February 2014 - Naturalisation Application Timeline

I got the this reply 8 days ago:

Your application is currently ongoing in its consideration. All applications for citizenship are subject to enquiries to ensure that the statutory requirements have been satisfied. Because of these enquires, we anticipate that applications may take up to six months to complete. Some applications may be dealt with more quickly and some may take longer, depending on the nature of the enquiries to be carried out. Our service standards set out how quickly we aim to decide applications for British citizenship. The standard is that we will decide 95% of applications within six months.



I called them today again and was told that application is still under process,when I asked I know lot of people who applied in March got approvals...I was told it is on case by case basis and some applications can take longer.....

"I lived in Northern Ireland 4 years back. I went throught this process (PSNI) for my ILR application 1 year back. Do I need to go through the same process again for my Naturalisation?

I think HO office has my profile including OLD document (e.g. PSNI- certificate). Am I right?[/quote]"

I think it depends - you might be asked and then again you might not. I don't think there is any rule - it depends on the caseworker as well.

Hi All
I have read your thread today and many more and think their is an error on part of the HO because it's not clear why they handle particular applications different from others. For example a client advised that the degree from India had been used on tier 1 and settlement and was asked for proof that the degree was taught in English and the UK naric docs. We subsequently advised the client to return the original degree plus point based print out plus certificate of comparability and leave out the English language assesment because it was already proved in earlier applications. We wrote a strong personal cover letter to support the application by referring to the case worker guidance for English language assesment ukba which can be Googled. It clear that the English language letter assesment from UK Naric is a wastage of money because the guidance says it's applicable if qualification is not on point based calculator. So we never attached it and today the applicant got approval.

brightlight wrote:

ssingh6 wrote:@ brightlight: may be we both have the same caseworker...lazy

@ssingh6: lol .. Hope we got case worker assigned already, average time is 4-8 weeks, if it passed 8 weeks I would get worried.. Let see. Good night everyone. Will dream of Brown letter.

Ps. I got brown letter this morning, I was so excited, but it turn out to be a BILLS... Lol

I had a similar situation on Sat - brown letter in the post turned out to be a Uni letter

Anyway, I don't understand on which basis they decide applications - why some March applicants have already received approvals and some Jan applicants are still waiting, for example. Another thing, are the applications quieueing there or they are being decided simultaniously?

Eligibility criteria: HSMP + Tier 1 + 1yr ILR
Language criteria met (UK degree, exempt countries, PBS used documents, NARIC, or B1 test): degree from an exempt country
Current nationality: (prefer not to say)
Method of application: NCS
Council name if NCS used: Brent
Date of application: 19-02-1014
Payment method CC/DC, Personal cheque, Bankers cheque etc: Debit card
Date of receipt by UKBA: 21-02-2014
Date of debit or clearance of fees: 25-02-2014
Date of acknowledgement: 28-02-2014 (Dated 25-02-2014)
Date approval received: 11-04-2014
Date of ceremony: TBC

seems Feb 2014 approvals have died out

jah79 wrote:Eligibility criteria: 5 yrs residence + 2 yrs ILR
Language criteria met: NARIC
Current nationality: South African
Method of application: NCS
Council name if NCS used: Wandsworth
Date of application: 18/02/2014
Payment method: DC
Date of receipt by UKBA: 20/02/2014
Date of acknowledgement: 28/02/2014 (letter dated 24/02/2014)
Date of debit or clearance of fees: 25/02/2014 (transaction was made their end 24/02/2014)
Date of approval: 31/03/2014 (email confirmation from NCS after asking for update on application)
Date of ceremony: 16/04/2014

Attending my ceremony this afternoon! Thanks for all the help on here, a truly great resource which I recommend to many people.

