Thank God – A giant step forward!

First and foremost I give praise, honour and glory to my Father God and my savior and Lord Jesus Christ who has yet again helped me in my globetrotting journeys. What he has promised with his mouth he has fulfilled with His hands! Amen!

My wife and I successful joint citizenship application has been confirmed by the local council. Yeah! The local council called my wife a few minutes ago and confirmed they received our certificates from HO and was advising her on ceremony etc. As usual my local postman always delivers 2nd class mail whenever he desires so will wait for the brown envelope….. Well done to the unknown UKBA caseworker for a speedy decision on my case. (Who knows he or she may be a silent reader on the forum).

This forum has been priceless for free guidance and I appreciate everyone who contributed positively to help me and many others. I want to also say thanks to all the members who contributed on my journey especially D4109125 amber, Jambo, wpilr_nov12 and VR (for your sense of humour in the last few days of my filing).

Tip of the day – Relating to Good Character
For those on who pleaded guilty by post and received fine(s) through the UK court for a traffic offence while on their International licenses, this is regarded as a conviction in UK law and needs to be declared whether spent or unspent as per new guidelines. I had two £60 fines (SP30 speeding and TS10 missing traffic light) from my early speeding days (2006-7) which was declared. They were issued by the court as I only had my learners permit (they still recorded 6pts on licenses). Fortunately, I mended the errors of my ways and had nothing for the last 6yrs. Well nothing besides abuse from other hasty drivers while trying to obey every speed limit in the land especially the 20mph zones. For my application I declared both, submitted my counterpart with clean license and placed a note in the other section of the form stating I have been clean for the last 6yrs. All the best to all applicants especially those still waiting from May and June as well as those in the October queue. Yeah! On to the ceremony and passport section now. Almost there.....

Thank you father! It's over I am now a BC. The small matter of passport to be sorted now.

Congrats, well done Heisgood, looking forward to your timelines.

I am applying exactly a month from now, and since its december, I think I should add a month or more to any timelines, right?

Congratulations.

InUkOnHsmp wrote:Congrats, well done Heisgood, looking forward to your timelines.

I am applying exactly a month from now, and since its december, I think I should add a month or more to any timelines, right?

Thanks InUkOnHsmp. Above all besides travel I am looking forward to driving in peace believe it or not. With two previous fines I was determined not to get a 3rd one for the last 6yrs! Regarding timelines in all honesty it's a mix bag as it seems some applications are dealt with swiftly and others are delayed for further checks. Anyone who can tell us how HO processes applications it will be good to know to try to make sense of the timelines......All the very best .

My Timeline 29 days from start to finish !

Eligibility criteria: 5yrs WP + 1yr ILR
Method of application: NCS Joint Application
Date of application: 10/10/13
Date of receipt by UKBA: 14/10/13
Date of debit of fees: 01/11/13
Date of acknowledgement: Letter dated 1/11/13 received on the 7/11/13
Date of approval: Confirmed by council staff via call! 19/11/13 – Simply a miracle
Two Brown Envelopes arrived on 22/11/13 approval dated 12/11/13
Date of Ceremony: Public ceremony in 5days time 26/11/13 – yes its another undeniable miracle….!

Remember (as seen above) it can take as much as 10days after approval for the brown envelope to arrive.

Thank God ! Approval from council today they have our BC certificates.

All the best to all October applicants still waiting.

D4109125 wrote:Congratulations.

Thanks Amber. You guidance to me was very useful and I really appreciate it! Keep up the good work you do day in and day out and may God bless you.

congratulations. its been a long journey and i am humbled for the mention.

Heisgood, 2 more questions before I forget and trouble you in a month:

My wife and I successful joint citizenship application has been confirmed by the local council. Yeah! The local council called my wife a few minutes ago and confirmed they received our certificates from HO and was advising her on ceremony etc.

Is this normal, or did you do anything at all (like requesting the NCS etc) to get this call?

As usual my local postman always delivers 2nd class mail whenever he desires so will wait for the brown envelope….. Well done to the unknown UKBA caseworker for a speedy decision on my case. (Who knows he or she may be a silent reader on the forum).

Could you not put in SDE to get this next day? And if you could, how many would you put in, I reckon 2 one for acknowledgement and one for the certificate?

Regards

wpilr_nov12 wrote:congratulations. its been a long journey and i am humbled for the mention.

Thanks wpilr_nov12. Your support was always there in the pre and post ILR days. That seems like ages ago now. LOL. Indeed its been a long hard road but God is good. Many dark winters I felt like leaving the UK for good but now I have more options including living in two other warmer destinations.
All the best with your application.

InUkOnHsmp wrote:Heisgood, 2 more questions before I forget and trouble you in a month:

My wife and I successful joint citizenship application has been confirmed by the local council. Yeah! The local council called my wife a few minutes ago and confirmed they received our certificates from HO and was advising her on ceremony etc.

Is this normal, or did you do anything at all (like requesting the NCS etc) to get this call?

As far as I understand it's not standard. So how did it happen? My wife apparently called the council yesterday to inquire about future ceremony timescales and the process they told her the person dealing with that was away and they took her name and number etc. Today the person called after lunch and spilled the beans that she was staring at both our BC certificates……Absolute epic!

