Naturalisation application processing timelines (only)

[na2316]

please advise re above

[n2legos]

Application Timeline
Eligibility criteria: 5yr + 1yr ILR
Method of application: NCS (Carlisle)
Date of receipt by UKBA: 2 April 2015
Date of debit of fees: 21 April 2015
Date of receipt of acknowledgement: 25 April 2015
Date of receipt of approval: waiting
Date of Ceremony: waiting

Note: This is for two application forms; Spouse also applied at same time, same NCS appointment. So far, they are treating us together with one letter of acknowledgement to include both of us.

[Klogie]

Eligibility criteria: EEA National, 10 yrs + married to UK National; UK Hons Degree,
Method of application: NCS South Lanarkshire
Date of receipt by UKBA: 31/03/2015
Date of debit of fees: 16/04/2015
Date of receipt of acknowledgement: Received Saturday 25/04/2015 dated Thursday 16/04/2015
Date of receipt of approval: Awaiting
Date of Ceremony: Awaiting

[benson147]

Waiting Since 20th Feb 2015 -
1.5 years Tier2 + 3.5 Years Tier 1 + 1 Year ILR
LIfe in UK + Degree Taught in English

I Applied via NCS Reading -
Date Applied - 20-02-2015
Date Acknowledgment letter - 28-02-2015 ( dated 26-02-2015)
Date Approval Letter -
Date Ceremony -

My case has been very straight forward and still haven't received Approval. They also did a mistake and sent my Ack letter to wrong address (on same post code there are flats and building but they always (my son application) do same mistake and send it to flat). I purposefully put down a note in the application with help of NCS guy to make sure they send it to right address but they didn't. so i called them to update the address. two weeks later, received a call and the guy on the phone confirmed he has the right address and he will make sure this time communication will be sent to right address ( but can you believe?)

I dont get what is up with them and why they are taking so long. I have plans to fly US this summer and i was counting on this. is anyone facing unnecessary delays who applied same time? I saw some post who received in 14-21 days , applied same time or little after.

Captainus83,
If they acknowledged receipt on the 26 Feb, then they have until 26 Aug (6 months) before it would be classed as being late. Even without British citizenship, if you have another passport then I imagine that you could travel on that. If you don't and are planning on getting a British passport then you would need to allow at least another 6 weeks on top of that. You could be looking at end of Sept without either process being termed late.

Just be patient for 6months before you start getting upset my friend, i had to wait for 8months and my case was straight forward, but as i write you i have my british passport, so i will advice you just keep your mind off it and wait for the brown envelope.

[rajo1]

You are so hasty my friend, your application is only 3 months old and you already started to complain, I have been waiting 6 months and ten days since my application was approved, I hope that they will send you as you are anticipating, but don't wait any decision until August this year, it can take over six months sometimes and they can add up another six months which will take you February next year.

So be patient, you are moaning a very early time.

[huqqapani]

APPROVED

Eligibility Criteria: 10 Long residence + 1 year ILR
Language Criteria Met: Life in UK + UK University certificate
Method of Application: NCS (Carlton, Notts)
Date of Application: 3rd December 2014
Date of Receipt by Home Office: Waiting
Date of Debit of Fees: Credit Card - 11/12/2014
Date of Receipt of Acknowledgement: 17/12/2014
Date of Receipt of Approval: 18/04/2015 (Letter dated 15/04/2015)
Date of Ceremony: 02/06/15 (public)

Time Taken: 4 months 18 days roughly
HO requested my passport mid March 2015 for the duration covering from 2009 till 2011. Posted it right away.
Best of luck to all December 2014 applicants as these seems to be coming through now.

[mykarl123]

I am a regular reader of this board. It has kept me going and sane. am of Somali nationality I applied for BC in July 2014. The bank balance dropped almostb immediately and I received ack letter shortly after that. I received the rude template format of a letter that most of us received, asking to wait another three to six months s Whilst I know a few people who received the same and now have received their approvals I thought I will wait. Two weeks ago I received a letter asking me to send my two travel documents. I sent them two weeks today (27th) with a self addressed secured envelope. This was sent to me with a self addressed return envelope and my HO reference number.. Has anyone else been through this kind of a thing. My congratulations to all those who have received their approvals especially may June July 2014 cases

[babe_khyber]

