983
Language criteria met: not applicable
Nationality: Canadian
Method of application: Mailed from Vancouver, British Columbia Canada
Date of application: October 5 / 2015 (date mailed from Vancouver, BC)
Payment method: Credit Card
Date of receipt by UKBA: October 9 / 2015 (tracked via Canada Post and confirmed received that date)
Date of acknowledgement : October 19 / 2015 ( received by me on October 28/2015)
Date money gone off account: October 13 / 2015 ( credit card charged the citizenship ceremony fee)
Date of letter requesting biometrics: October 19 / 2015 [/b]( sent via Royal Mail - all original documents received back)
Biometrics done: November 3 / 2015 (in Vancouver BC at VFS Global office)
Date of request for additional documentation December 10 / 2015
***** Email request from a case worker at the Home Office *************
Request for a birth certificate confirming parentage (the one submitted and returned did not have this information as the year when it was issued the Province where I was born didn't list such information on said document.
Date additional documentation was provided: December 17 / 2015 - aforementioned document was received, scanned and emailed to the case worker at the generic email address he contacted me from and instructed me to send the requested information )document).
December 24 / 2015 - same document and email was forwarded again to the case worker after no reply for a week on the original email
Date of acknowledgment of receipt of document by the case worker: December 29 / 2015 - acknowledgement via email from noted case worker that the document had been received, no other comments provided.
Date of approval : Received approval today (Feb 5th / 2016 via E-mail)
Date of ceremony : March 10th / 2016 at the British Consulate-General in Vancouver!!!!!
Date applied for passports :
Date passports received :

Approval as of today is the 4 month mark from when I sent my application via Canada Post to the Home Office!!!! I was disappointed when I checked my mailbox this afternoon and all that I received was some junk mail. This makes my day!!! Can't wait for the ceremony in just over a month!!!!

[elizababa]

Update! I'm now scheduled for my citizenship ceremony at the San Francisco British Consulate! YAY!

Eligibility Criteria: UKM (born overseas to a British mother prior to 1983)
Nationality: USA (living in California)
Method of Application: Fedex International Priority USA to UKVI Liverpool
Date of Sending Application: 02-OCT-2015
Date of Application Delivery: 05-OCT-2015
Date of Debit of Fees: 09-OCT-2015
Date of Acknowledgement by Home Office: 28-OCT-2015 (biometrics delay letter)
Date of Letter Requesting Biometrics: 21-NOV-2015 (via e-mail after I requested in writing by e-mail to complete biometrics in Vancouver)
Biometrics Done: 15-DEC-2015 (in Vancouver due to no US option being available)
Date of Receipt of UKM Approval: 12-MAR-2016 (letter dated 03-MAR-2016)
Date of Ceremony Invitation: 14-APR-2016 (via e-mail)
Date of Ceremony: 29-APR-2016
Passport Application Sent: TBD

[matkirk]

Update...received ceremony invitation. Scheduled for 26 May.

Timeline:

Eligibility criteria: UKM
Nationality: South Africa
Applying from: South Africa, Cape Town
Method of application: Courier - DHL (to agency in UK)
Date of application: 07/12/2015
Payment method: Credit card
Date of receipt by UKBA: Application handed in by agency on 11/12/2015
Date money gone off account: 10/12/2015 (via agency)
Date of acknowledgement: 26/01/2016 (letter dated 12/01/2016)
Date of letter requesting biometrics: 26/01/2016 (letter dated 12/01/2016)
Biometrics done: 03/02/2016 in Cape Town
Date of approval: 11/03/2016 (letter dated the 8th)
Date of ceremony: Scheduled for 26 May
Date applied for passports: TBA
Date passports received: TBA

[elizababa]

