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New citizenship form UKF

A section for posts relating to applications for Naturalisation or Registration as a British Citizen. Naturalisation

Moderators: Casa, push, JAJ, ca.funke, Amber, zimba, vinny, Obie, EUsmileWEallsmile, batleykhan, meself2, geriatrix, John, ChetanOjha, archigabe

NJProfessor
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Re: New citizenship form UKF

Post by NJProfessor » Mon Mar 14, 2016 3:37 pm

Fulgrun wrote:For other USA applicants who opted to go to Canada for biometrics (mbiano21, NJprofessor, bfrenchfry I think)...

They are still issuing biometric delay notices and now are not reporting an anticipated timeline for resolution or to "report back." :|
And nothing new for me at all, except I emailed NationalityBiometricsOverseas@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk just to confirm they actually got my biometrics on file (did them in Toronto on December 15.) I did get an email back within 3 days confirming they have the biometrics. But no other information. So given that my original application was on April 8, 2015, I have emailed FurtherNationalityEnquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk for an update, got the standard autoresponse saying they strive to respond within 20 working days...

I will note on another board I learned that someone else who went from the US to Canada to do biometrics (Vancouver) on December 15 has just received his/her approval letter. http://www.expatforum.com/expats/britai ... ics-4.html

So maybe soon...

Antsmall
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Re: New citizenship form UKF

Post by Antsmall » Mon Mar 14, 2016 5:50 pm

I'm in a similarly depressing situation. I applied in May, did my biometrics in Vancouver in January because I live in the USA where there are no biometric centres, and have heard nothing since. Meanwhile someone who applied in December (seven months after me) and completed their biometrics in February (a month after me) has already received their approval only three months after applying:

http://www.immigrationboards.com/britis ... l#p1320613
Received my approval letter on Friday. Total time it took is exactly three months.

Timeline:

Eligibility criteria: UKM
Nationality: South Africa
Applying from: South Africa, Cape Town
Method of application: Courier - DHL (to agency in UK)
Date of application: 07/12/2015
Payment method: Credit card
Date of receipt by UKBA: Application handed in by agency on 11/12/2015
Date money gone off account: 10/12/2015 (via agency)
Date of acknowledgement: 26/01/2016 (letter dated 12/01/2016)
Date of letter requesting biometrics: 26/01/2016 (letter dated 12/01/2016)
Biometrics done: 03/02/2016 in Cape Town
Date of approval: 11/03/2016 (letter dated the 8th)
I can't help feeling disgust for the total disregard with which some of us are entirely ignored while others are treated with attentive solicitude.

Lord Avebury was the person who introduced the UKF law into the Immigration Act 2014. Because I was one of the long-time campaigners for this law I was in contact with him and he knew that I had applied for citizenship; I imagined that I'd be able to give him the good news of my approval months ago. Instead, they strung me along endlessly and mercilessly and now he is dead. Also, because I had to fight so hard for my birthright (which my father's other children were of course granted automatically), I wanted to make sure that any offspring of mine would have British citizenship (even though as a citizen 'by descent only' I might have to give birth in Britain to ensure this). Therefore, despite being married for ten years, I waited to procreate, and now I'm old and presumably infertile. Nice job doing your job, Home Office robot people.

bright_star
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Re: New citizenship form UKF

Post by bright_star » Tue Mar 15, 2016 10:20 pm

JJL wrote:
bright_star wrote:Guys who have already applied for passport, any news about it?
Hi Bright Star

I applied on a Tuesday and received my passport the following week Wednesday. It is so quick.
thanks for your reply, JJL.

did you have a British countersignatory?

JJL
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Re: New citizenship form UKF

Post by JJL » Thu Mar 17, 2016 8:55 am

bright_star wrote:
JJL wrote:
bright_star wrote:Guys who have already applied for passport, any news about it?
Hi Bright Star

I applied on a Tuesday and received my passport the following week Wednesday. It is so quick.
thanks for your reply, JJL.

did you have a British countersignatory?
Hi Bright Star,

Yes I did. I think that did help hurry things along. Also I emailed the office processing my application and very politely aked for a quicker processing time. They very kindly agreed. Worth a try.

canabrit
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Re: New citizenship form UKF

Post by canabrit » Thu Mar 17, 2016 8:59 pm

Well,

I hit my 6 week mark after receiving the approval letter yesterday. So I emailed the support address, as it stipulates in the letter, but nothing from Home Office or the Consulate here in Toronto yet... Here we go...