Hi there,
I was waiting since mid February last year now I am running in 15 month no decision has been taken for the reason of discrimination because we are a third category human in the uk as refugee. The home office willing to investigation for possible involvement of war crime. But they didn't discovered any involvement that is why they still delaying any application through refugee route immigration history. Any way there is very little chance for refugees to succeeded their naturalisation from the fascist and dearly beloved present Government. Their is publicly thought of anti immigration in uk. I hope if the labour win the election then will be much chances but no chance from the Tories.
We are still looking for any possible way to highlights the issues but print media as well anti immigration and un independent.
Let's see the next Govt. What they can do for us.
Best wishes.
Babe khyber

[Notjustok]

I am a regular reader of this board. It has kept me going and sane. am of Somali nationality I applied for BC in July 2014. The bank balance dropped almostb immediately and I received ack letter shortly after that. I received the rude template format of a letter that most of us received, asking to wait another three to six months s Whilst I know a few people who received the same and now have received their approvals I thought I will wait. Two weeks ago I received a letter asking me to send my two travel documents. I sent them two weeks today (27th) with a self addressed secured envelope. This was sent to me with a self addressed return envelope and my HO reference number.. Has anyone else been through this kind of a thing. My congratulations to all those who have received their approvals especially may June July 2014 cases

Hi Mate,

I also apply same time as you in July 2014 last year, and i also receive a letter in mid march 2015 which says i should send my proof of address for last 5 years. i have send all the requested document since 28th of march and am yet to receive any response from HO. so be cool and keep ur fingers crossed.

[huqqapani]

Does anyone know whether they can book Ceremony in a different council to their local one which HO have chosen. The one at mine is over 4 weeks away.

Please let me know if someone has managed to do that.

[Ran24]

Eligibility criteria: 3 Year Route + 1 Yr ILR + Partner BC
Language criteria met - Life in the UK + English test certificate
Method of application: NCS
Date of application: 10-04-2015
Payment method: Debit card
Date of receipt by UKBA: Waiting
Date of debit or clearance of fees: Waiting
Date of acknowledgment: Waiting
Date approval received: Waiting
Date of ceremony: Waiting

I have been in UK since Mar 2008 and eligible to apply with my 5 yrs status , but prefered to do it with 3 Yrs + BC partner. No idea what the long term consequences of 6(1) / 6(2) . Appreciate if any one has got any insight of this ?

[funnyboi]

APPROVED

Eligibility Criteria: 10 Long residence + 1 year ILR
Language Criteria Met: Life in UK + UK University certificate
Method of Application: NCS (Carlton, Notts)
Date of Application: 3rd December 2014
Date of Receipt by Home Office: Waiting
Date of Debit of Fees: Credit Card - 11/12/2014
Date of Receipt of Acknowledgement: 17/12/2014
Date of Receipt of Approval: 18/04/2015 (Letter dated 15/04/2015)
Date of Ceremony: 02/06/15 (public)

Time Taken: 4 months 18 days roughly
HO requested my passport mid March 2015 for the duration covering from 2009 till 2011. Posted it right away.
Best of luck to all December 2014 applicants as these seems to be coming through now.

Congratulation mate but if you don't mind asking what nationality are you? Much appreciated

[funnyboi]

Hi there,
I was waiting since mid February last year now I am running in 15 month no decision has been taken for the reason of discrimination because we are a third category human in the uk as refugee. The home office willing to investigation for possible involvement of war crime. But they didn't discovered any involvement that is why they still delaying any application through refugee route immigration history. Any way there is very little chance for refugees to succeeded their naturalisation from the fascist and dearly beloved present Government. Their is publicly thought of anti immigration in uk. I hope if the labour win the election then will be much chances but no chance from the Tories.
We are still looking for any possible way to highlights the issues but print media as well anti immigration and un independent.
Let's see the next Govt. What they can do for us.
Best wishes.
Babe khyber

What is your nationality Babe khyber, if you don't mind asking mate?

[captainus83]

@junk2014,

I know the travel isnt the issue. i was just wondering that why would someone with same profile gets in 2 weeks and someone just hangs in there for 6 months??

Also, i fear that just in case they send it to wrong address and lets say post gets returned (happened for my son and then for my Mrs. ILR time) I would never come to know and after 3 months the citizenship expires if you Don't do ceremony .

Simple trick is to call them after every couple of weeks and say you've away from the address and would like to know if they sent anything.

The new help desk claims they dont have access to the status of application ... i am pretty sure they are bullshitting. as perviously when I applied for my son's they were able to tell.

[ppycrmt]

Eligibility criteria: 8 Years Student + 2 Years Post Study Work + 1 Year ILR
Language criteria met - Life in the UK + Degree from the UK
Method of application: NCS
Date of application: 23-04-2015
Payment method: Debit card
Date of receipt by UKBA: Waiting
Date of debit or clearance of fees: Waiting
Date of acknowledgment: Waiting
Date approval received: Waiting
Date of ceremony: Waiting

[captainus83]

help needed..gurus..senior members...

