conclusion on naturalization approval time

[ezh]

Hi friends,

from reading the posts on naturalization wating times it became clear to me that there are two queues of applicants.

In the first queue there are people who mailed their application by post to Liverpool. This queue is very slow due to the backlog, especially on the "character check stage".

The second queue consists of NCS applicants, it is fast and it seems to be not affected by the backlog - approval times of 4-10 days!!! have been reported on the thread. It looks that each NCS has now a power to do a character check and does it by not a very thorough way (mainly by a quick computer check) compared to the Liverpool team (its computers probably all broken).

I am in the first queue - applied on the 27th of September, before this division into two queues has become so apparent (if I would only know it earlier!!!). I was smart enough to fill my application form correctly without NCS and I was misled by the IND web page saying that NCSs are not speeding up character checks. So, I am still waiting for a HO reply.

I advise to all new applicants to use NCSs. Definitely.

I also want to express my criticism to the IND for making two unfair queues.

[bbdivo]

From looking at the recent approvals I would say more like 1-2 months is the norm on NCS.

And as far as I can tell the NCS don't do any character checks, all they do is check the documentation provided make copies where necessary and post everything to Liverpool, where it is processed as would any other application. Though people who have already been through the process can confirm that.

However saying that, 5 months does seem quite long, sounds a bit more than average, have you called the IND about your application?

[ezh]

And as far as I can tell the NCS don't do any character checks, all they do is check the documentation provided make copies where necessary and post everything to Liverpool, where it is processed as would any other application. Though people who have already been through the process can confirm that.

This is what I thought when applying. But the much faster approval time (4-5 times as follows from the posts) for the NCS applicants at least indicates that the character check is also much faster for them! If the NCS do not have a power for character chechs (as you and the IND web page say) it means that the NCS applicants have a priority treatment in Liverpool on the character check stage.

[Kayalami]

ezh,

With respect please do not mislead the forum - the NCS does not make any decisions on your application to include whether to subject it to a more detailed character test. The NCS carries out definitive administrative tasks to include verification that you have submitted the correct documentation, filled out the relevant parts of the form and crucailly signed it. I appreciate this may seem straightforward to you but I have dealt with multiple applications where people have forgot to sign the forms, failed to submit birth/ marriage certificates, missed out pages of the forms etc. Perhaps you could seach under rogerroger who submitted via NCS back in November 2005 and still got a 'character' letter - I believe his application was subsequently approved in Jan 2006.

IMHO it may be that the IND have made a decision to proceed the NCS applications straight to a caseworker whilst postal applications likely go to an 'internal type NCS' who verify all is correct before forwarding such to the caseworker. Given the volumes of applications being received it thus follows that those in the postal route will have a longer wait. Ultimatley the opening of more NCS centres should bring faster processing to more applicants.

I trust that helps

[ppron747]

I don't believe that character checks are undertaken any faster using NCS.
I think the point is that because NCS applications are already paid for, pre-checked for completeness and accuracy, and "dressed" (ie with the supporting documents in the right order) NCS applications reach the "caseworking" stage (which includes character checks) more quickly.

They don't have to join the queue(s) for the various preliminary stages, and therefore get a head start. And because they've all been pre-sifted, fewer letters need to be written to applicants to query particular aspects of their applications. So they get completed sooner - but I doubt that they pass through individual stages any quicker - I think they simply bypass some of the stages altogether...

[ezh]

Thank you guys, -

you have some experience and I am trying to accept (with difficulties) your point of view that the NCS have nothing to do with "character checks".

What I can not accept is that when the postal applications and the NCS applications both reach the character check stage in Liverpool (i.e. the converging point of the two queues) they are then treated equally. Here is one example for the NCS applicants "stevcal" who applied at a similar period and almost on the same bases as mine.

"stevcal"
BASED ON 5 year stay (4 years work permit + 1 year ILR)
11-10-05 NCS appointment at Wandsworth
14-10-05 Payment received at Liverpool
15-10-05 Acknowledgement letter received by applicant
20-10-05 Approval letter received (dated 18-10-05)

"stevcal's" approval time was 9 days. It looks like a world record. The actual time was even shorter if one takes into account the postal time for his application to reach Liverpool from his NCS and to reach him from Liverpool. How can you not suspect character checks at the NCS?

Now look please at my data:

"ezh"
Criteria - (7 WP + 1 IRL; IRL got within 7 days)
Date of postal application 27 Sept 2005
Date of the bank transfer 10 Oct 2005
Date of acknowledgement letter 27 Oct 2005
Date of character check letter 7 Dec 2005
Current status - waiting (emailed an enquiry - no reply).

