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Here is the background, My wife and I got our ILR (same day PEO) on 4th April 2014 and are in the process of getting our application for BC ready. As the HO is about to increase the fees (yet again), we are thinking of applying through NCS on Saturday, 4th April (fee goes up on 6th April). Would this be okay or should we only apply after 4th, i.e. 5th April onwards.

Heres a link to the proposed fees
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... o-2016.pdf

The date of application is the date/day that HO receives your application. It is not the date/day you apply using NCS.

Yes that'c correct and if they receive it on Saturday it's still considered as received on next working day which is most likely going to be my case. I am applying on 2nd April but HO won't receive it before Saturday so new fee.

I am afraid you will have to pay the new fees because HO will not receive it before monday. Also, even though NCS send the documents using special delivery, it is not guaranteed to get there next working day because NCS may not post it on the same day they received it - uderstandably they get the post collected from them once a day.

Just an updated on the new fees.

I called Home Office and NCS again today and they said as long as application is received at NCS on or before 2nd April you will pay the old fees even if it reaches Home office on Saturday or 7th Tuesday.

caffeine wrote:Just an updated on the new fees.

I called Home Office and NCS again today and they said as long as application is received at NCS on or before 2nd April you will pay the old fees even if it reaches Home office on Saturday or 7th Tuesday.

Somehow I don't believe that. When the time comes they will simply say that this was not written anywhere and the person you spoke with gave you wrong info.

zeusmagnanimous wrote:

caffeine wrote:Just an updated on the new fees.

I called Home Office and NCS again today and they said as long as application is received at NCS on or before 2nd April you will pay the old fees even if it reaches Home office on Saturday or 7th Tuesday.

Somehow I don't believe that. When the time comes they will simply say that this was not written anywhere and the person you spoke with gave you wrong info.

That's why I checked with both NCS and Home Office.

NCS told me last week that they haven't received any guidance on last date they can take application with old fee but today they told me they received new guidance on Monday which says that 2nd April is the last day for them to take the application.

To confirm this I called Home Office and guy I spoke to said the same thing. He said as long as your application is received by NCS before end of 2nd April you will be charged old fees.

My local NCS told me the following

You will pay the current fee of £906. 00 as long as your application is received at The Home Office by the 6th April 2015.
The application will be sent within 48hours of your appointment – and will arrive at the Home Office within 2 days.

Hi

I would like to share my experience of same situation last year when fees increased on 6th april last year.

I was in the same situation, i have sent two applications for my kids on 4th April last year and paid the old fees.

The application received by home office next day.

After that I did not hear anything from home office for next few weeks till I received a letter saying you did not pay full fees and you need to pay a difference of the fees, Which was the difference of old and new fees.

I called liver pool office next and tried to explain to them that i have posted the application before fees increased. The lady on the phone said it does not matter when you have posted the application. She said it can take up to six weeks to process your payment and therefore the fees applicable at the time of processing fees needs to be the current fees.

So in my opinion the naturalization department works differently than other home office departments, where the date does not counts from the date application received.

So I would recommend to avoid delays pay the new fees, otherwise there is a chance the application could delay for few weeks unnecessarily.

Hope this make sense.

Kind Regards

kiransrose wrote:Hi

I would like to share my experience of same situation last year when fees increased on 6th april last year.

I was in the same situation, i have sent two applications for my kids on 4th April last year and paid the old fees.

The application received by home office next day.

After that I did not hear anything from home office for next few weeks till I received a letter saying you did not pay full fees and you need to pay a difference of the fees, Which was the difference of old and new fees.

I called liver pool office next and tried to explain to them that i have posted the application before fees increased. The lady on the phone said it does not matter when you have posted the application. She said it can take up to six weeks to process your payment and therefore the fees applicable at the time of processing fees needs to be the current fees.

So in my opinion the naturalization department works differently than other home office departments, where the date does not counts from the date application received.

So I would recommend to avoid delays pay the new fees, otherwise there is a chance the application could delay for few weeks unnecessarily.

Hope this make sense.

Kind Regards

Hi kiransrose,

Thanks for sharing

I think this is because your posted your application without NCS and it was received on Saturday. Any application received on Saturday is considered to be received on next working day which in your case was 7th April.

From what NCS told me they seem to receive some sort of guidance every year when fee goes up and it also has the last date on which they can accept applications with old fee. They didn't have this guidance until last week and kept saying that they don't know whats the last date is but this week they told me they do now have guidance and will take application with old fees until end of 2nd April.

Anyway. I am happy to pay whichever fee NCS asks me to pay. So I will fill in the amount when I get there. In grand scheme of things £99 isn't really that big a deal.

Please also note that the AN application form has also been updated for applications made from April 6th. The primary difference I see is the section for Biometrics. Other sections have also been updated so the form is longer than the 18 pages it was before.

Therefore it would not merely be a matter of paying the new fee, but also completing a new AN form, depending on how the Home Office treat applications they receive on or after April 6th, which were submitted prior to the 6th via a NCS.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... en-form-an

Hi everyone .. I've applied for naturalization on the 02/04 via Agency and my application was received by the HO on the 7th/04 .
Balance dropped today by £906 .(old fees) . thank you

lastfalcon wrote:Hi everyone .. I've applied for naturalization on the 02/04 via Agency and my application was received by the HO on the 7th/04 .
Balance dropped today by £906 .(old fees) . thank you

Did you check tracking? I think what you are referring to perhaps is the acknowledgment letter you receive from Home office. Because fees have increased since 6 April 2015.

fwd079 wrote:

lastfalcon wrote:Hi everyone .. I've applied for naturalization on the 02/04 via Agency and my application was received by the HO on the 7th/04 .
Balance dropped today by £906 .(old fees) . thank you

Did you check tracking? I think what you are referring to perhaps is the acknowledgment letter you receive from Home office. Because fees have increased since 6 April 2015.

Yes I have checked the tracking and was received by HO on the 7th/04 ,, by the way , the 6th of April is a the Easter Monday bank holiday .
thank you

lastfalcon wrote:
Yes I have checked the tracking and was received by HO on the 7th/04 ,, by the way , the 6th of April is a the Easter Monday bank holiday .
thank you

Thanks, I know its Easter holiday, did you check the link I provided?
Anyway good for you, saved £100 approx good luck with your application.

fwd079 wrote:

lastfalcon wrote:
Yes I have checked the tracking and was received by HO on the 7th/04 ,, by the way , the 6th of April is a the Easter Monday bank holiday .
thank you

Thanks, I know its Easter holiday, did you check the link I provided?
Anyway good for you, saved £100 approx good luck with your application.

Thank you brother ,, I think I've saved this £100 because my chances to get approved are 50/50 lol .. so I saved a 3100 and will lose £906 ..
I've been a bankrupt 5 years ago and this is why my chances 50/50 .. but thank you for wishing me luck