Error on naturalisation certificate – wrong birth country
Posted: Tue Aug 27, 2019 9:45 am
Hello all,
I recently got confirmation of my naturalisation: got the HO letter, booked myself in for a ceremony, etc.
However, I noticed that in the HO letter, a mistake was made in regards to my birth country.
I was born in the USSR (that's what it says in my Russian passport), and that is what I normally put everywhere when I fill out forms. Sometimes, when using drop-down menus, if the USSR isn't an option, I put down the modern equivalent of the country, which is Ukraine (not Russia).
But oh dear, someone in the HO put down the wrong modern-day country! So instead of writing "Birthtown, USSR" or "Birthtown, Ukraine", they wrote down "Birthtown, Russian Federation".
This is factually incorrect. After googling this issue a little bit, I found out that amending a naturalisation certificate takes 6-8 weeks. The problem is, I am attending my ceremony at the start of October, and I need to travel a couple of weeks later. Having seen the passport timelines, most people get their passports after about 14-16 days, but if I have to wait for 8 weeks + 2, that is more like 2.5 months!
This is such a strange mistake to make, and it will cost me time and travel opportunities to change. It's not a big deal to me, but I'm concerned that this will be a problem down the line.
Does anyone have relevant advice? After waiting 11 years and spending thousands on all of this, I really want this process to be over and I'm a little shocked by the fact that the wrong country was put down despite other information in all of my paperwork!
I recently got confirmation of my naturalisation: got the HO letter, booked myself in for a ceremony, etc.
However, I noticed that in the HO letter, a mistake was made in regards to my birth country.
I was born in the USSR (that's what it says in my Russian passport), and that is what I normally put everywhere when I fill out forms. Sometimes, when using drop-down menus, if the USSR isn't an option, I put down the modern equivalent of the country, which is Ukraine (not Russia).
But oh dear, someone in the HO put down the wrong modern-day country! So instead of writing "Birthtown, USSR" or "Birthtown, Ukraine", they wrote down "Birthtown, Russian Federation".
This is factually incorrect. After googling this issue a little bit, I found out that amending a naturalisation certificate takes 6-8 weeks. The problem is, I am attending my ceremony at the start of October, and I need to travel a couple of weeks later. Having seen the passport timelines, most people get their passports after about 14-16 days, but if I have to wait for 8 weeks + 2, that is more like 2.5 months!
This is such a strange mistake to make, and it will cost me time and travel opportunities to change. It's not a big deal to me, but I'm concerned that this will be a problem down the line.
Does anyone have relevant advice? After waiting 11 years and spending thousands on all of this, I really want this process to be over and I'm a little shocked by the fact that the wrong country was put down despite other information in all of my paperwork!
Really handy to have e-mail addresses to write to, especially with an organisation as elusive as the HO.
I talked to both council staff, and the passport office today. Council staff were sympathetic but not sure of what to do, and the passport office told me there was also nothing they could do.