UKM application experience and timeline

[bletchlypark]

Bletchlpark, Congratulations on your approval. I know your in the states and I'm in UK, but I was feeling pretty bad that you'd applied a little before me and I was approved March 1st. I know everyone's case is different though. Good feeling huh ? I kept having to read my letter of approval over and over again. I have my ceremony a week on Wednesday and time is going slow for it, lol. I won't apply for my passport though until May time as I've holiday coming up at the beginning of May. Plus, with all this stupid Brexit stuff going on here, I'm wondering if I should wait til we know if we are out of EU or staying put. But I really want one Burgundy one passport as USA is blue one. I heard today that we now have ones being given to people without EU on the front, though we have actually left the EU on day they first said. So,I will have everything ready to send off when I get back from holiday and see what the situation is then I suppose. Can see how they are sending out passport without EU on them when we are still in ? Might give passport office a ring and see what they suggest. Anyway, I'm still following this thread and wish you a date for your ceremony soon xx Welcome o the approved club

Thanks! I am very excited. Some applications take a little longer than others. No way to really judge but everyone appears to be on schedule for the latest round of applicants.

[keh723]

Yay!! Congratulations!! Now we are back in the same place, waiting for ceremony invite. We may actually get to have it together in Atlanta!

Did you hear anything back about scheduling the ceremony? I have to go there on business later this month anyway.

Nope. Haven’t heard anything since receiving my approval letter. Neither has my sister in Philly.

[Quinnie]

Yey, received approval of mine. It had been sitting at the Post Office for ages!

Eligibility Criteria: UKM double descent through Romein
Nationality: South Africa
Applying from: South Africa
Method of application: Online
Payment method: Credit card
Date of online application: Jan 2, 2019
Date of UKVI acknowledgement email: Jan 4, 2019
Date documents sent: Jan 11, 2019
Date of receipt by UKVI: Jan 14, 2019
Date of e-mail requesting biometrics: 11 Feb , 2019
Bio-metrics done: Feb 14, 2019
Date of approval: Feb 28, 2019
Date of ceremony: PENDING

Note: I did not submit any original documents, only certified copies and they still returned them via post.

[hlassell]

Quick update! I spent some time going back and forth with the consulate regarding my ceremony and they nicely worked it out so that I could have mine in Winnipeg! They have an honorary consul here. Took a bit of time to get a date set! Pretty close since the deadline to have the ceremony was April 16th and we're finally having it TODAY! T-minus 6 hours and counting! Have a reservation for a meal after the ceremony and finishing off the day at the Winnipeg Jets White Out party since the first playoff game is tonight....and only blocks from where my ceremony is taking place!

Eligibility criteria: UKM
Nationality: Canadian
Applying from: Canada
Method of application: Online
Date of application: 08/20/2018
Payment method: Credit card
Date of receipt by UKBA: 08/21/2018
Date money gone off account: 08/20/2018
Date of acknowledgement: 08/21/2018 (by email)
Date of letter requesting biometrics: 09/10/2018
Biometrics done: 11/06/2018
Date of approval: 21/12/2018
Date of ceremony: 10/04/2019
Date applied for passports:
Date passports received:

[bletchlypark]

Quick update! I spent some time going back and forth with the consulate regarding my ceremony and they nicely worked it out so that I could have mine in Winnipeg! They have an honorary consul here. Took a bit of time to get a date set! Pretty close since the deadline to have the ceremony was April 16th and we're finally having it TODAY! T-minus 6 hours and counting! Have a reservation for a meal after the ceremony and finishing off the day at the Winnipeg Jets White Out party since the first playoff game is tonight....and only blocks from where my ceremony is taking place!

Eligibility criteria: UKM
Nationality: Canadian
Applying from: Canada
Method of application: Online
Date of application: 08/20/2018
Payment method: Credit card
Date of receipt by UKBA: 08/21/2018
Date money gone off account: 08/20/2018
Date of acknowledgement: 08/21/2018 (by email)
Date of letter requesting biometrics: 09/10/2018
Biometrics done: 11/06/2018
Date of approval: 21/12/2018
Date of ceremony: 10/04/2019
Date applied for passports:
Date passports received:

Congratulations and GO PREDS!

[sunburn]

It looks like those approved recently will get burgundy passports without the words 'European Union' on them. HMPO started issuing passports without the words starting March 30. I was among the last few to get the passports with the words on them.

[hlassell]

Congratulations and GO PREDS!

Thanks!! And better luck than last year!

[jkproperties]

Yey, received approval of mine. It had been sitting at the Post Office for ages!

Eligibility Criteria: UKM double descent through Romein
Nationality: South Africa
Applying from: South Africa
Method of application: Online
Payment method: Credit card
Date of online application: Jan 2, 2019
Date of UKVI acknowledgement email: Jan 4, 2019
Date documents sent: Jan 11, 2019
Date of receipt by UKVI: Jan 14, 2019
Date of e-mail requesting biometrics: 11 Feb , 2019
Bio-metrics done: Feb 14, 2019
Date of approval: Feb 28, 2019
Date of ceremony: PENDING

Note: I did not submit any original documents, only certified copies and they still returned them via post.