Good luck to those still waiting and see the rest of you on the passport thread!

jah79 wrote:

jah79 wrote:Eligibility criteria: 5 yrs residence + 2 yrs ILR
Language criteria met: NARIC
Current nationality: South African
Method of application: NCS
Council name if NCS used: Wandsworth
Date of application: 18/02/2014
Payment method: DC
Date of receipt by UKBA: 20/02/2014
Date of acknowledgement: 28/02/2014 (letter dated 24/02/2014)
Date of debit or clearance of fees: 25/02/2014 (transaction was made their end 24/02/2014)
Date of approval: 31/03/2014 (email confirmation from NCS after asking for update on application)
Date of ceremony: 16/04/2014

Attending my ceremony this afternoon! Thanks for all the help on here, a truly great resource which I recommend to many people.

Good luck to those still waiting and see the rest of you on the passport thread!

Congratulations jah79! did you use the same FurtherNationalityEnquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk to get the status of your application?

xeel wrote: Congratulations jah79! did you use the same FurtherNationalityEnquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk to get the status of your application?

I did use that address but they were slow to respond. Every time I emailed my local NCS they replied within the hour with an update on my application. Great service by them.

Great. My NCS (Hillingdon) does not even have an email address to contact, and they are clueless over the phone

jah79 wrote:

xeel wrote: Congratulations jah79! did you use the same FurtherNationalityEnquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk to get the status of your application?

I did use that address but they were slow to respond. Every time I emailed my local NCS they replied within the hour with an update on my application. Great service by them.

I emailed also NCS newbury and I was told that they can't provide any information after the submission of application and I should contact HO directly...

ssingh6 wrote:seems Feb 2014 approvals have died out

@ssingh6: No news from me too. Looking like our case is going to take longer time. Which It depends on case worker. nothing we can do just have to wait. I wonder how they assign the case to a case worker.

If One case worker could only work on HSMP application only for example , or one case worker could handle all type of application.

This could be factor of the delay. ( in my opinion)
Example if there were 3 case workers for each type of application.
And case worker only got assigned with the type of application they specialised. If there were more work loaded of one type of application, let say HSMP. Then there must be a long waiting in the queue. That s why it is delay??
Note: it is just an opinion of mine. It s not the fact.

My coming up to 8 weeks waiting no news.

brightlight wrote:

ssingh6 wrote:seems Feb 2014 approvals have died out

@ssingh6: No news from me too. Looking like our case is going to take longer time. Which It depends on case worker. nothing we can do just have to wait. I wonder how they assign the case to a case worker.

If One case worker could only work on HSMP application only for example , or one case worker could handle all type of application.

This could be factor of the delay. ( in my opinion)
Example if there were 3 case workers for each type of application.
And case worker only got assigned with the type of application they specialised. If there were more work loaded of one type of application, let say HSMP. Then there must be a long waiting in the queue. That s why it is delay??
Note: it is just an opinion of mine. It s not the fact.

My coming up to 8 weeks waiting no news.

Not sure. I think among all people who posted here I am the only one applying through EU route. So there shouldn't be many applicants in this area causing delay. Maybe it's the other way around, the caseworkers are not experienced in dealing with this type of "rare" applications?

]Language criteria met (UK degree, exempt countries, PBS used documents, NARIC, or B1 test):
Current nationality:
Method of application: NCS
Council name if NCS used: NCS
Date of application: 07/02/2014
Payment method CC/DC, Personal cheque, Bankers cheque etc: DC
Date of receipt by UKBA: 10/02/2014
Date of acknowledgment: 17/02/2014 dated on 13/02 2014
Date of debit or clearance of fees: 13/02/2014
Date approval received: Dated 02/04/2014
Date of ceremony: 15/04/2014

Applying for my passport on 26/04/2014. As i need to get someone to countersigned my application and photo

Many thanks to everyone on this forum and Good-luck to people still waiting.