Update

Eligibility Criteria: UKM (born overseas to a British mother prior to 1983)
Nationality: USA (living in California)
Method of Application: Fedex International Priority USA to UKVI Liverpool
Date of Sending Application: 02-OCT-2015
Date of Application Delivery: 05-OCT-2015
Date of Debit of Fees: 09-OCT-2015
Date of Acknowledgement by Home Office: 28-OCT-2015 (biometrics delay letter)
Date of Letter Requesting Biometrics: 21-NOV-2015 (via e-mail after I requested in writing by e-mail to complete biometrics in Vancouver)
Biometrics Done: 15-DEC-2015 (in Vancouver due to no US option being available)
Date of Receipt of UKM Approval: 12-MAR-2016 (letter dated 03-MAR-2016)
Date of Ceremony Invitation: 14-APR-2016 (via e-mail)
Date of Ceremony: 29-APR-2016
Passport Application Sent: 07-MAY-2016 (via Fedex International Priority)
Passport Appication Acknowledgement by Passport Office: 11-MAY-2016 (online application status updated to Declaration form received, being processed)
Passport Received: TBD

[elizababa]

All, my process is complete. I have my UK passport now! Here are all of my timelines and the details of the process for me. I hope this helps others out there going through their UKM claims:

Eligibility Criteria: UKM (born overseas to a British mother prior to 1983)
Nationality: USA (living in California)
Method of Application: Fedex International Priority USA to UKVI Liverpool
Date of Sending Application: 02-OCT-2015
Date of Application Delivery: 05-OCT-2015
Date of Debit of Fees: 09-OCT-2015
Date of Acknowledgement by Home Office: 28-OCT-2015 (biometrics delay letter)
Date of Letter Requesting Biometrics: 21-NOV-2015 (via e-mail after I requested in writing by e-mail to complete biometrics in Vancouver)
Biometrics Done: 15-DEC-2015 (in Vancouver due to no US option being available)
Date of Receipt of UKM Approval: 12-MAR-2016 (letter dated 03-MAR-2016)
Date of Ceremony Invitation: 14-APR-2016 (via e-mail)
Date of Ceremony: 29-APR-2016
Passport Application Sent: 07-MAY-2016 (via Fedex International Priority)
Passport Appication Acknowledgement by Passport Office: 11-MAY-2016 (online application status updated to Declaration form received, being processed)
Passport Received: 27-MAY-2016 (via DHL along with the return of my submitted documents, signature required for delivery)

Documents sent in with UKM claim form:
- Notarized copy of my US passport (required)
- Certified copy of my US birth certificate (required)
- Certified copy of my mother's UK birth certificate (required)
- Certified copy of my mother's and father's US marriage certificate showing my mother's surname change to my surname (optional, but recommended)
- A certified copy of my grandmother's UK birth certificate (optional, not recommended but included because I had it available to me)
- A certified copy of my grandmother's and grandfather's UK marriage certificate showing my grandmother's surname change to my mother's maiden name (optional, not recommended but included because I had it available to me)
(All of the above, except the copy of my passport, were returned to me when my claim form was approved.)

Documents sent in with passport application:
- Signed single-page Declaration Form with completed Courtersignature section (required)
- Full color copy of my current US passport (required)
- Original certificate of registration (required)
- Two identical photos, one of which included the hand-written verification of identity my countersigner (required)
- After receipt of my application, HM's Passport Office requested a color scan of my countersigner's passport via e-mail (not required, but later requested directly from countersigner)

[Krystal2591]

Hi guys!

Recap: I posted a couple months ago that I got back my passport from the UK. I'm a Jamaican national and UKF applicant.

Update: About a month ago I got en email and formal letter saying my application was approved. Then I got an invitation to schedule my citizenship ceremony. I'll be doing my citizenship ceremony tomorrow morning in New York. Hopefully will have my passport shortly after!

[noajthan]

Hi guys!

Recap: I posted a couple months ago that I got back my passport from the UK. I'm a Jamaican national and UKF applicant.

Update: About a month ago I got en email and formal letter saying my application was approved. Then I got an invitation to schedule my citizenship ceremony. I'll be doing my citizenship ceremony tomorrow morning in New York. Hopefully will have my passport shortly after!

Good news indeed, congratulations.

[Antsmall]

Congratulations, and good luck to everyone!

[VictoryHotel]

Matkirk you stated that PG company copied you on all communications for UKM.
I'm using name removed by moderator as well however my caseworker did not copy communication to me. Instead biometric request letter went to junk email and I found it quite by accident. This occurred late this summer and put my process off by a month. I'm not sure if the agency or the HO has changed its practice. Does anyone have experience with using an agency?