ECCTIS letter requirement

[sauron]

Hi

I have applied for my naturalisation however I have received the checklist for providing the documents as part of my appointment.
Amongst other things, one of the required items on the checklist is 'Ecctis letter that confirms the qualification meets or exceeds the recognised standard of a Bachelor's or Masters degree or PhD in the UK AND confirm the level of English to which the degree was taught or researched'.

I completed my Bachelor of Engineering in India in 2002 and I have a transcript from the institution that clearly states that I have a degree that was taught in English. In addition, this transcript was also used for my ILR/settlement application in 2013 and was accepted back then.

My question is that I called up the UKVI on their helpline and asked them whether I needed to provide the Ecctis letter as I do have a transcript and also this was accepted in my ILR application. The person responded by saying that Ecctis letter was no longer needed as long as I have the transcript.

Could I kindly confirm from all the esteemed members on the forum here whether that I need to provide the Ecctis letter to support my application? I am concerned that I may be asked to provide this letter at a later date at much bigger expense and delay to my application.

The transcript from my university does clearly state the medium of instruction for my degree was English, however the NARIC/Ecctis verification of my Degree equivalent in UK was accepted in 2013 as part of the PBS applications.

Could someone please help in confirming whether Ecctis letter is needed on top of the transcript that I have? Also, if the Ecctis letter is needed then which all information I do need them to ratify - English proficiency; and PhD verification although I dont have PhD qualification and never claimed that.

Many thanks in advance.

[AmazonianX]

The NARIC letter from 2013 can be reused.
Only the name was changed to ECCTIS post brevity.

[sauron]

Thanks for your response. I didnt have an NARIC letter back then. I had a Points Based System calculation where my details were verified and confirmed as part of the settlement/ILR application. All I have is a letter from Home Office that confirms that my ILR application was successful and it details all the points that I claimed against each category and it gave due points against the Qualification and Language proficiency.

Is that letter from Home Office to confirm my settlement ILR enough for this or should I be asking Ecctis to provide me a letter to that effect? I do find it quite absurd that after living all these years working successfully in this environment I still have to prove my knowledge of English et al.

[CR001]

You will need to do ecctis for rhe foteign degree or so the B1 english test from an aplroved test provider. They both cost the same

[AmazonianX]

Thanks for your response. I didnt have an NARIC letter back then. I had a Points Based System calculation where my details were verified and confirmed as part of the settlement/ILR application. All I have is a letter from Home Office that confirms that my ILR application was successful and it details all the points that I claimed against each category and it gave due points against the Qualification and Language proficiency.

Is that letter from Home Office to confirm my settlement ILR enough for this or should I be asking Ecctis to provide me a letter to that effect? I do find it quite absurd that after living all these years working successfully in this environment I still have to prove my knowledge of English et al.

Depending on appointment availability you may be better off with doing English language test at Level B1.

[CR001]

What date in 2013 did you apply for get ILR?

[sauron]

Many thanks for your response. I guess I will go for the B1 test. I could find many test providers however which ones are the most reputable and dependable? Any suggestions would be really helpful.

On a separate note - I just realised that on the 'referee' form I mentioned my friend's name as I know him rather than his full name as identified in his passport. For example, on the citizenship application form I mentioned his name as 'Jon Smith' whereas the actual name on passport is 'Jonathan Samuel Smith'.
I approached the helpline and they didnt say whether that was going to be a problem or not. Any thoughts on this as well? Thanks in advance.

[alterhase58]

For English test you have to use a provider from the list of approved test centres: https://www.gov.uk/english-language.
The missing middle name of your referee shouldn't be an issue. Helpline is a third party outsourced operation, they are not UKVI caseworkers.

[Ticktack]

Many thanks for your response. I guess I will go for the B1 test. I could find many test providers however which ones are the most reputable and dependable? Any suggestions would be really helpful.

On a separate note - I just realised that on the 'referee' form I mentioned my friend's name as I know him rather than his full name as identified in his passport. For example, on the citizenship application form I mentioned his name as 'Jon Smith' whereas the actual name on passport is 'Jonathan Samuel Smith'. Full names aren't a problem. Christian could easily be called Chris, William could be called Will or Bill, Thomas called Tom, Frederick called Fred. The list is endless. How people are generally called might not be the exact name on their birth certificates or government documents. It's a non issue.
I approached the helpline and they didnt say whether that was going to be a problem or not. Any thoughts on this as well? Thanks in advance.