As usual my local postman always delivers 2nd class mail whenever he desires so will wait for the brown envelope….. Well done to the unknown UKBA caseworker for a speedy decision on my case. (Who knows he or she may be a silent reader on the forum).

Could you not put in SDE to get this next day? And if you could, how many would you put in, I reckon 2 one for acknowledgement and one for the certificate?

Not really as this was all done through NCS not self postage. The council checks and submits the application on your behalf for a fee. See my link here on my NCS experience - http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewto ... 9f13d680c4

Regards

As far as I understand it's not standard. So how did it happen? My wife apparently called the council yesterday to inquire about future ceremony timescales and the process they told her the person dealing with that was away and they took her name and number etc. Today the person called after lunch and spilled the beans that she was staring at both our BC certificates……Absolute epic!

Perfect, lucky!

Not really as this was all done through NCS not self postage. The council checks and submits the application on your behalf for a fee. See my link here on my NCS experience - http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewto ... 9f13d680c4

Yeah I got that, I have gone thorugh NCS earlier, for my next application I was wondering if they would let me send a couple of SDE next day envelopes, so I can get the relevant paperwork back at the earliest, senior members?

InUkOnHsmp wrote:

As far as I understand it's not standard. So how did it happen? My wife apparently called the council yesterday to inquire about future ceremony timescales and the process they told her the person dealing with that was away and they took her name and number etc. Today the person called after lunch and spilled the beans that she was staring at both our BC certificates……Absolute epic!

Perfect, lucky!

luck?.....I prefer to think divine intervention!

Not really as this was all done through NCS not self postage. The council checks and submits the application on your behalf for a fee. See my link here on my NCS experience - http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewto ... 9f13d680c4

Yeah I got that, I have gone thorugh NCS earlier, for my next application I was wondering if they would let me send a couple of SDE next day envelopes, so I can get the relevant paperwork back at the earliest, senior members?[/quote]
[/quote]
No. As far as I am aware if you apply through NCS HO contact you via letters. They use their own envelopes (hence you hear everyone talking about the precious brown envelope - normally 2nd class mail).In normal operation they send the certificates to the local council before you receive the brown envelope.

Thanks for the inputs Heisgood, what a shame! I will call my NCS to confirm soon, and put an update on this post.

InUkOnHsmp wrote:Thanks for the inputs Heisgood, what a shame! I will call my NCS to confirm soon, and put an update on this post.

InUkOnHsmp Sure keep us posted. It may help others on the forum. BTW the public ceremony to receive the certificate is in 5 days time !! Not luck but miraculous

But remember once you swear in you stop talking about Jesus and God. Become English!

Else they might revoke your citizenship! LOL

VR wrote:But remember once you swear in you stop talking about Jesus and God. What? Have you lost your mind - NEVER Will Stop!!!!! Become English!

Else they might revoke your citizenship! LOL

VR you always make me laugh my friend. I remember your comments before filing. I hope you took up stand-up comedy by now:lol: . On a more serious note that can never happen... and even if did ...they can have it back sameday! Almost 2000 years ago the authorities tried to shut up the disciples they said "stop preaching about Jesus"......Yet His name continues to spread like wildfire to this day because He is unstoppable! I will continue to spread his name with the new citizenship bringing visa free access to 173 countries! Lastly, my citizenship on earth is temporary.... The real permanent citizenship is in heaven and nothing on this earth can be compared to eternity with my Lord Jesus!! . Keep well my friend.

Dear Heisgood,

Glad to note you are grounded and have not lost focus on the greater journey.

All the Best!
Cheers
vr

Hi HeisGood,

Can you elaborate on who you used as referees? I am a bit stuck on this.

I was planning to take my manager's reference, and another friend's who is a british citizen too.

However, I am confused if my manager will qualify as a professional referee., and will my friend be OK for a second reference.

Any inputs will help!

Regards

InUkOnHsmp wrote:Hi HeisGood,

Can you elaborate on who you used as referees? I am a bit stuck on this.

I was planning to take my manager's reference, and another friend's who is a british citizen too.

However, I am confused if my manager will qualify as a professional referee., and will my friend be OK for a second reference.

Any inputs will help!

Regards

InUkOnHsmp - As long it's for a ltd company or vat registered company you should be fine see the list here .

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitec ... iew=Binary

I used two good friends Minister of religion and a professional therapist over 25ys and both British Citizens.

Hi HeisGood,

You got great references.

I work in a pvt ltd company, so yes my manager is a manager in a Ltd company, my friend on the other hand is a senior software engineer in another Ltd company.

I hope they will be ok as references.

Regards

InUkOnHsmp wrote:Hi HeisGood,

You got great references.

I work in a pvt ltd company, so yes my manager is a manager in a Ltd company, my friend on the other hand is a senior software engineer in another Ltd company.

I hope they will be ok as references.

Regards

InUkOnHsmp - You will be fine my friend. They did not contact my referees so they didn't have a significant impact on the application as such. IMO once you meet the requirements you should be fine. It's then a matter of waiting ie caseworker / work loads/etc.......

Heisgood, thanks mate, appreciate your help and reassurance.

Regards