Eligibility criteria - 6 years eea (including 9 months pr card)
Current nationality: polish
Method of application: NCS
Council name if NCS used: Dartford
Date of application: 19/02/2014
Payment method - debit card
Date of receipt by UKBA: 21/02/2014
Date of acknowledgment: 28/03/2014 dated 25/02
Date of debit or clearance of fees: 25/02/2014
Date approval received: not yet

i emailed ukba about the progress, got reply on the 2nd of April that my application is currently under active consideration, not sure if it means it's with a caseworker, it's been 2 weeks since and still no letter

fatcat294 wrote:

fatcat294 wrote:Eligibility criteria: Work Permit 5 years + 1 yr ILR
Language criteria met (UK degree, exempt countries, PBS used documents, NARIC, or B1 test): LiUK, UK Bachelor/MSc degrees
Method of application: NCS
Council name if NCS used: Tower Hamlets
Date of application: 18th Feb
Payment method CC/DC, Personal cheque, Bankers cheque etc: Credit Card
Date of receipt by UKBA: - 21st Feb
Date of acknowledgment: - 27th Feb
Date of debit or clearance of fees: - 11th March (failed first time, resubmit with cheque)
Date approval received: - 16th April 2014 (dated 4th April 2014)
Date of ceremony:-

The long journey is over. Many thanks to this wonderful forum and good luck to those on the journey.

maverick18 wrote:

maverick18 wrote:Eligibility criteria: 2 years (HSMP) + 3 years (Tier-1 Visa)
Language criteria met (UK degree, exempt countries, PBS used documents, NARIC, or B1 test): PBS used documents(Bachelor degree)
Current nationality: Indian
Method of application: NCS
Council name if NCS used: Lewisham
Date of application: 12/02/14
Payment method (CC/DC, Personal cheque, Bankers cheque etc): Credit Card
Date of receipt by UKBA: 12/02/14
Date of acknowlegment: 18/02/14
Date of debit or clearance of fees: 18/02/14
Date approval received: 05/04/14
Approval letter dated: 27/03/14
Date of ceremony: TBC

Updated Timeline
Received approval letter yesterday. In fact, I had received an email from the caseworker dealing with my case on 23 Mar seeking some clarifications regarding my name(due to a minor discrepancy between the names mentioned in passport and application form). After I replied to him email on the same day, he was kind enough to respond back on 27 Mar and informed me that my citizenship application has been approved. He also provided me my application reference number and also mentioned when I could expect the letter to arrive. This is the first time I have experienced such amazing service from UKBA(or UKVI as they call themselves these days)in all my years of dealing with them.

Updated Timeline
Eligibility criteria: 2 years (HSMP) + 3 years (Tier-1 Visa)
Language criteria met (UK degree, exempt countries, PBS used documents, NARIC, or B1 test): PBS used documents(Bachelor degree)
Current nationality: Indian
Method of application: NCS
Council name if NCS used: Lewisham
Date of application: 12/02/14
Payment method (CC/DC, Personal cheque, Bankers cheque etc): Credit Card
Date of receipt by UKBA: 12/02/14
Date of acknowlegment: 18/02/14
Date of debit or clearance of fees: 18/02/14
Date approval received: 05/04/14
Approval letter dated: 27/03/14
Date of ceremony: 15/04/2014

I would like to thank all the forum members for your valuable guidance and support throughout my Immigration journey right from my initial HSMP application.

UPDATE

Eligibility Criteria : 9 years exercising of treatment rights, plus married to UK citizen
Language Criteria: IELTS
Method of Application : York NCS
Date of Application : 14 - Feb - 2014
Date of Debit of Fees : 21 - Feb - 2014
Date of Receipt of Acknowledgement : never received
Date of Receipt of Approval : 17 - April 2014 (letter dated 8 -April - 2014)
Date of Ceremony : 04 June 2014

Will have to send certificate back to the HO after though, as they managed to misspell my maiden name (normal letter instead of Umlaut) - I don't feel too strongly about it, but worried it could cause problems with passport application - does anyone know?