I have got citizenship and passport followwing Tier1 route.

my wife came here after june 2012 so 5 year route applied to her at the time.

she extended her tier1 dependent visa... which now expires in 2017...even then she will be short of 5 years.

Question

as i got british passort now.... can she aplly for british nationality and passort as she has been here 2.5 years... Or she needs to further extend her current tir 1dependent visa when it expires in 2017.

PLEASE advise what are Options for her now..

Thanks in advance

She now can apply British spouse visa , i think its FLR form? and get her ILR first. one needs to be on Indefinite leaves to remain before applying citizenship.

[EternalOptimist]

Eligibility Criteria: UKM
Method of Application: Courier to UKVI Liverpool
Date of Sending Application: 20/04/2015
Date of Application Delivery: 21/04/2105 (Signed for at Mail Room)
Date of Receipt by Home Office: Waiting
Date of Debit of Fees: Waiting
Date of Receipt of Acknowledgement: Waiting
Date of Receipt of Approval: Waiting
Date of Ceremony: Waiting

@EternalOptimist: I hope you get your approval quickly! I sent you a PM but it's still showing in my outbox

Thanks I am not permitted to use PM...

1st week down....

[mykarl123]

I posted my circumstances in the hope of getting some encouragement cos am loosing it. The h.o asked for my original travel documents. I got the 3 to six month wait letter in February 6th. I am Somalia nationality and it's been two weeks since I sent this with a self addressed secured return envelope. Has anyone been through this and what was the outcome.. Good luck to all of us who are waiting

[The.Watcher]

I posted my circumstances in the hope of getting some encouragement cos am loosing it. The h.o asked for my original travel documents. I got the 3 to six month wait letter in February 6th. I am Somalia nationality and it's been two weeks since I sent this with a self addressed secured return envelope. Has anyone been through this and what was the outcome.. Good luck to all of us who are waiting

If you sent the required docs via some form of recorded delivery then have you tracked it to confirm delivery?

I'm sorry to say that just because they have asked for documentation it may not mean that they have made a decision, it may just be that they wanted further evidence to aid in their decision. It is safe to say no one can 100% guarantee or understand the full process that UKVI uses in their application process. The whole 1st in 1st out doesn't apply to all cases.

[mykarl123]

Thank you for your answer. Don't know if to remain positive or not and yes I tracked the delivery and they received it on the 27th April. However I was advised that I could not track the return post. The wait is excruciating. I have read some cases that were asked for documents and received approvals in 3 or so weeks. I hang on to that as the only hope. Once again good luck to all that are waiting somethinggood will turn up

[fdie287rg9324r]

A lot of people here are being dramatic and need to calm down and understand that citizenship is not a right, it is a privilege, and the fee that we pay does not entitle us to receive it when we want it. It is a big job and a big deal, there are limited case workers, they don't give 1 application to 1 caseworker, each caseworker needs to check hundreds of applications, it could easily be thousands actually. And they need to check each application according to the guidelines issued by the Secretary of State and obviously the immigration laws. Also, they need to confirm backgrounds by doing several checks, checking that documents are authentic, etcetera. No one knows if their case is straightforward. That means nothing. If they need to check with a consulate or government abroad to authenticate a document, they need to wait for that government/consulate to reply, so there's no such thing as straightforward case. There are many ways to make an application and they need to check against all of these different ways, each of them have different rules. Before complaining try to go and read all of the rules and laws and see how easy it is!? Their job is to make sure that only the people that fall within the guidelines obtain the citizenship, so our country isn't full of criminals for example. Crying about it and being upset about will not speed up the process. Actually whenever someone calls, the caseworkers need to take time off to answer these calls. They cannot give any details on the calls, so it really is wasted time. Imagine how many calls they get every day, now make a sum of all the minutes that they waste. Maybe they could do an extra 10 or 20 applications every day by not having to answer calls. Wait until the 6 months are over and then enquire, but understand that your anxiety before 6 months will only make the process go slower for you and everyone else. My application was more straightforward than others here, I am a EU citizen which means that I don't even need a visa to be here, I sent all the proofs and they still took 4 months to reach a decision. I didn't call them or emailed them once. Once the application is in their hands the applicant cannot be deported, so why all the fuss? Be patient and it will arrive when it's supposed to, everyone has paid the fee, there's no such thing as a "straightforward" application. Some people get it faster because the government of their original country is quicker to send results back to the home office, there's nothing that the home office can do while they are waiting.

