Can you complain about NCS - is it worth it?

Hi all,

I wonder if anyone else here has come across NCS mistakes in the past?

I can only assume the NCS officer did not include all my previous passports in the pack sent to UKVI for BC under AN (Marriage) - so 3 years' worth. I had 3 passports but my assumption is that the officer did not send the first passport which covered the first few months of my first year under the 3 year rule.

I received a letter from Dept 73 at UKVI asking me for the original document.

I had brought all the passports to my appointment and everything was in order.

The only other alternative is that the NCS officer did NOT make a mistake, but for some reason UKVI wanted to see the original passports. Has anyone come across this?

My nationality is NZ and therefore not a high fraud country so I'm not sure why they would do that though.

Mr Bump...

I personally feel its not worth complaining on NCS officer and waste of time. NCS officer only request what is required for BC. In some cases HO may request for additional documents similar to your case. When I applied for BC, NCS officer forgot to check the Passport Payment form. I recieved a letter from Passport office, Liverpool for payment immediately. So, The gist of my advice is just provide what HO request you.

Mr Bump wrote:
My nationality is NZ and therefore not a high fraud country so I'm not sure why they would do that though.

The Home Office has the right to request original documents from any foreign national as a part of the Naturalisation process. It's NCS's job only to make sure your application is generally OK and make copies of your original documents. There have been many examples of applicants from various countries (including the so called 'anglosphere' states) being asked for their original documents. It's not NCS's fault, it's the way it is.

Good to know. I guess spot-checks make sense, but they should also follow the risk.

But why the so-called comment and "inverted commas" around the word Anglosphere?

It does actually exist you know.

Other analogues for the same concept:

Old Commonwealth
Five Eyes
English-Speaking Countries

can you complain about NCS -- probably pointless, one should simply avoid them because they are incompetent and do more harm than good in all but 100% straightforward cases

have a solicitor certify your copies for maybe 20 quid, and apply yourself, if you dont want to shell out for folks like me.

HO guidance is that they can accept copies of passports certified "by a legal professional", nowhere does it say that it has to be the professional representing you (even tough I'd like for you to believe that) or NCS.

I know this from my own application, but when I applied for my own citizenship, I had a random solicitor I knew certify copy of my passport (since I cant certify my own), worked very well.

that being said, whether they made any mistake in your case, is unclear. Most likely HO is just requesting the originals, perhaps not so much as a spot-check but maybe because they haven't had a sight of them yet in the past for some reason, eg whatever they want to see te original of, was maybe seen at an Embassy but not by HO here?.

generally, I always tell people to send originals of docs HO has never seen -- although in my own bubble that used to apply only to EU nationals who never applied to HO for anything, since a year ago there are no more straight-to-citizenship applications so that is now obsolete.

I have never so far had a case of HO requesting originals for any nationality application with which we hand't sent it, but these were all people whose identity docs have already been seen by HO here in-country in connection with a previous application of some sort.

yet we are always mindful that such checks can be made, so I won't necessarily fault NCS in this case (much as i dislike the idea of them)

spammer wrote:can you complain about NCS -- probably pointless, one should simply avoid them because they are incompetent and do more harm than good in all but 100% straightforward cases

have a solicitor certify your copies for maybe 20 quid, and apply yourself, if you dont want to shell out for folks like me.

HO guidance is that they can accept copies of passports certified "by a legal professional", nowhere does it say that it has to be the professional representing you (even tough I'd like for you to believe that) or NCS.

I know this from my own application, I am an OISC regulated advisor, but when I applied for my own citizenship, I had a random solicitor I knew certify copy of my passport (since I cant certify my own), worked very well.

NCS is not just used for paapsorts but sending any originals documents which you may want to retain and send photocopies instead. Don't think this can be done using a solicitor.

I used NCS for 2 reasons, mainly applying via the JCAP scheme (which can only be done using NCS) and not sending any original documents to HO.

With JCAP, IMO, NCS is becoming more popular. Combine two aplications forms to be applied together. The convenience of having done the ceremony and waiting a few days to a week for the passport to arrive seems attractive to applying for a passport seperately and weeks of waiting, especially when there is no interview to attend with JCAP (which is normally required for first time passport applicants).