Congratulations.
Your date of receipt by UKVI, Did the UKVI confirm receipt? or did you take this from your courier confirmation of delivery?

I sent my original documents on 22/3/2019 and have confirmation from DHL but nothing yet from UKVI, feeling a little nervous it was sent or received elsewhere.

Thank you,
Have a great day,

[bletchlypark]

Congratulations.
Your date of receipt by UKVI, Did the UKVI confirm receipt? or did you take this from your courier confirmation of delivery?

I sent my original documents on 22/3/2019 and have confirmation from DHL but nothing yet from UKVI, feeling a little nervous it was sent or received elsewhere.

Thank you,
Have a great day,

Not who you asked but I never got a confirmation from UKVI, only DHL. But there were no issues, you just don't hear from them again until its time for Bio-metrics.

[Quinnie]

Yey, received approval of mine. It had been sitting at the Post Office for ages!

Eligibility Criteria: UKM double descent through Romein
Nationality: South Africa
Applying from: South Africa
Method of application: Online
Payment method: Credit card
Date of online application: Jan 2, 2019
Date of UKVI acknowledgement email: Jan 4, 2019
Date documents sent: Jan 11, 2019
Date of receipt by UKVI: Jan 14, 2019
Date of e-mail requesting biometrics: 11 Feb , 2019
Bio-metrics done: Feb 14, 2019
Date of approval: Feb 28, 2019
Date of ceremony: PENDING

Note: I did not submit any original documents, only certified copies and they still returned them via post.

Congratulations.
Your date of receipt by UKVI, Did the UKVI confirm receipt? or did you take this from your courier confirmation of delivery?

I sent my original documents on 22/3/2019 and have confirmation from DHL but nothing yet from UKVI, feeling a little nervous it was sent or received elsewhere.

Thank you,
Have a great day,

No confirmation from UKVI that they received the docs, but this is the date it was signed for.

[bletchlypark]

Yay!! Congratulations!! Now we are back in the same place, waiting for ceremony invite. We may actually get to have it together in Atlanta!

Did you hear anything back about scheduling the ceremony? I have to go there on business later this month anyway.

Nope. Haven’t heard anything since receiving my approval letter. Neither has my sister in Philly.

Yeah I just got my letter and it basically says hurry up and wait.

[Conky2a]

Well folks, I had been hoping to post the magic word today, given the latest timelines between biometrics done and approval, but alas not yet. God knows how my wife is coping, but my fingernails are gone, and so are a few finger tips.......

[AnaMG]

Conky2a When did you submit your application?

[CR001]

Conky2a When did you submit your application?

Kindly note that this topic is ONLY for UKM Registration applications and not form AN naturalisation. Form UKM is for people born before 1st January 1983 to British mothers and is a completely different process to form AN Naturalisation.

[jellybean19]

It looks like those approved recently will get burgundy passports without the words 'European Union' on them. HMPO started issuing passports without the words starting March 30. I was among the last few to get the passports with the words on them.

I called the passport office here in UK last week, as my British by descent ceremony is this Wednesday Though think I'm going to burst by then, I'm so excited and get very teary . Anyway, I wanted to know whether I should wait til brexit is or not sorted what are passport office advising to do ( in case it doesn't happen) to apply for my 1st British passport. I've a holiday beginning of May so I need my current passport as they request I send that, birth cert, marriage cert with application ( they say allow 6 weeks for process for passport) . Guy to me they are ready to leave the EU and that's what they are working on, that burgundy passports will be process without EU written on them and the New blue ones will not be process until 2020. He also said I was to expect to make an appointment with a Passport office nearest to me for an interview before they will allow 1st British passport. Thought I'd gone through enough with check via Home Office. Anyway, I will apply mid May and go for a Burgundy passport and I have decided I want this journey done and dusted as I've a blue passport ( USA ) already. Two blue passports is boring lol Even if I get just one Burgundy British passport I'll be over the moon ha ha ha. I hope this guy was wrong about going for a passport interview as I don't fancy a journey to London on my own for it.

[KZ303]

Finally, I'm in! Now I just need to get passport. What have people done about having someone in the UK verify them? All of the people I know there are blood relations, which disqualifies them.

Eligibility criteria: UKM
Nationality: United States
Applying from: Unites States
Method of application: USPS to UK with return UPS envelope/label. (They discarded this and just mailed it back Royal Mail, wasted money and time on my part.)
Date of application: July 25, 2018
Payment method: Credit card
Date of receipt by UKVI: July 31, 2018
Date money gone off account: Sept. 4, 2018
Date of UKVI acknowledgement email: Aug 4, 2018
Date of UKBA acknowledgement email: Aug 7, 2018 (Got two emails, one from UKVI, the other from UKBA, not sure why.)
Date of emailed letter requesting biometrics: Sept. 7, 2018 (Dates/location proposed to Home Office by me Sept. 4, 2018)
Biometrics done: Sept. 19, 2018
Date of approval: October 24, 2018 (NOTE: I did not receive notice of this approval (via mail only) until December 8, 2018.)
Date of ceremony: April 12, 2019
Date applied for passport: PENDING
Date passports received: PENDING

[sunburn]

Blue passports are not being issued until 2020 , yes . However the HMPO is making changes in two phases . In phase 1 beginning April 2019, they’ve removed the words ‘European Union’ from the front cover . But the passport remains burgundy .

