Eligibility criteria: 5 years residence, non-EEA spouse of EEA/naturalised British citizen
Language criteria met: Life in the UK and CPE
Method of application: self/postal
Date of application: 07/01/2014
Payment method: credit card
Date of receipt by UKBA: 08/01/2014 (Royal Mail Tracking)
Date of acknowledgment: 28/01/2014 (dated 25/01/2014)
Date of debit or clearance of fees: 25/01/2014
Date approval and documents received: 05/04/2014 (dated 03/04/2014)
Date of ceremony: to be organised
I received a special delivery with my documents and approval letter this morning!!! Still waiting for the ceremony invitation letter.
I guess it took slightly longer than average in my case because I applied without NCS and without an EEA PR card (EEA4 application). But it worked out and I believe it was faster in the end than first applying for a PR card and then for BC.
I requested my passport back for travel more than 3 weeks ago and was getting slightly nervous as the HO was not gettting back to me. I contacted the HO using the tel. number and email address people posted on this forum (many thanks to everyone!).
On Tuesday I called 0300 123 2253 (got through after 20min) and was told my case is with the case worker and they would put a note that I need my passport back for travel.
On Thursday I received a reply email from
FurtherNationalityEnquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk (after 4 working days) saying that a decision has been made recently and a letter posted on April 3.
It seems that the HO has improved their customer service recently. I certainly found the latest correspondence with them much more informative than before.
I wish the best of luck to everyone still waiting for their approval letters!!!
