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Hello,

Following advice received previously on this forum, I made an application for citizenship via the UKM route on 31st December 2015 via the nationality checking service at my local council.

I'm Australian, born to a British mother prior to 1983.

I currently live in the UK (and have done for 8 years) and have a right to abode certificate.

I received 3 letters today, one asking me to do my bio-metrics, one to acknowledge my application and receipt of the £80 fee and the third and most worryingly a letter stating that they aim to process applications in 6 moths but on review of my application states it raises exceptionally complex issues??!?!?! and they wont be able to process in 6 months.

I'm really worried now as when I went to the nationality checking service they said I should get my citizenship within 2 months as it was a right for me based on my birth.

I cant understand what would be complex about it and I only renewed my right of abode in 2015 as my aussie passport expired, so there were no issues with my application back then. My mum is a UK citizen by birth and acquired Aussie citizenship later on, she currently holds both UK and Aussie passports. I have no criminal record or anything like that and I am a practicing health professional currently registered with HCPC, so no character issues.

I'm due to have a baby in May and had planned to return home to Australia shortly afterwards, so had hoped to have this all sorted before baby arrived. So I am a little worried that it might not be sorted out before I go.

Can anyone shed any light what these exceptionally complex issues could be? Do I need to be worried?

Don't worry. You'll be relieved to know that this 'exceptionally complex issues' is a standard letter currently being sent out to applicants due to the case workers covering themselves from complaints due to a backlog of applications. We've had many reports of this on the forum.

Phillis_d_sa wrote:Hello,

Following advice received previously on this forum, I made an application for citizenship via the UKM route on 31st December 2015 via the nationality checking service at my local council.

I'm Australian, born to a British mother prior to 1983.

I currently live in the UK (and have done for 8 years) and have a right to abode certificate.

I received 3 letters today, one asking me to do my bio-metrics, one to acknowledge my application and receipt of the £80 fee and the third and most worryingly a letter stating that they aim to process applications in 6 moths but on review of my application states it raises exceptionally complex issues??!?!?! and they wont be able to process in 6 months.

...

Can anyone shed any light what these exceptionally complex issues could be? Do I need to be worried?

That's most likely a standard boiler-plate response.
There are many examples posted in the forums.

It's HO code for they are busy & under-staffed so cannot complete the current backlog within 6 months.

Unless you get a specific letter with any queries best try to relax and wait.

Sadly HO will not be concerned about your travel plans.
Patience is a virtue with HO immigration matters.

Thank you for the reassurance and replies.

I will keep my fingers and toes crossed that it comes through a bit quicker than the 6 months.

I am very surprised that NCS took your UKM application. UKM is postal only as HO require all the original documents to verify and authenticate them.

This is a relief to read as I am in the same boat. I figured my application was pretty straight forward, particularly as I currently have Certificate of Entitlement to Right of Abode. My Australian passport expires in June, so I kicked off the whole UKM thing in November 2015, thinking I was covering myself before it was no longer a valid certificate. I received one of those "exceptionally complex" letters too, and have been a bit concerned ever since.

As it stands, I have had my ceremony fee deducted and enrolled for Biometrics (both in early December), and had my original documents returned. Now I just need to wait it out I guess.

I hope we all don't have to wait much longer.

Update: I posted my application Nov 11th 2015. In early January I received a letter saying my application raised complex issues. However, today I have received the letter saying my application was successful. So I am pretty happy and relieved!