[tripping]

Eligibility criteria: 5 Year + ILR (Tier 1 General)
Language criteria met: Life in the UK Test (March 2013) & Australian passport
Current nationality: Australian
Method of application: NCS
Council name if NCS used: Camden, London
Date of application: 20/02/2015
Payment method: Credit Card
Date of receipt by UKBA: 26/02/2015
Date of fee deducted: 26/2/2015
Date of application acknowledgment: Received 2/3/2015, letter dated 26/02/2015. No SMS update.
Date approval letter and citizenship invitation received: 26/3/2015 letter dated 22/3/2015
Date of ceremony: 1/4/2015

No additional evidence was required during the process.

So in total 35 days taken from application submission to receipt of approval letter.

A bit on my background and experience completing the form for those that may have similar concerns:

1. Contracting through limited company, I selected director (not self employed) and entered my limited company details on the form.
2. Address of tax office – I put down Cardiff address (check your HMRC letters), plus tax office reference
3. For section on not paying tax through PAYE, I submitted SA302 from HMRC for the last 5 years (just in case). Called up HMRC and received them within a week. This is crucial for if you are director (not explicitly stated in guide).
4. Filled in by hand in black pen, the section on absences. I thought about attaching separate Excel spreadsheet instead (did this for ILR), but thought I will follow the guide explicitly, ie fill in absences details ON the form.
5. Make a copy of your Life in the UK test letter for yourself -HO now requires the ORIGINAL letter to be submitted.
6. Make copies of the completed form and ALL supporting documents prior to NCS – NCS does not make copies for you as a rule.

I have read the forums for advice for completing the form which have been extremely helpful. I would consider my application to be pretty straightforward ( be on electoral roll, be employed, have HMRC records, submit relevant documentation etc) and am happy to say its now almost the end (still waiting for my passport application to be approved).

Good luck to all.

[Oxford123]

applied nationality 2nd December 2014. Application refused. Reason given below.
As u applied 3rd Dec so the qualifying period runs from the 4th December 2009 up until the 3 Dec 2014.
As u were in the uk in breach of immigration law from the 8th of April 2010 when application rejected (reason was non payment of fee) until 6 July 2010 on which date you were than awarded further leave to remain, this requirement is not met.
Also advised to apply after 6 July 2015.

Plz advise that should I apply for reconsideration or wait till 6 july 2015 as in 2010 I applied in time but home office rejected application as invalid coz of fee problem. I still can prove that I had enough funds in my account in 2010 when I applied so its not my fault.
Plz advise. Best regards

[egoneo]

applied nationality 2nd December 2014. Application refused. Reason given below.
As u applied 3rd Dec so the qualifying period runs from the 4th December 2009 up until the 3 Dec 2014.
As u were in the uk in breach of immigration law from the 8th of April 2010 when application rejected (reason was non payment of fee) until 6 July 2010 on which date you were than awarded further leave to remain, this requirement is not met.
Also advised to apply after 6 July 2015.

Plz advise that should I apply for reconsideration or wait till 6 july 2015 as in 2010 I applied in time but home office rejected application as invalid coz of fee problem. I still can prove that I had enough funds in my account in 2010 when I applied so its not my fault.
Plz advise. Best regards

if in April 2010 you applied for leave to remain before your visa run out, then if i understand correctly it would have been extended under section 3c (even in the event of a rejected payment). It's not your fault that because of human error, on the home office side, that your application got returned, especially if you can prove that at the time you had sufficient funds. I would request a reconsideration, including the rejected letter you received five years ago, attached with the bank statement, and also a well worded cover letter. Im no expert but others on this forum can advise.

Just to note as well, since they've changed the rules (after you applied), they could well reject you again if you apply in july because in the 10 years preceding the application you can't have been in breach of immigration law (sneaky i know).

[imraniqbal2010]

applied nationality 2nd December 2014. Application refused. Reason given below.
As u applied 3rd Dec so the qualifying period runs from the 4th December 2009 up until the 3 Dec 2014.
As u were in the uk in breach of immigration law from the 8th of April 2010 when application rejected (reason was non payment of fee) until 6 July 2010 on which date you were than awarded further leave to remain, this requirement is not met.
Also advised to apply after 6 July 2015.

Plz advise that should I apply for reconsideration or wait till 6 july 2015 as in 2010 I applied in time but home office rejected application as invalid coz of fee problem. I still can prove that I had enough funds in my account in 2010 when I applied so its not my fault.
Plz advise. Best regards

When you received and what is refusal date on the letter?