The passport application was very fast . Both luthersnowak and I took 3 days between the documentation reaching them at Durham, and seeing the online status marked as Dispatched .

[jkproperties]

Yey, received approval of mine. It had been sitting at the Post Office for ages!

Eligibility Criteria: UKM double descent through Romein
Nationality: South Africa
Applying from: South Africa
Method of application: Online
Payment method: Credit card
Date of online application: Jan 2, 2019
Date of UKVI acknowledgement email: Jan 4, 2019
Date documents sent: Jan 11, 2019
Date of receipt by UKVI: Jan 14, 2019
Date of e-mail requesting biometrics: 11 Feb , 2019
Bio-metrics done: Feb 14, 2019
Date of approval: Feb 28, 2019
Date of ceremony: PENDING

Note: I did not submit any original documents, only certified copies and they still returned them via post.

Congratulations.
Your date of receipt by UKVI, Did the UKVI confirm receipt? or did you take this from your courier confirmation of delivery?

I sent my original documents on 22/3/2019 and have confirmation from DHL but nothing yet from UKVI, feeling a little nervous it was sent or received elsewhere.

Thank you,
Have a great day,

No confirmation from UKVI that they received the docs, but this is the date it was signed for.

Thank you,
Then i should hopefully get biometrics request soon.
Thank you again.

[bletchlypark]

Could someone refresh my memory but for those of us in the USA the average wait time between acceptance and ceremony is about 8 weeks? Does that sound about right?

[jellybean19]

Update ***

Eligibility criteria: UKM ( By descent )
Nationality: American
Applying from: UK
Method of application: Paperform
Date sent to UKVI - 27th Dec 2018 ( next day , tracked service with P/O)
UKVI in Liverpool received my Form & Docs - 28th Dec 2018
Payment method: Debit Card
Date money gone off account: Tuesday 29th 2019
Email with case number : Wednesday 30th Jan 2019
Date of acknowledgement by letter : Letter dated 29th Jan 2019, received in post Friday 1st Feb 2019
Date of letter requesting biometrics: Letter dated 29th Jan 2019, received in post Friday 1st Feb 2019
Biometrics done: Friday 1st Feb 2019
Requested documents be Returned: Thursday 7th Feb 2019
Documents arrived back : Thursday 14th Feb 2019
Date of approval: Letter dated 1st March 2019 ( letter arrived 8th March 2019)
Date of ceremony: Booked for 17th April 2019
Ceremony took place today 17th April 2019.
Date applied for passports: ----

It happened Today, I had my ceremony and I'm now a British Citizen

The emotions I had before , during and after the ceremony was unbelievable. It was done beautifully with others, but bits on own too. Will apply for passport in May after my holiday as I have been verbally told to send in my certificate and current passport in with application. I have also been made aware that it's likely 1st adult passports will need a identity interview in the letter that was in my folder they gave. ( I'm in the UK and did this process , British by Descent myself).

When your ceremony comes enjoy every minute of it, don't worry if there are tears. It's a very special moment.

[luthersnowak]

Could someone refresh my memory but for those of us in the USA the average wait time between acceptance and ceremony is about 8 weeks? Does that sound about right?

That's about right. My Approval was dated around Nov. 19th. I didn't hear about a ceremony until late January, so about 6-8 weeks.

[Conky2a]

Bad news from France, as my wife has just received an email from UKVI in Liverpool, claiming that she has not done her biometrics......she has, and we are asking them to chase paris, but more delay....

[Conky2a]

Phew ! Having explained the when and why of my wife’s enrolment to UKVI yesterday afternoon, i then contacted TLS contact Paris this morning via an online contact form i found embedded in their website.

Later this morning UKVI confirmed they did have it, and it was in a queue awaiting processing. Not bad for Good Friday and Saturday morning....

[ianvcpt]

Yey, received approval of mine. It had been sitting at the Post Office for ages!

Eligibility Criteria: UKM double descent through Romein
Nationality: South Africa
Applying from: South Africa
Method of application: Online
Payment method: Credit card
Date of online application: Jan 2, 2019
Date of UKVI acknowledgement email: Jan 4, 2019
Date documents sent: Jan 11, 2019
Date of receipt by UKVI: Jan 14, 2019
Date of e-mail requesting biometrics: 11 Feb , 2019
Bio-metrics done: Feb 14, 2019
Date of approval: Feb 28, 2019
Date of ceremony: PENDING

Note: I did not submit any original documents, only certified copies and they still returned them via post.

Quinnie, did you receive an email with notification of approval, or was it by regular post only?

[keh723]

Waiting on ceremony invite is painful! This does come as an email, correct? Or did it come in the actual mail?