Ironically, I was sent an email by them asking me to fill out a survey about customer service. No joke. Think I'll wait until I get my ceremony. ;)

Cloverbea
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Re: New citizenship form UKF

Post by Cloverbea » Sun Mar 20, 2016 6:53 pm

Update... We are in the UK now on holiday. Within a week of being here, we emailed home office and let them know we were here and that hubby wanted to do Biometrics. A couple of days later, a brown envelope slipped in the mail slot.. It was his biometrics letter!! That was last Saturday, biometrics were completed this past Monday. Very hopeful that being here will speed things up so we can get to Ireland!!
Recap:
US citizen applied September 1, 2015
Got all the delay letters... Decided to just come on holiday to UK to try to get things moving, seems it's working!

keji
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Re: New citizenship form UKF

Post by keji » Wed Mar 30, 2016 12:09 pm

update on my passport application which has taken long.
i have being sending mails upon mails and getting the same reply that the passport office has sent me a letter requesting for additional documents of which i haven't gotten any letter or mail. my reply has being samething all the times - no letter, but if they will send me an email to that effect i will respond. after too much disturbance. they sent me a phone number to call today of which i called immediately and same story of me not responding to additional document request. so i asked her, what document is it? - she said proof of address - national identity card, letter from employer, letter from govt etc.
of which i replied that my national identity card and employment letter has already been submitted and she said hold-on let me pass u to d passport office- after like 5mins she came back on the line that she cant reach them and that i should try again later
i dont know what else to do.

canabrit
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Re: New citizenship form UKF

Post by canabrit » Thu Mar 31, 2016 3:52 pm

My situation continues as well...

Waited the 6 weeks after the approval letter for a ceremony invitation, but it never came. So I emailed the address given in the letter about 2 weeks ago, but haven't heard a peep yet. Tried emailing the FurtherInquiries address yesterday and got an immediate stock response saying that it may take 20 business days for a response. But that's basically a month, which isn't helpful at all, because it's now been two months since my letter and you only have 3 to complete the ceremony.... Sooooo, not sure what to do here. I guess I just have to wait and hope that someone miraculously checks the emails at home office, but it seems silly that I can't just go to the consulate here to get things moving (they tell you not to in the letter). Ugh.

Thoughts?

Did anyone pass the 6 week mark, email the support address and get a response in a timely manner? If it wasn't timely, did you do anything to speed things up?

matkirk
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Re: New citizenship form UKF

Post by matkirk » Thu Mar 31, 2016 4:18 pm

The approval letter I got a few weeks back says I should expect an invitation within twelve weeks. Acccording to the agency I used there are major backlogs at the moment with issuing invitation letters.

canabrit
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Re: New citizenship form UKF

Post by canabrit » Fri Apr 01, 2016 2:41 pm

Yeah, they just said something similar... Finally had a reply from Home Office this morning stating that in fact they sent my 'documents' (what I presume is the certificate) towards Toronto on 'March 12th', and said it could take 8-12 weeks for the delivery of those documents, which makes no sense at all, considering it usually takes them maximum a week to send anything via Royal Mail to its destination. But point being, it's now out of their hands and I'm waiting for the consulate to get in touch. Though I would assume the consulate already received everything, so anyone's guess is as good as mine (as to when I'll actually hear from them)...

bfrenchfry
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Re: New citizenship form UKF

Post by bfrenchfry » Fri Apr 01, 2016 9:25 pm

canabrit wrote:Yeah, they just said something similar... Finally had a reply from Home Office this morning stating that in fact they sent my 'documents' (what I presume is the certificate) towards Toronto on 'March 12th', and said it could take 8-12 weeks for the delivery of those documents, which makes no sense at all, considering it usually takes them maximum a week to send anything via Royal Mail to its destination. But point being, it's now out of their hands and I'm waiting for the consulate to get in touch. Though I would assume the consulate already received everything, so anyone's guess is as good as mine (as to when I'll actually hear from them)...
You aren't in Toronto, you just went for biometrics right? Do we really think they'll make us fly abroad again just to collect our certificates??

canabrit
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Re: New citizenship form UKF

Post by canabrit » Fri Apr 01, 2016 9:48 pm

Yeah, I'm in Toronto... Did my biometrics a week after you in December.

bright_star
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Re: New citizenship form UKF

Post by bright_star » Mon Apr 04, 2016 4:32 am

An enquiry to ones who have already attended the citizenship ceremony: which is the date stamped on your certificate? Is this the citizenship ceremony date?

I am asking because I will have my ceremony next week and, as I will need British passport soon, I would like to send the passport application in the same day, if possible. So I am trying to fill the form in advance, but I need the date of issue of my registration certificate.

