Naturalisation application processing timelines (only)

[Rahel1984]

They sent the approval letter only. I submitted photocopies documents only, as I went through NCS at Camden. I did not send any original documents, apart from my life in the UK certificate.

Does the letter tell you to wait for two weeks b4 u book ur ceremony? Cos I have seen some people saying that. I'm bit confused about it.

[Irish_English]

They sent the approval letter only. I submitted photocopies documents only, as I went through NCS at Camden. I did not send any original documents, apart from my life in the UK certificate.

[ella1]

Eligibility criteria: EEA (5+1 year, issued workpermit in June 2008)
Nationality: Latvian
Method of application: postal
Date of receipt by UKBA: 08/07/14
Date of debit of fees: 17/07/14
Date of receipt of acknowledgement: 17/07/14 (received: 24/07/2014)
Date of receipt of approval: waiting
Date of Ceremony: waiting

Hi, I would like to know the following, pls. Do they send approval letter the first and documents after or all together?

Many thanks!

[Irish_English]

Application Timeline
Eligibility criteria: (EU National working in UK since Apr 2005)
Method of application: NCS Camden
Date of receipt by UKBA: 03/07/2014
Date of debit of fees: 11/07/2014
Date of receipt of acknowledgement: 09/07/2014
Date of receipt of approval: 03/10/2013
Date of Ceremony: Booked for 22nd October

Hi All,

I applied on July 3 2014 from Camden council. Got my letter of approval today, dated 3rd October 2014.

I am am EU national living in the UK since Apr 2005. I did not apply for permanent residence, I went straight to citizenship. Contrary to some post here that suggest that you need to have PR before applying for citizenship is not true.

For the application at Camden Council, the lady just wanted my P60 for 6 years, company letter from latest employer. Bank and utility statements. Crucially also a letter from HMRC showing that you have paid tax for the last 6 years.


Thanks everyone here for the posts. Helped in getting an idea of how long the application would take.

[Rahel1984]

Emailed home office last week about the status of my application what I made on 8th of July. Got a response today saying it's still ongoing. I don't think those people there don't have the access to the system. Thats why everyone get the same kind of reply. Anyway still hoping for a good news very very soon as I seen some people applied after me got their approval already.

[nkim2222]

Congratulations pple..as for me still waiting...applied on the 13 june 2014, was a 10 years residency ..4 months today..tried to call with the 0300 number no answer as usual..which number do you guyz use to call..

[go2khurram]

Final Update . By the grace of God I received approval letter on Saturday exactly after 4 months of my application. I had made my naturalisation application after 4 months earlier than my eligibility and asked for discretion. Best of Luck for the guys who are waiting.

Application under discretion mentioned "Chapter 18 Annex B paragraph 7.5(g)"
ILR Date: 07 July 2013 (Applied after 8 months of ILR)
Eligibility criteria: HSMP + Tier 1 (General) + ILR for 8 Months
Language criteria : Expired IELTS
Current nationality: Pakistani
Method of application: NCS
Council name if NCS used: Manchester City
Date of application: 11/07/2014
Payment method CC/DC, Personal cheque, Bankers cheque etc: CC
Date of receipt by UKBA: 14/07/2014
Date of debit or clearance of fees: 23/07/2014/ (Debit)
Date approval received: 11/10/2014 Letter dated 02/10/2014
Date of ceremony: 22/10/2014


The NCS guy was not aware about the rule mentioned in Section 7.5 (g) so he asked me to wait and confirmed with he boss. Even boss was not aware about this but after showing them my correspondence with UKBA they agree to accept my application.

[Urwelcome1]

Hi - i have applied on 01 Jul 14 from NCS -Leeds and I received my invitation letter on 11 Oct 14.

Good luck for those waiting...

Hi, I applied 2 weeks after you (the 17th) and received the approval letter the same day as you, which means that they do not consider the date the application was submitted!!
Congratulations!! and good luck to All...

