Post
by go2khurram » Wed May 07, 2014 4:47 pm
Thanks Amber,
mean while i sent email to Nationality Policy Team - Liverpool and got the below response.
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Dear Sir,
You asked about our policy on disregarding periods when a person was subject to immigration time restrictions in the 12 month period before making a naturalisation application.
As you point out, Chapter 18 Annex B paragraph 7.5(g) of the Nationality Staff Instructions states:
7.5 Discretion to disregard immigration time restrictions in the final 12 months may normally be exercised if:
(g) consideration of an application for indefinite leave to remain, made more than 15 months before the citizenship application, had been protracted through no fault of the applicant, providing ILR was eventually granted. This can include applications for asylum which have resulted in the grant of ILR (you should note that any asylum cases granted on or after the 30 August 2005 will not result in ILR, applicants will instead be given limited leave).
Nationality policy does not contain a definition of the word ‘protracted’ as referred to in paragraph 7.5(g) of the nationality guidance. Nationality caseworkers consider each application on its own merits referring to the case history of the ILR application. If the caseworker determines that a delay occurred during the ILR application, which was no fault of the applicant’s, and the other requirements of paragraph 7.5(g) are met, then discretion may be exercised in the applicant’s favour. Our service standards state that 95% of postal settlement applications will be decided within six months. As such, applicants can reasonably expect that most applications will take 6 months to decide. Applications that take longer than this, where the delay was outside of the person’s control, will be considered under Chapter 18 Annex B paragraph 7.5 (g), when an application for British citizenship is made.
In general terms, we would expect to exercise this discretion where the delay was due to failings on the part of the Home Office. Examples of this might be where there had been delays in dealing with the case due to an increased volume of applications, or the file being with another part of the Agency. If, however, the delays were due to the applicant not responding to correspondence or sending incorrect documentation which resulted in further enquiries, we would not exercise discretion on this basis.
Any decision would be made on all the information available to the caseworker at the time the case is considered. However, you may wish to take the above information into account in deciding when to apply.
I hope this helps.
Yours sincerely,
Ann Woodall | Nationality Operational Policy| Operational Policy & Rules Unit|Immigration and Border Policy Directorate | Home Office
*please do not take this as professional advice**
