Child naturalisation process taking very long (18 months)

[davidk5]

We have applied for my son's naturalisation as a British Citizen at the beginning of 2020. He was 7 at that time and was born and raised in the UK. Additionally, we (as his parents) were both naturalised British Citizens at that time (we have received it a year earlier).

Has anyone experienced such a large delay? I've tried contacting Home Office (through the UKVI Contact Centre) and eventually got a very confusing response of "Unfortunately, we are unable to process your referral as our records show that your application is still within the service standard." How is 18 months a service standard!?

That causes considerable grief to my spouse and they basically left us waiting in limbo.

Additional question - what happens if we need to leave UK in the processes of naturalisation?

[alterhase58]

You did apply for his registration as British citizen (Form MN1)? Children are registered and not naturalised.
Have you contacted your MP at all to see what they can do? 18 months seems far too long for registration of children.
Registration/Naturalisation are not immigration applications, with different rules - you are free to travel. Of course chasing this from here would be easier I assume.

[vinny]

See also After you've applied.
MN1 (registration) application processing timelines (only)

There are only two requirements to satisfy when making a Section 1(3) registration.

[davidk5]

You did apply for his registration as British citizen (Form MN1)? Children are registered and not naturalised.
Have you contacted your MP at all to see what they can do? 18 months seems far too long for registration of children.
Registration/Naturalisation are not immigration applications, with different rules - you are free to travel. Of course chasing this from here would be easier I assume.

Yes, apologies, that's what we did. It was a while ago!

I had not contacted my MP, I'm finding it baffling that one needs to go through such a length for a service that is so expensive. If that's the only way I will do so, just still can't believe that this system is so broken.

About the travel, I meant that we plan to leave UK for a decade or so.

[davidk5]

See also After you've applied.
MN1 (registration) application processing timelines (only)

There are only two requirements to satisfy when making a Section 1(3) registration.

Hi Vinny,

Yes, we satisfied all the requirements and Home Office 'confirmed' (in their way - 'we will contact you if we need more information') that they got them.