May 2014 - Naturalisation Application Timeline

1just wrote: No point getting stressed though. Shame only we have to pay sooooo much..

You should have read the comments on the "Daily Shame" article about the 208000 migrants being guilty of the passport office being clogged!

"Ah they pay!? So they should get passports before us, native Brits?!"

Any updates from 1st / 2nd week applicants...?

keerthi wrote:Any updates from 1st / 2nd week applicants...?

No update until now in this week, really worrying. I visit this page every 3-4 hour. Suddenly saw topic jumped on the top, thought some good news has come !!!

Looks passports backlog has come to bite us now !

True about passports, but based on the updates in the passport timeline thread, max 6 weeks for most...so we can assume we fall in the category of 'most'

My wife applied for naturalisation on 14th May, was looking forward to see updates from the 1st and 2nd week applicants, since the usual time it takes is 6 weeks. But with no updates from the 1st and 2nd week applicants, I am getting anxious.

Applied on 1/2 May and I have got no news to share.

Home Office got my application on 14th May, fees were taken on 20th May. Waiting for the decision

Eligibility criteria: 2 Yr WP + 3 Tier1 + 1yr ILR
Language criteria met (UK degree, exempt countries, PBS used documents, NARIC, or B1 test): Degree Cert and PBS print
Current nationality: Indian
Method of application: NCS
Council name if NCS used: Birmingham
Date of application: 11/06/2014
Payment method CC/DC, Personal cheque, Bankers cheque etc: Credit Card
Date of receipt by UKBA: 12/06/2014
Date of aknowlegment: TBC
Date of debit or clearance of fees: TBC
Date approval received: TBC
Date of ceremony: TBC

Hi all!
I applied on the 6 May, haven' t heard from HO since! After reading a post in March applicants forum about the approval letter lost in post will not want to leave it for too long and will be rinning HO on upgrate on the 6 July.

[quote="skilled_migrant"][quote="keerthi"]
I applied on 1st may no reply yet fees taken on 9th
One member who applied on 28th April got his approval today 19th june
So hopefully mine is on its way by next week;-)

It looks like I am the first person on this board to receive the approval letter for a May application. I came home tonight to find the letter from Home Office.

I know many of you have been waiting for the first May application approval so this should come as great news.


Eligibility criteria: WP for 2 years, Tier 2 for 4 years, 1 year on ILR
Language criteria met : From an English speaking country
Method of application: NCS
Date of application: 1 May 2014
Payment method : credit card
Date of aknowlegment: letter received on 15 May (dated 9 May)
Date of debit or clearance of fees: 9 May
Date approval received: 19 June 2014 (dated 12 June)

Congrats toad! Here is hoping the flood gates have opened for us May applicants.

Applied on the 6th of May and am still waiting, patiently (ok.. that "patiently" part is a lie")

Congrats toad! I applied on 1st of may as well hopefully i ll get my approval as well by next week.....

Congrats Toad, you have put a bit of life back in me too with the lovely news. Isnt it amazing how excited and happy total strangers are with your success !! If only everyone could be like that for everything and this world would definitely be a much nicer place.

My application went in on the 7th so I guess some time by next friday I might get some good news, fingers crossed.. wishing the best for everyone else too.

"mash2u" completely understand the patience bit, i guess its the uncertainty which causes us to be impatient.

Here is the updated sheet guys... not much progress but at least we have two green lines now.
The processing speed has gone down from 100 to 10 percent.
If anybody want to add any more information in the sheet please share the idea.

Thanks shaheen.

Just a suggestion - it probably makes sense to include "Date of Approval" AND "Date of Approval Received". So, for instance, toad would have a "Date of Approval" of 12th June and "Date of Approval Received" of 19th June. Hence, the "T. Working Days" should work of 19th June rather than the 12th June currently shown on your spreadsheet. Thoughts?

My mum says I got letter from HO about some missing papers! I've sent them all?!?! I can't wait to finish work and update you guys, ASAP!! At least some movement

Just a thought, I think T Working days in the excel sheet should be calculated from the date of debit because in my view application reaches the caseworker after this date.

I am calculating T. Working Days and new column total days both are calculated from debit date.

I wonder one thing. Any idea anyone how many of people applying could be in reality and how many is actually coming on this forum? Let's say in April applied 100 and here came 90%, in May 500 and here is 5%? Maybe that's real reason in such long delay in approvals?

Yes. Over the last year 208,000 "migrants" have been "handed out passports". Plus a few thousand those rejected. So it's about 215-220 thousand applications a year. Divide it by 12 months and see what tiny fraction of those come here.

Ok, here is an update about letter HO sent to me. They require from me acceptable English qualification. Although I've sent much higher certificates than those l have luckily as well and will post tmrw, they were not on the list of OFQUAL. So here is an advise, please DO check on OFQUAL.GOV.UK if your certificate for SPEAKING AND LISTENING is given by body listed there. My English certs I've sent are from City & guilds I think, they are sending me documents back as seen and approved so I'll check again but seems it don't matter they should proof I speak or listen much better than entry level )).
Also in the letter is telephone number for Uk visas and emmigration number from HO and it's 0300 123 2253. They stress to contact them only if absolutely necessary of course so make note of it , let's not disturb them in hard work with silly questions so maybe all of us will get approval faster
Shame I didn't pay attention to this language papers much and was wondering if I should send them as well, but thought those I've sent should do, probably would have my decision by now .
Good luck to all and hope to share with you good news very soon.

Based on the movements from April and May applications, I think, they have introduced a 'deliberate delay / variable speed limit' to minimise the passport backlogs?

Yes, agree with you keerthi !

Before the passport backlog average processing time was 50 days but for May applications only one person received approval in less than 50 days.

It is a 'deliberate delay'. It is immigration to blame for everything in this country. Whatever happens, punish immigrants!

It is not immigrant's fault if whole of UK start applying for their passports at the start of summer and keep sleeping for the rest of the year, and yet expect it to be processed in one week.

im getting anoying AND UPSET now mates ...53 dAYS HAVE BEEN PASSED NO APPROVAL LETTER YET .. I NEED TO TRAVEL END OF SEPT NOT MUCH TIME LEFT...