Very quite on approvals.....

seems HO has already gone on Easter BREAK ...

Hi

Yes get it fixed, as passport office follow the name as on certificate. Its better to get it fixed, rather then causing unnecessary delay

violentviolet wrote:UPDATE

Eligibility Criteria : 9 years exercising of treatment rights, plus married to UK citizen
Language Criteria: IELTS
Method of Application : York NCS
Date of Application : 14 - Feb - 2014
Date of Debit of Fees : 21 - Feb - 2014
Date of Receipt of Acknowledgement : never received
Date of Receipt of Approval : 17 - April 2014 (letter dated 8 -April - 2014)
Date of Ceremony : 04 June 2014

Will have to send certificate back to the HO after though, as they managed to misspell my maiden name (normal letter instead of Umlaut) - I don't feel too strongly about it, but worried it could cause problems with passport application - does anyone know?

ssingh6, i think we will get letters by this saturday

ssingh6 wrote:Very quite on approvals.....

seems HO has already gone on Easter BREAK ...

how many people are in the Feb 2014 were still waiting for approval. even I know some group from Mar 2014 has gated approval.
I am still waiting for reply as well from the home office. I have just received automatic reply from the home office nothing from case worker.
best wishes for those who are still waiting.
babe Khyber.

uk
To Me



Apr 15 at 11:50 PM




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Eligibility criteria: 2yrs WP + 3yrs Tier-1 + 1yr ILR
Language criteria met : UK NARIC certificate
Method of application: NCS
Council name if NCS used: Camden, London
Date of application: 08.02.2014
Payment method CC/DC: Debit Card
Date of receipt by UKBA: 11.02.2014 (Royal mail Proof of Delivery)
Date of acknowledgement: Dated 14.02.2014 (Received 18.02.2014)
Date of debit or clearance of fees: 14.02.2014
Date approval received: 12.04.2014
Date of ceremony: 13.05.2014

Postby asadulla » Thu Apr 17, 2014 1:38 pm

Finally brown envelope arrived, after a long wait of 5 months.

My Time line
Eligibility criteria: HSMP 3 years+ Tier 1 2 years + 1 year ILR (Applied for myself, wife and 2 children.)
Method of application: NCS - Bolton
Date of application: 11/11/13
Date of receipt by UKBA: 12/11/13
Date of debit of fees: Payment drawn from my account on 11/01/14.
Date of Acknowledgment received: 15/01/2014 (dated 11/01/2014)
Date of approval: 10/04/2014 Post arrived on 17/04/2014
Date of Ceremony: Not yet


Apparently the delay was due my Case worker going off sick.

Also for KOLL requirements i had only submitted my Degree certificate and letter from university stating that my degree was taught in English.
I had received a letter from Home office requesting for NARIC letter. As NARIC letter was not required as per the home office website. I mentioned this clearly in a covering letter and also included a self assessment from the point based calculator. This was sufficient and i received approval based on this.

Thanks for everyone.
asadulla
Newbie

I see atleast one success with PBS printout when HO asked for NARIC letter. Hope this turns out to be the norm rather than exception.

Eligibility criteria: Permanent Resident Card Plus BC Wife
Language criteria met (UK degree, exempt countries, PBS used documents, NARIC, or B1 test): B1 Test
Current nationality: Nigeria
Method of application: NCS
Council name if NCS used: LBBD
Date of application: 25|Feb|2014
Payment method CC/DC, Personal cheque, Bankers cheque etc: Debit Card
Date of receipt by UKBA: 26|Feb|2014
Date of acknowledgment: 28|Feb|2014
Date of debit or clearance of fees: 28|Feb|2014
Date approval received: 17|04|2014 (dated: 07|04|2014)
Date of ceremony: 17|04|2014

Thank you everyone, this is to notify you that my citizen journey as come to completion. called the council and arranged private ceremony I was told to come the next hour. I have just sent the certificate off for passport application, form was filled before now.