TIMELINE AFTER NATURALISATION APPLICATION SUBMISSION

[superrain]

i've come to the (not unusual) conclusion it's all a bit of a lottery, since I submitted my application by NCS on 27th March, and they still haven't even taken my fee. I phoned and they confirmed they received it (29th, though royal mail says 28th), but am loathe to call again to check if there's a problem with the payment details (I veyr much doubt it, but I suppose it's possible) - but if they still haven't taken it next week (which will be five weeks) I'm going to have to call again I think - any opinions?

just wondering whether we should perhaps have a 'delayed nationality' topic and keep this sticky strictly for timelines? not sure what the intentions of moderators are with this.

I phoned them 2 weeks after I submitted. They said it might take a few weeks to be processed because of a large amount of submissions just before the end of March. They didn't even let me know if my application was received, and just let me be patient and wait. Guess I was just lucky that I received the acknowledgement letter an extra week later. Good luck to others who are still waiting for the first letter.

[Firm Believer]

Application submitted through : NCS Chester
Date of submission or posting : 23 Mar 2007
CRITERIA - 5 yr stay (4 + 1 yr ILR)
Date of debit of debit/credit card : 12 April 2007
Date of receipt of acknowledgement :16 April 2007
Date of receipt of approval : 27 April 2007
Date of receipt of invitations : 10 May 2007 (Today)
Date of Ceremony : 13 June 2007
Date of appln. for passport : Awaiting
Method used : N/A
Date of Receipt : N/A

Absolutely chuffed to bits - words can't even begin to express how I feel. Its just over a month in total to the point I'm at. Now thats what you call efficient.

[CstrM8]

Application submitted through : NCS Chester
Date of submission or posting : 23 Mar 2007
CRITERIA - 5 yr stay (4 + 1 yr ILR)
Date of debit of debit/credit card : 12 April 2007
Date of receipt of acknowledgement :16 April 2007
Date of receipt of approval : 27 April 2007 (Today)
Date of receipt of invitations : Awaiting
Date of Ceremony : Awaiting
Date of appln. for passport : Awaiting
Method used : N/A
Date of Receipt : N/A

Absolutely chuffed to bits - words can't even begin to express how I feel. Its just over a month in total to the point I'm at. Now thats what you call efficient.

Firm Believer,

Do you mind if I ask what your nationality is (before you were naturalized as Brit of course!) I am also still waiting for my approval letter and I applied almost the same time as you. Just 4 days after you.

[kkarank]

Application submitted through : NCS
Date of submission or posting : 12 April 2007
Criteria : EEA family member, 4 years residence + ILR
Date of debit of debit/credit card : still not taken
Date of receipt of acknowledgement : still waiting
Date of receipt of approval : ---
Ceremony innvitation letter: ---

Have called them twice but they say it can take upto 4 weeks for the acknowledgement to be sent out ...anyone submitted around this date got their acks ??

cheers
kk

[champion]

mine is over 4 weeks and havent heard anything yet2

[SK1]

mine is over 4 weeks and havent heard anything yet2

And mine is over 8 weeks...

[virtual-writer]

Update

Application submitted through : POST
Date of submission or posting : 29 Mar 2007
Criteria : EEA family member, 4 years residence + ILR
Date of debit of debit/credit card : still not taken
Date of receipt of acknowledgement : today, date on the letter: 25 Apr
Date of receipt of approval : ---
Ceremony invitation letter: ---

Hey, champion, let's see who gets to the finish line first.

Now how fair is that... He's got 2 years ILR, and my husband (it's his appl) has only got barely seven months (citing special circumstances)... Plus we don't know what effect current/previous nationalities might have on the applications. And the case workers look at each case separately and each situation can be so different in so many ways....[/b]

[virtual-writer]

(29th, though royal mail says 28th)

They seem to do this regularly. On our Special delivery proof they've signed with 31st April, and Royalmail confirm it's 30th! They're not even supposed to accept mail on Saturdays, right?

[champion]

Thye do accept the post on Saturday. They do not work on them though. Just like any other office there will be security guard who will recieve post. They may authorised to sign for recorded delivery though.
In postal case we have a PO box address, in that case we cant get the signed for.

[virtual-writer]

In postal case we have a PO box address, in that case we cant get the signed for.

Ah, that makes sense. Of course, their "internal postman" gets the mail from the PO Box at the Post Office, the day after it was delivered to it/them. So, Royalmail say we delivered it to them on day one, but the BIA postman say I had it delivered to me on day two.

[maveli62]

Application submitted through : POST
Date of submission or posting : 13 Mar 2007
Criteria : Indian, 4 years residence + ILR
Date of debit of debit/credit card : 16 March
Date of receipt of acknowledgement : 21 March
Date of receipt of approval : ---
Ceremony innvitation letter: ---

[champion]

Now how fair is that... He's got 2 years ILR, and my husband (it's his appl) has only got barely seven months (citing special circumstances)... Plus we don't know what effect current/previous nationalities might have on the applications. And the case workers look at each case separately and each situation can be so different in so many ways....

