November Applications and before: some tips

I had my employer call UKBA on my behalf today (I thought they may be more collaborative with a company which is asking about one of its employees immigration status; apparently I was wrong).
The HR lady said they told her they don't give any information if within 6 months of applying. She then called the employee helpline they have, and they told her as long as they (my employer) have done the annual visa checks (done in feb), they're not required to do anything further.

So I'll have to keep waiting. Still, I will give them a call this afternoon or tomorrow.

OctApplication wrote:finally managed to get through to HO today. It seems they'd finished processing my application ages ago, but for some reason sent the package to my old address, where i lived about 2 years ago. i havent moved from my current address for the past 2 years.

so its been lying there for i dont know how many months. HO said they'll send out another pack to my current address and should receive it in the next 10 working days.

they said they couldnt say what the result of the application was so will have to wait to get the pack to see if its been approved. I'm hoping there wasnt any further information they needed and since i hadnt responded, they made a decision based on what they already had.

Preparing for the worst, so any advice if my application is declined and not having the chance to respond within the timeframe as the letter never reached me?

well done mate

happy for you, I am sure is positive letter

please keep us posted

BTW did they tell you when they finished your application?

So I just called UKBA... seems like they sent a letter on 3/3 asking for more information, but to the wrong address!
So if I wouldn't have insisted when she said they don't give information if within 6 months of the application, I will be waiting for two more months for nothing, and only then I would learn about this.

Anyway, they're sending a new letter, I'll probably got it sometime next week.

Blackhole wrote:

OctApplication wrote:finally managed to get through to HO today. It seems they'd finished processing my application ages ago, but for some reason sent the package to my old address, where i lived about 2 years ago. i havent moved from my current address for the past 2 years.

so its been lying there for i dont know how many months. HO said they'll send out another pack to my current address and should receive it in the next 10 working days.

they said they couldnt say what the result of the application was so will have to wait to get the pack to see if its been approved. I'm hoping there wasnt any further information they needed and since i hadnt responded, they made a decision based on what they already had.

Preparing for the worst, so any advice if my application is declined and not having the chance to respond within the timeframe as the letter never reached me?

well done mate

happy for you, I am sure is positive letter

please keep us posted

BTW did they tell you when they finished your application?

So I went to my old address where they had posted the letter to initially. Thankfully the person there had still kept all the old mails so I was able to pick up the letter. It was an approval letter. But the letter is dated 9th December. And it says I need to apply for citizenship ceremony within 21 days. I'm well outside the 21 days now. When I spoke to UKBA two days ago they said they were going to send the letter again to my correct address. My question is does anyone had the letter sent out again and if so is the date on the original letter and the new letter the same? I'm hoping it is a new letter with a new date as otherwise the approval I've now got is worthless. I'll have to spend another 800 pounds for a fresh application all because UKBA messed up.

Any suggestions for what my options are if the letter they send to my correct address is still dated December?

Just wondering if any of you guys used NCS.
Cause my wife applied through NCS in October (1st Week), 2011. She got approval back in February (2nd week) 2012.
Applied for passport on 23rd of February 2012. Got it on 6th March 2012.

mamou wrote:

Blackhole wrote:Hay Guys

any news from November family?

anyone?

How about september !!
Applied 23 sep 11
ack on 7th Oct 11
Called 10-15 times. It was with a case worker around xmas but now under security check
I'm speechless ...waiting

Hi,
I have been waiting 1 year and they give me no updates apart from it takes as long as it takes . My passport is about to run out and i have had to turn away a job offer because of this. I feel very depressed

OctApplication wrote:My question is does anyone had the letter sent out again and if so is the date on the original letter and the new letter the same? I'm hoping it is a new letter with a new date as otherwise the approval I've now got is worthless. I'll have to spend another 800 pounds for a fresh application all because UKBA messed up.

Any suggestions for what my options are if the letter they send to my correct address is still dated December?

My invitation letter got lost in the post for a couple of months and so the UKBA had to send me out a new one. It came back with the same date on it, but the lady I spoke to on the phone said that she would put a note on my file extending the validity of the letter. If yours comes to you with the same date, I'd say don't panic. Maybe just ring up the UKBA and ask them to confirm that the letter is still good and your certificate is still with your council.

Anyway, I wouldn't worry, OctApplication. Just the fact that the UKBA are sending you a new letter seems like a signal they are willing to extend the validity of your approval. If not, they wouldn't have agreed to send out the new letter in the first place.

One more thing: once my new letter got to me, I was really surprised at how quickly everything else seemed to happen. My council invitation letter came a couple of days after the UKBA one, and I had my ceremony only a week and a half later. So take heart! You're going to be a citizen very soon.

Oh, silly me. I've only just seen that OctApplication's post is a couple of weeks old. Hopefully it's all been resolved. Any updates since then, OctApplication?

jonnyb wrote:Oh, silly me. I've only just seen that OctApplication's post is a couple of weeks old. Hopefully it's all been resolved. Any updates since then, OctApplication?

Hi Jonnyb,

I had more fun and games with the UKBA. After i initially spoke to them, I still hadnt received anything for about 2 weeks. Called them up again and managed to speak to the same guy i'd spoken to 2 weeks earlier. He said for some reason they seemed to have missed out on sending the new letter out and that he'd raise it internally with management to have a new one sent out ASAP. He was very kind and helpful and very apologetic about the whole situation.