[sauron]

Thanks again for all your responses. It has been really helpful.

[sauron]

Also, thinking again looking at the checklist.

'Ecctis letter that confirms the qualification meets or exceeds the recognised standard of a Bachelor's or Masters degree or PhD in the UK AND confirm the level of English to which the degree was taught or researched'.

The above suggests that I need to confirm my degree confirm the qualification meets the recognised standard for Bachelor's or Masters. I claimed qualification points for my Bachelors degree in my Tier-1 application and then the follow up ILR/Settlement.

I understand that we have discussed about the language proficiency through the B1 test, however does the above checklist requirement also ask about the qualification validation?

If yes, then between the Ecctis service options which one is best for me to choose from below?
a) Visas and Nationality Service (English proficiency)
b) Visas and Nationality Service (PhD verification)
c) Visas and Nationality Service (PhD verification with English proficiency)
d) Visas and Nationality Service (High Potential Individual)
e) Visas and Nationality Service (High Potential Individual with English Proficiency)

I believe the option 'a' above provides the same service as of B1 test, however if as per my checklist item as mentioned at the start of this note, do I need to get the option 'e' instead where I get the validation of my Bachelor degree and also the English proficiency?

Sorry for continuing on this thread however I want to ensure that I am choosing the right option and providing the right level of documentation to support my citizenship application.

Thanks again.

[CR001]

Simpler to just do an English B1 test.

[sauron]

Simpler to just do an English B1 test.

Thanks CR001. I do understand that it will resolve the 'Language Proficiency' bit, however how about the Qualification as that will not be addressed by the B1 test, is it?

[alterhase58]

B1 is all that’s required - 10 minutes speaking and listening- you don’t need to prove anything else, for naturalisation.

[AmazonianX]

Simpler to just do an English B1 test.

Thanks CR001. I do understand that it will resolve the 'Language Proficiency' bit, however how about the Qualification as that will not be addressed by the B1 test, is it? It resolves all.

[sauron]

quick question -

I just realised that in my citizenship application I had mentioned that my degree was taught in English and I had also mentioned that I would provide the official transcript or letter. I had quoted this due to my belief that the original transcripts issued by my university in India (which was accepted back in 2011 as part of my ILR application) was accepted as proof of English language.

As part of my application now I am being asked to provide the ECCTIS letter as the evidence document in my checklist.

My question is - As part of my application, will I now have to provide ECCTIS letter as I had mentioned that I will be able to provide a transcript?
I am well aware from the previous conversation that I could have actually used the B1 qualification for the same.

Would I now need to stick to ECCTIS letter route due to what I mentioned on the application? Or could I still just go for B1 test and then provide that certification irrespective of my application?

Sorry for the confusion as I want to ensure that I am not providing any reason for the rejection of my application, no matter how miniscule or small the variation may be between the application or the supporting documents.

Any help would be hugely appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[CR001]

You can submit the B1. Simply explain the mistake with a brief cover letter and upload B1 and letter with your documents.

[sauron]

You can submit the B1. Simply explain the mistake with a brief cover letter and upload B1 and letter with your documents.

Thanks CR for your prompt response.

I was planning to do one large cover letter where I was going to provide any supporting commentary on any relevant sections for the application.

There was one speeding fine issued in 2011 which was paid and considered spent plenty of years back.

Incidentally, there also was a CCJ issued by a parking company in 2013 as they chased me on my previous DVLA address yet to be updated and then it was cancelled by the court in 2014.

I have mentioned both of these on my application and I am going to provide a cover letter to explain this all on one big cover letter.

Do you think this is okay to club the information above along with the B1 qualification instead of degree ratification by ECCTIS?

Thanks

[CR001]

I was planning to do one large cover letter where I was going to provide any supporting commentary on any relevant sections for the application.

Why?? The form has the information, UKVI know what to look for. You don't have to provide commentary on things. Why are you overthinking the process??

There was one speeding fine issued in 2011 which was paid and considered spent plenty of years back.

So what, no issue.

Incidentally, there also was a CCJ issued by a parking company in 2013 as they chased me on my previous DVLA address yet to be updated and then it was cancelled by the court in 2014.

So what, no issue.

I have mentioned both of these on my application and I am going to provide a cover letter to explain this all on one big cover letter.

Nothing to explain.

Do you think this is okay to club the information above along with the B1 qualification instead of degree ratification by ECCTIS?

You are wasting time doing a big letter explaining your life story. UKVI is not interested in reading long letters from applicants.