Agree it all depends on how busy our case worker is and on various circumstances.
All I could see that BIA don't care about ILR , All they want (and must have) tick on 1 year ILR box. Your case will be taken but as you said it might required some team leader's review which could delay things by few days.
Even in my case there are some points that might require some one to review application (for example my refree is not from Doctor / Solicitor / Teacher background)

I am sure all these will not be a problem however it might delay things by few days and these few days might add up and ended in months.

However if I want to set a bench mark your case is closer to my case and now it all depends on how effecient our case worker is. It could be possible that your case worker is speedy then mine or may be our case is handling by same case worker.

[maveli62]

champion and SK1
Did you ever get an ack ?

I applied on march 13 and got an ack. I called them las week and they told me they are waiting for Police verification. don't know what that means.

Cheers

Maveli

[champion]

champion and SK1
Did you ever get an ack ?

I applied on march 13 and got an ack. I called them las week and they told me they are waiting for Police verification. don't know what that means.

Cheers

Maveli

I think SK1 got 1 but me and Virtual writer are still waiting. They have not even deducted money from our account.
I think BIA has randomly selected me and virtual writer as 2 applicant to send naturalization in 1st month and acknowledgement in second month.
Just kidding

[PACO]

Dear Nikshala,

First of all congratulations.

I will be applying for my passport in September and since I am a student, I was wondering what problems you encountered.

I was thinking of doing it via the NCS as some of my friends have done it and got their approval letter within a month.

I would really appreciate if you could please let me know the problems you encountered.

Thanks.

[SK1]

champion and SK1
Did you ever get an ack ?

I applied on march 13 and got an ack. I called them las week and they told me they are waiting for Police verification. don't know what that means.

Cheers

Maveli

I think SK1 got 1 but me and Virtual writer are still waiting. They have not even deducted money from our account.
I think BIA has randomly selected me and virtual writer as 2 applicant to send naturalization in 1st month and acknowledgement in second month.
Just kidding

I didn't get ack. letter until I called them to query something, then they told me they posted it to me, but I never received it. They wanted to re-send a copy, but I said nah it's okay, as long as I know they did receive my application and it's logged on their system.

SK1

[maveli62]

Champion and SK1,
Thanks for the reply. looks like it's going to bea long waiting time. Hope one day it will arrive.

[champion]

Today I gave upmy patience and called up BIA to see why they haven't taken payment from my account? Ideally this should have done by now.

Guess what for last 2 hours I am getting the message that they are too busy and asked me to call later (no option to hold the line)

[mon]

Guess what for last 2 hours I am getting the message that they are too busy and asked me to call later (no option to hold the line)

isn't that the most annoying part... and that loophole probably means they can say something along the lines of "no-one is kept on hold longer than 10 minutes" grrr...

still, you've saved me the trouble of ringing them, I'm just going to be patient. okay, I'm going to wait, but not patiently. still no fee taken, they got my application 5 weeks ago

[champion]

I wont give it up. 5 weeks is a lot of time. Call them on 0151 number as 0845 will be charged more
I guess you should select option 3, this should connect to someone quicker. and tell them ohh you are sorry you didn't realised you entered a wrong choice. I am sure you will get your line quickly.

Do it now. I think if you call them that would perhaps send them a reminder that they are late in sending ack. By this way you can also avoid the situation (like Mr. Tejawani's son was in) where they say ohh sorry we have your incorrect bank detail here and thats why we didn't took money off your account.

[champion]

I tried the 0845 number and there is a message saying that they have operational difficulties and they will work only till 6 pm.
Guess something wrong with their software or server and guess thye won't be able to tell me anything about my app.
Hopefully the issue is small and don't delay our application

[virtual-writer]

Update

Application submitted through : POST
Date of submission or posting : 29 Mar 2007
Criteria : EEA family member, 4 years residence + ILR
Date of debit from account: 2 May 2007
Date of receipt of acknowledgement : 28/4, date on the letter: 25 Apr
Date of receipt of approval : ---
Ceremony invitation letter: ---

[champion]

Great congrates.
I guess if you get an ack letter then most likely your documents etc are fine.
They have't even taken any money from my account.
Hope it wont be too late

[virtual-writer]

I guess if you get an ack letter then most likely your documents etc are fine.

Actually, no. They check what documents you've sent and write a list of them in the acknowledgement letter, but that doesn't mean anything, really.

This is our second application. Last time they sent the acknowledgement letter quicker, and the decision came about four months after the application was made. The respons was negative (too early, and we had not cited special circumstances ) and they said they had not looked at the evidences or even the application, so could not tell whether a subsequent claim would be granted approval or not.

[champion]

I am worried now as havent heard anything from them (except that they did recieved my app)

I am checking my Card every hour (online) to see if they deducted money.
Unfortunately no news.
I can't even say to myself that no news is a good news.
I apericiate mon who is waiting for 5 weeks to get the ack or money deducted.

Hopefully you will get positive outcome within 2 months.