Anyway, last friday i finally received the new letter. It has the same date as the initial one (Dec 2011). For the local council details, it however still refers me to the local council of my old address and not my current council. So anyway i called up the number on the letter and the lady i spoke to said they've got me on the archive (which has expired), but no current certificate so they cant book me in for the ceremony just yet. She said they're expecting more certificate to come today/tomorrow so if the UKBA have sent revised docs out then it should be in there.

tried calling the UKBA, but getting the usual "Due to exceptionally high call volumes.... " message with the phone just cutting out. Will keep trying.

This forum has been exceptionally helpful and I will definitely come back here to update once i have the ceremony booked in.

Thanks everyone.

hello guys, my brother has applied in may 2011 through lawyer for citizenship but he didn't get approval yet. his lawyer wrote them letter and Ho replied that the would send by the end of march 2012. but still no response..... we r worried.how long should we have to wait..............

Why doesn't he give UKBA a call, it's way over 6 months now, they should give him a response.

Hay Alexs

long time!!!!

any news from your side? or any one else from NOV club?

Nothing from me. I'm starting to think this will go on for a 9 mth - year delay.

Pretty annoying.

goonzilla wrote:Nothing from me. I'm starting to think this will go on for a 9 mth - year delay.

Pretty annoying.

Hay goonzilla

have you consider writing them a letter, same as Handyman did?

that might accelerate the process!

I did the same three days ago.

so lets see

Blackhole wrote:Hay Alexs

long time!!!!

any news from your side? or any one else from NOV club?

Hey Blackhole, I updated my timeline in the timelines thread, but I'll add it here as well where is more visible.

4/4: Called UKBA because it was over 4 months since my application, and most people here already had news by then. At first she told me only give information if it's over 6 months, but I insisted, asking her only if a letter had been sent. It turned that yes, they sent a letter asking for more documentation, but to the wrong address! She apologised, confirmed my address, and say they're sending another letter.
18/4: Called again because after 2 weeks I still hadn't received any letter. He said for some reason hadn't been sent, and he will order to print it and send it again. I asked him what information they need, he said proof that my wife was exercising treaty rights.
19/4: Sent the information to Liverpool via Special Delivery. It was received by UKBA on 20/4 at 8am

I strongly believe that the notification system they use (2nd class letter) is flawed. Letters may be lost, or sent to a wrong address, and on top of that, they don't want to give information over the phone if it's still less than 6 months! Shouldn't have I insisted, I would still be waiting for a letter that would never arrive! They have our emails (it's in the application form), and it's not that difficult or expensive to build a status update service for the web (like the one Royal Mail have for tracking deliveries), they have the resources because the application is not cheap.

27/4: Today, I finally received the letter (dated 23/4) asking for more documentation.

AlexS wrote:27/4: Today, I finally received the letter (dated 23/4) asking for more documentation.

Request for more documentation regarding your travel?

I am getting worried as I did many (15-20) trips to Europe for work but well with in the allowed limit.

manoj123 wrote: I am getting worried as I did many (15-20) trips to Europe for work but well with in the allowed limit.

Why?

For my [10yrs] ILR application I had 75 trips [mainly Europe, also worldwide] and none of those were for work, but well within the limit.

Now for the naturalisation, I had 49 trips in last 5 years [again none work related], but as they are also well within the limit, I see no reason to be worried.

manoj123 wrote:

AlexS wrote:27/4: Today, I finally received the letter (dated 23/4) asking for more documentation.

Request for more documentation regarding your travel?

I am getting worried as I did many (15-20) trips to Europe for work but well with in the allowed limit.

No, it was for proof my wife was exercising her treaty rights during the last years.
Don't worry, as long as you haven't been out of the country for more of the allowed time, it doesn't matter the times you've been away.

AlexS wrote:

manoj123 wrote:

AlexS wrote:27/4: Today, I finally received the letter (dated 23/4) asking for more documentation.

Request for more documentation regarding your travel?

I am getting worried as I did many (15-20) trips to Europe for work but well with in the allowed limit.

No, it was for proof my wife was exercising her treaty rights during the last years.
Don't worry, as long as you haven't been out of the country for more of the allowed time, it doesn't matter the times you've been away.

Thanks for that.

I wasn't worried because I travelled..but it might delay the process. It has been 2months since I applied and am already looking for the post every day.

Hay Guys

I have sent them a letter last week and a letter yesterday asking for update as i am reaching my six months time next week

so far no reply

I am planing to write to my MP next week and see what is gonna happen?

what about you Guys?

Nothing for me.

Excitement's gone and I am preparing myself for a long wait...considering some people on this forum had to wait 9 mths to a year.

goonzilla wrote:Nothing for me.

Excitement's gone and I am preparing myself for a long wait...considering some people on this forum had to wait 9 mths to a year.

I know it is not the same, but

it is a stage that we have to pass

have you considered any action like writing, shouting, whatever

Blackhole wrote:

goonzilla wrote:Nothing for me.

Excitement's gone and I am preparing myself for a long wait...considering some people on this forum had to wait 9 mths to a year.

I know it is not the same, but

it is a stage that we have to pass

have you considered any action like writing, shouting, whatever

Thought about it, and I know a couple of you have written to them. I'll wait and see what happens with your attempts...if it works I might just go ahead and try it. Alternatively, I might wait till the end of the month when it's passed 6 months and then I can really hassle them!

Finally! I received the approval letter this morning! It came in the Special Delivery prepaid envelope I sent to them, together with the additional documents they asked about two weeks ago.

Now to book the ceremony!