Thanks a lot for all the support once more.

All the best!

keji
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Re: New citizenship form UKF

Post by keji » Mon Apr 04, 2016 8:15 am

your certificate will only be dated when after you take your oath.

please,i need advice on what to do since the home office have refused to do my passport because of no evidence of address of which i had sent enough with my application.

Cloverbea
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Re: New citizenship form UKF

Post by Cloverbea » Mon Apr 04, 2016 11:54 am

OK friends, this is an email I just received from Nationality Biometrics....
slight recap, American Citizen, applied while in the US September 2015
Here on holiday in the UK to finish up citizenship, biometrics completed in the UK on March 14...
Emailed Nationality Friday April 1 and this is the response I got today regarding Hubby's case where we asked if his biometrics had been received, to confirm the change of address and the change of ceremony venue from atlanta, Ga to oxford, Oxfordshire...Hubby thinks they haven't touched his case at all due to biometrics and I say its possible the work is done, just waiting on biometrics and now being sent to caseworker for approval....what say you friends?? :

"Thank you for your email.



I can confirm that your biometrics enrolled successfully on 14/03/2016. We were unable to move your case forward until your biometrics had enrolled. Your case is awaiting allocation now to a casework team. I am sorry I am unable to give you any more details on timescales at this point.



I have forwarded your request for a change of venue for your ceremony, if approved, to the relevant department.



I can confirm that your change of address has been recorded on our systems



If you have any further queries on your application you may e mail : FurtherNationalityEnquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk



I hope this is of some assistance"

bright_star
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Re: New citizenship form UKF

Post by bright_star » Mon Apr 04, 2016 9:34 pm

keji wrote:your certificate will only be dated when after you take your oath.

please,i need advice on what to do since the home office have refused to do my passport because of no evidence of address of which i had sent enough with my application.
thanks, Keji!

well, I haven't applied for passport yet, but what did you send as address evidence? Was it refused or they asked more evidence?

keji
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Re: New citizenship form UKF

Post by keji » Tue Apr 05, 2016 8:14 am

bright_star wrote:
keji wrote:your certificate will only be dated when after you take your oath.

please,i need advice on what to do since the home office have refused to do my passport because of no evidence of address of which i had sent enough with my application.
thanks, Keji!

well, I haven't applied for passport yet, but what did you send as address evidence? Was it refused or they asked more evidence?
thanks brightstar.
i sent my employment letter, national identity card, school record all have my address on it with the application...
no, it wast refused, they are just asking for more evidence.
but i got a mail directly from the person handling it today after much trouble. she wants evidence of address within the last 12 months. so i have sent them all the correspondence during my citizenship application process - (biometric letter, successful application letter) plus a letter from my employer. i pray its sufficient for them.now i wait again

bright_star
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Re: New citizenship form UKF

Post by bright_star » Tue Apr 05, 2016 6:43 pm

keji wrote:
bright_star wrote:
keji wrote:your certificate will only be dated when after you take your oath.

please,i need advice on what to do since the home office have refused to do my passport because of no evidence of address of which i had sent enough with my application.
thanks, Keji!

well, I haven't applied for passport yet, but what did you send as address evidence? Was it refused or they asked more evidence?
thanks brightstar.
i sent my employment letter, national identity card, school record all have my address on it with the application...
no, it wast refused, they are just asking for more evidence.
but i got a mail directly from the person handling it today after much trouble. she wants evidence of address within the last 12 months. so i have sent them all the correspondence during my citizenship application process - (biometric letter, successful application letter) plus a letter from my employer. i pray its sufficient for them.now i wait again
Ohh, it sounds terrible, Keji! I hope they can accept your documents soon!!

Considering your experience, I've just asked my employee to include in my declaration that I have the same address since they hired me.

Lizzie64
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Re: New citizenship form UKF

Post by Lizzie64 » Tue Apr 05, 2016 11:05 pm

Cloverbea wrote:OK friends, this is an email I just received from Nationality Biometrics....
slight recap, American Citizen, applied while in the US September 2015
Here on holiday in the UK to finish up citizenship, biometrics completed in the UK on March 14...
Emailed Nationality Friday April 1 and this is the response I got today regarding Hubby's case where we asked if his biometrics had been received, to confirm the change of address and the change of ceremony venue from atlanta, Ga to oxford, Oxfordshire...Hubby thinks they haven't touched his case at all due to biometrics and I say its possible the work is done, just waiting on biometrics and now being sent to caseworker for approval....what say you friends?? :

"
Hi Cloverbea,

I don't know but my guess is that they don't do anything with the applications until the biometrics have been done. :(

keji
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Re: New citizenship form UKF

Post by keji » Wed Apr 06, 2016 8:11 am

Ohh, it sounds terrible, Keji! I hope they can accept your documents soon!!

