Apply for citizenship

Steps to follow after completing the form online:

Step 1: Pay and submit application via UKVI.

Tip: Date of application is the date you pay and submit online, biometrics date is irrelevant.

Step 2: After payment, you will reach “further actions page.” If you click on “book an appointment,” system will reroute you to create an account on UKVCAS where you can upload your documents and book an appointment.

Tip: You are sent an access code to set up an account on UKVCAS which usually lands up in Junk folder.

Step 3: Booking an appointment with UKVCAS.

You must book an appointment now. IDV is the past except T4. You get 45 working days after submission.

Tip: You are given a deadline to submit your biometrics on the further actions page. Since the backlog for biometrics has subsided, you should meet the deadline.

Step 4: Now you can submit your documents to UKVI via UKVCAS portal even before your biometrics. The option usually appears when you have uploaded all your documents, sign out and sign in again. The option can be found on the “document upload page” right at the bottom.

Note: Self-submission is OPTIONAL. If you want to benefit from the new feature, you must upload and self-submit up to 48hrs before the appointment. If you do NOT want to self-submit, you can upload ANYTIME before the appointment date and submit at the appointment itself. Self-submission is recommended as you may save some processing time - your documents are sent to UKVI even before biometrics in this case. You can self-submit only ONCE. But if you forget to upload any documents, you can always upload later on (after self-submission) and submit at the appointment then (you will not be able to self-submit again but can submit at appointment again).

Read “self-submit” “submit” “upload” separately.

Tip: The best approach would be to benefit from the new self-submit feature.

Step 5: Once the process as stated above is completed, you should wait for a decision.