HMPO questions Naturalisation Status withdraws passport application

Good infernos

This is what I said logically, Indian passport is the issue of Indian government and embassy, nothing to do with HO,

Don’t make a non issue an issue.

If after applying inside UK HMPO raises queries then think to resolve after it, but as I said in previous reply process is straightforward if applicant want to make it simple.
Thankx

Yes that's correct. You should apply for your first passport from the UK and if they question you on your work situation in India - you could justify it by saying India doesn't let people surrender their citizenship till you produce a passport of the naturalised country. Ideally they should allow people to renounce the citizenship based on naturalisation certificates. But that is another issue.

So as advised by others on this forum, you should try to apply for passport again (in country). And if they refuse again then you could take a legal advise from a immigration lawyer etc.. also try to explain the situation to Indian High Commission in London and get your Indian citizenship revoked.

And during this process do not travel anywhere using Indian passport..

From my point of view, future intentions is not limited to two years only, rather it's a long term thingy, you can be away for two years for 'xy' reasons and then return to your country which any country's citizen would do, so you have an argument there, although it's all complicated from the start, as advised already, try to apply again from inside the UK and see how it goes.

Thank you MYA, shinebright, dilip_gem, AdInfernos, baddy, this has gone a long way in getting my thinking straight. I have now applied for my first passport, I will keep you updated.
Fewof points, although it may not be pertinent to my UK passport application as the UK has no problems with any citizen having dual nationality
(1) I have had to submit my Indian passport as part of this current application to HMPO so I won't be able to surrender it until I get it back from HMPO
(2) India expects people in my position (using a passport despite being a foreign national) to pay a fine for every time you travel using the passport and for every day I keep it after the first 3 years. However as per process I am expected to submit my UK passport in order to surrender it. As soon I get my passport back I will surrender it and pay my fine. In fact I did not want to use my Indian passport at all to travel and that is why I was stuck in India for 2 years waiting to resolve it. I also came back just before 2 years elapsed, fearing that the ILR would be invalidated
(3) To get a work visa in India I needed a UK passport. Also to get my OCI I would need a UK passport. I travelled because of a family bereavement with every intention to come back and resume work in UK. I was literally trapped in India due to this issue for 2 years because of what the HO did to me (took a year to withdraw my passport application and then did not reply to any of my clarifications). I did not even consider applying for an Indian work visa in the first place because my work was based in the UK not in India (even though I was employed by an Indian company)

Folks,
I obtained my UK passport today bring to close a saga that started 2 years ago when I first applied for my passport from India, that quickly got escalated 3 months ago when I landed in UK and my ILR card was impounded.
I wanted to write back and thank all of you who commented on the thread. I also wanted to give some pointers to people in case they have an issue similar to mine in future.

I followed a step by step process - first establishing that I was indeed a citizen (and that deprivation couldn't apply) and then following due process to obtain my passport. All of this takes time so it important to escalate to the right stakeholders. It helped that I was back in the UK (and not in India), that I had very strong humanitarian grounds (as I was away from my family and my kids were suffering etc.) and that my MP was empathetic to my suffering.

(1) The main breakthrough happened when I finally received a response from UKVI in mid December stating that they have gone through the allegations of HMPO and have also looked at my rebuttal. They found no grounds to Deprive me of my nationality. This is crucial to note, as the case worker clearly followed the process for deprivation and I had provided the right sort of evidence to help the case worker make the right decision. I did not require any legal process to help me get such a response. In fact I dealt with numerous lawyers and I found lawyers as confused as I was as they hadn't come across the situation before. The main thing that helped was escalating to my MP and following up for an answer from the UKVI. It took many weeks but finally persistence paid off

(2) Meanwhile I had applied for my UK passport based on the advice given by this forum. This came in very handy especially after the UKVI response. It was then quite easy to add an additional document to my passport application and process it routinely like one would a normal passport application in UK