Do you feel the difference? "stevcal" is an exceptional case, of course. The usual approval time for the NCS applicants is 3-5 weeks even now during the difficult time (character checks are also affected by the backlog). But it is still much faster (including character check) compared with the postal case.

The example with "rogerroger", who used a NCS and still got a character letter looks like a rare exception to me: according to the posts elsewhere the NCS applicants do not get character letters! Perhaps it was a mistake with "rogerroger"! Anyway I applied earlier than him, got the character letter earlier but he was approved much earlier - congratulations, mate! His and "stevcal" cases further confirms that the Liverpool character checking team treats the NCS applicants differently for some reason.

This is why I thought that the NCS were given some powers for character checks, for example to help the Liverpool team to coop with the backlog. Perhaps Liverpool gets at least some data concerning character checks from the NCS. Because of this the growing number of NCS applications are also contributing (together with the backlog) to the delays for the postal application.

Finally I want to repeat for the new applicants that we have statistics of the approval times - thanks to this site. Based on this statistics it would be very foolish to apply by post.

The IND has to change their corresponding web sites to highlight the great advantage of an NCS application.

[lemess]

NCS definitely do not do character checks. I have seen them go through their entire process. they literally review the documents, put them in a special delivery envelope and post it to liverpool - that being the end of the matter as far as they are concerened. There is no need for hypothesising here - they definitely do not do this nor do they have the staff trained to carry this sort of stuff out.

Secondly character checks are mandatory for everyone but some take longer than others simply because people have different circumstances and what may be easily verified through lookup on computer systems ( tax, criminal records etc) may not be so easy to do for other people. That is what explains the difference - not whether someone sent their application by NCS or post.

You are wrong in assuming that the difference in time between NCS and non NCS is due to the character checking stage. It isn't. The difference is in the fact that some preliminary checking on the application is farmed out from the bottleneck at liverpool to the NCS who reject applications that are not complete at the point of submission. it's a bit like the check and send service for passports.

[mhunjn]

I for one know a few cases where applications were made through NCS and applicants still got the character check letters.
This includes myself as well.

To me, the average seems to be about 4 wks for applicaitons going in through NCS. I think the moderators have tried their best to explain why this could be, and their explanations seems very rational.
Going through NCS would save some time that IND would otherwise take to sort the applications and their supporting documents, sending the original supporting documents back etc etc.

Also, as extensively discussed in this forum, character enquiries are done in most of the cases... It normally seems to take about 2/3 weeks from the character check letter to the decision.

The example with "rogerroger", who used a NCS and still got a character letter looks like a rare exception to me: according to the posts elsewhere the NCS applicants do not get character letters! Perhaps it was a mistake with "rogerroger"!

[mhunjn]

Same experience here...

The main objective of NCS is to check the application forms, supporting documents and advise in case of non-compliance... hence saving that time for IND... where they receive a magnitude more applications than NCS.

NCS definitely do not do character checks. I have seen them go through their entire process. they literally review the documents, put them in a special delivery envelope and post it to liverpool - that being the end of the matter as far as they are concerened. There is no need for hypothesising here - they definitely do not do this nor do they have the staff trained to carry this sort of stuff out.

[ezh]

lemess,

if you've seen them go through their entire process then there is no questions for me anymore in this matter.

What would be your advise to me? I have received the character letter more than 2 month ago and my "character check" has to be straightforward (no criminal offences, paying taxes for 8.5 years, very respectable referees etc.).

Do I need just to sit and wait? Do I need to phone them and what to ask to help the situation to go faster? I have emailed them asking about the progress - no reply. Could they loose my application?

Thanks

[John]

Do I need just to sit and wait?

Yes that is exactly what you do! Just think yourself lucky you were not applying say four or five years ago, when the average wait time was over a year!

Even when my wife applied in April 2004 the average wait time was said to be eight months, so you can see how well IND has done to get the times down to the current level. My wife waited just five weeks by the way, living proof that many applicants hear far sooner than the stated average wait time.

[ezh]

Thanks John,

it is a nice way to deal with such a situation (you sound like an IND representative). You could also say: "you are lucky not to be born 1000 years ago to die from plague..."

the point is that some people get approval fast and some people of the same character quality slowly.

with respect

[mhunjn]

That's life mate...

the point is that some people get approval fast and some people of the same character quality slowly.

[ezh]

O, mhunjn, we know this

[mhunjn]

If you don't have anything to worry about, asin your application having problems... then it's just a matter of time... worrying too much about it won't change anything.

O, mhunjn, we know this

[John]

I feel this topic has run its useful course ... so now I am locking it before it develops further into a series of abusive messages.