Considering your experience, I've just asked my employee to include in my declaration that I have the same address since they hired me.[/quote]



yea, your move is wise and better

thats what i did too. i have them confirmed that i have maintained same address since employment .
honestly everything about their processes sucks

Kendalaz
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Re: New citizenship form UKF

Post by Kendalaz » Wed Apr 06, 2016 11:16 pm

I'm in the process of completing a UKF form from New Zealand. How do I purchase ( From NZ) a Royal Mail envelope for my documents (Birth Certs etc) to be sent back to NZ from the UK? I'm gathering I have to provide this to immigration myself?
Thanks in advance
Kendalaz

mbianco21
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Re: New citizenship form UKF

Post by mbianco21 » Fri Apr 08, 2016 8:28 pm

Update!

Timeline:
UKM application submitted: July 8th, 2015
Application acknowledgement: August 25, 2015
Biometric delay letter #1 received: August 25, 2015
Biometric delay letter #2 received: Nov 6, 2015
Sent request for Biometric appointment in Vancouver on Nov 7, 2015.
Received Biometric appointment letter for appointment in Vancouver November 21, 2015
Completed Biometric appointment November 24, 2015 in Vancouver
Received UKM approval letter from Home office January 11, 2015
Ceremony invitation (via email): March 1, 2016
Ceremony (Los Angeles Consulate): March 22, 2016
Ceremony COMPLETE (Los Angeles Consulate): March 22, 2016
Passport application mailed from Arizona to UK via FedEx: March 28, 2016
Support documents for passport (e.g. Certificate of Registration) received via DHL/USPS Priority: April 7, 2016
Passport Received via DHL/USPS Priority: April 8, 2016


After all I went through (like all of us), the passport process was shockingly fast. I could really not believe it.
Couple passport related items that may help others:

I used a USA Passport holder for my countersignature. Same person I used on the UKM application for character witness (not sure if that helped or not). I included a color copy of her passport's photo page only. I sent a color photo copy of my entire passport, not original. I sent my Certificate of Registration. I did not go to Kinkos for passport photos (as I have done for my USA passport in the past). I went to a pro photographer that followed the UK guidelines for photos. Make sure the signatures on the declaration page are within the black boxes. Make sure you use black ink and use capitol letters.

Hope that may helps somebody, somewhere....

tealcosmo
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Re: New citizenship form UKF

Post by tealcosmo » Fri Apr 15, 2016 4:48 pm

A couple weeks ago (22 Mar) I sent an email inquiring about the application to the home office (Citizenship.Support@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk).

I just got an email back today (14 April) that said :
Dear Mr ____

Thank you for your email.

You are correct, there are currently no Biometric Enrolment Centres in the USA.

If you wish, we can email you a copy of your biometric enrolment letter with the details for making an appointment in Canada. This would speed up your application process, as without the biometric enrolment it is unfortunately on hold.

Kind regards
Nationality Team
UKVI
To which I promptly replied "Yes please!!"

This was the first communication I have received from HO about my application.

Does anyone have experience with the Vancouver Consulate? Are they good at biometrics?

Timeline:
Delivered to HO 6 Nov
Fee Deducted 20 November
-Never heard anything-
Emailed HO 22 Mar
Received Response 15 Apr ('Application on hold for biometrics')

tealcosmo
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Re: New citizenship form UKF

Post by tealcosmo » Fri Apr 15, 2016 5:12 pm

Also just Emailed NationalityBiometricsOverseas@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk for enrollment form - 15 Apr

See if I can get the form direct from the source.

For newer US applicants would it make sense to try to enroll biometrics preemptively or even before they apply via UKF?

canabrit
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Re: New citizenship form UKF

Post by canabrit » Sat Apr 16, 2016 4:56 am

Did anyone who went through the passport faze notice the online application was geared towards your maternal information (and whether your parents were wed)? I started filling it out, and felt like I needed to explain the UKF stuff in the 'additional info' boxes... That all seem right/normal to those who finished?

And correct me if I'm wrong- we only need to send 2 photos, a photocopy of our passport, and our registration certificate, yes? I see in the guide it says we would only need to send our birth certificates again if we were 'child applicants'. Is this what everyone else found too? Did you send the original registration certificate you just got??

Thanks!

And yes, did my ceremony on Thursday!

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