(3) I still needed to escalate my HMPO passport application a few times as things were not as quick as I had hoped and HMPO had figured out that I had a complicated history. The HMPO escalation process is quite clearly laid out here - https://www.gov.uk/government/organisat ... -procedure and if you follow it diligently you eventually end up with the Director General's team. When matters reach that level after many levels of escalation, they are deemed important and are dealt with swiftly by an empowered team. Again the MP is the best way for you to be heard by the DG. I have been tempted a few times to take the legal course here as well, but honestly I find that UKVI and HMPO follow clearly laid out processes with clearly laid out guidelines and if you follow due process you will get there in the end

For all those who go through an ordeal such as this in future, I'd like to say that think of the Home Office as a slight slow organisation but one that understands and follows process. So if you are in a logjam, try and first understand the process they use and then try to figure what would help the Home Office decide. Very early on, this forum was able to point out the Deprivation process and it was the start of my own research on the Home Office processes. It helped me realise that the legal process is costly and futile (at least my specific case). It also helped me understand how the Home Office would go about addressing my issue and exactly what information was needed by them and what escalation process to use. Eventually, by simply following process, I was able to get there in the end.

As you said above, persistence has paid off. Congratulations!

Congratulations for your happy ending, Victor, and thanks for sharing the process.

Many many many many congratulations victor, finally you have done it.

Massive Congratulations! I am really happy for you. and Thank you for sharing your expereince in detail.

Congratulations, wasn't easy, but it's worth it. all the best for the future.

Wow this is quite a convoluted situation. May I ask what's the status of your Indian citizenship relinquishment. Were Indian authorities aware that you used an Indian passport under a grace period ? I'm told they're quite severe with misuse of an Indian passport by those who've technically lost their citizenship . Do you have documentation about Indian laws relevant to your situation ?

@victor 1980
Many thanks for the detailed account of your experience. I am experiencing something similar and planning to follow in your footsteps. Would be grateful on any additional recommendations on my situation:

Apologies in advance for the lengthy post.

I received my naturalization certificate in Nov 2015 and I flew out the day of the ceremony to Sri Lanka on a return ticket. I had quit my job and moved out of my rented apartment to start a business and was travelling to Sri Lanka to develop the product line. I couldn't return in Feb 2016 as planned but came back in Apr 2016 (using my BRP). I then started working actively in the business and my wife took a job because I wasn't able to draw a salary. Sixth months later when I returned from a trip to Canada my BRP was confiscated and I was told by IO to apply for a British Passport.

I had already booked a visit to Sri Lanka a few days from then, so I opted to submit my application from Sri Lanka in Nov 2016 (biggest mistake of my life), a year after being naturalized. They collected payment in Dec 2016 and requested additional documents in Jan 2017 and then nothing for a few months despite my calls to HMPO Helpline. I couldn't represent the business in the UK and fell out with my business partner forcing me to resign and pretty much lose over a year worth of effort and much more. In June I was interviewed at the local VFS office and advised that I would receive my passport in 6-8 weeks.

By this point I was sought for contract work in the UK and started calling the helpline virtually every day for an update to see if I could return to the UK and be considered for the role. I escalated it to the DG via my MP but no avail - they were told that the application was being processed. Eventually I received an e-mail response from a team who was supposedly handling my file. They too maintained that they were carrying out mandatory checks and there was nothing else to update. After asserting a great deal of pressure for them to find a way for me to return to the UK, they finally (a year after my application date) told me they could send my naturalization certificate back. By the time I received it, my wife's visa had expired and we'd just had a baby so weren't able to travel.

I wrote to this team from time to time, but always got the same response: mandatory checks. I wrote to HMPOs complaints team and they said the same thing. I wrote to the Prime Minister who wrote back saying that they'd be forwarding my letter to the Home Office.

Then on New years day (two years after my application date), I get a letter claiming that I had obtained BC by fraud as I had left the UK the day after the citizenship ceremony and only returned to the UK for a "brief visit in 2016" (a time when I was a active working director of a UK company). It also called into question my intention to make the UK my home as I was employed in Sri Lanka and settled with my family and maintained no ties to the UK.

Planning to come to the UK ASAP and re-submit passport application as recommended.

Question: Do you withdraw your Passport application before your submit in the UK?