[Urwelcome1]

Application Timeline
Eligibility criteria: 1yr ILR; 3yr spouse of BC.
Method of application: NCS (Hackney London).
Date of receipt by UKBA: 19 July 2014
Date of debit of fees: 20 July 2014
Date of receipt of acknowledgement: 27 July 2014
Date of receipt of approval: 10 October 2014 (Letter dated the 30 September).10 days post delay !
Date of Ceremony: 17 October 2014

Important:
I have called, the 1st of October, the Home Office to check on the progress of my application and they replied as usual that the application is process when it was already approved as the letter of Approval I received was dated the 30th of September!!
My advice is that you just save your money calling the Home Office as I believe that they EITHER don't have the complete access to the applications to see in real the time the stage, OR they have all the access but they are just instructed but the management not to share any information and to use the same speech of "... application in process and it can take up to 6 months".

Another thing is the Ceremony schedule.
When I received the approval letter, I called straight away the phone number on the approval letter to schedule the ceremony. When I called them the first time (as I called twice), the first person explained that there is an invitation letter that was posted to me with the date of Ceremony and that I have to wait for it... as this person was not convincing I called a second time and a lady took my personal details and looked up on the system the date: it was scheduled for 7th of November!! I asked the lady if I can reschedule it for an earlier date, she checked if there is any availability (same system as when calling our doctor surgeries) and I was lucky that the 17 of October was free! 2 days after this call I received the Ceremony letter by post.

I hope this is helpful and wishing you all the best luck!!

[Sanjit001]

Hi - i have applied on 01 Jul 14 from NCS -Leeds and I received my invitation letter on 11 Oct 14.

Good luck for those waiting...

[ukelvin]

Eligibility criteria: 3yr spouse of B
Method of application: NCS (Tower Hamlet)
Date of receipt by UKBA: 08/07/14
Date of debit of fees: 16/07/14
Date of receipt of acknowledgement: 18/07/14
Date of receipt of approval: 10/10/14
Date of Ceremony: will book next Monday...

[tanz.88]

[quote="tanz.88"]Eligibility criteria: 3 yr + ILR (British spouse)
Method of application: NCS Wokingham
Date of application: 03/07/2014
Date of receipt by UKBA: Not known
Date of debit of fees: 14/07/2014
Date of receipt of acknowledgement: 21/07/2014 (Letter is dated 11/07/2014, but got to me on 21/07/2014 with incorrect name spellings)
Date of receipt of approval: 26/09/2014
Date of Ceremony: 14/11/2014

[oli_ro]

Guys,

I have applied on the 15.07.2014 and today I have received the famous(maybe infamous) 2nd class envelope containing the Citizenship Invitation Application.

It was dated on the 06.10.2014.

Good luck to all of you who are still waiting !

[Rahel1984]

Eligibility criteria: 5 years Tier 1 General + 1 years ILR
Language criteria met: UK university degree
Method of application: NCS Hounslow
Date of application: 04/07/2014
Payment method: Credit Card
Date of receipt by UKBA: Dated 15/07/2014
Date of acknowledgment: received (Dated 15/07/2014)
Date of debit or clearance of fees: 15/07/2014
Date approval received: 10/10/2014 (Dated: 04/10/2014)
Date of ceremony: TBC

Atlast I have received it....
I have called council to book an citizenship ceremony and the earliest available date is 10th December
Dont know what to do now.... I thought I will book my ceremony early and apply for passport as I need to travel for long duration..

You can do a private ceremony if u need the passport urgently

[go2khurram]

Eligibility criteria: 5 years Tier 1 General + 1 years ILR
Language criteria met: UK university degree
Method of application: NCS Hounslow
Date of application: 04/07/2014
Payment method: Credit Card
Date of receipt by UKBA: Dated 15/07/2014
Date of acknowledgment: received (Dated 15/07/2014)
Date of debit or clearance of fees: 15/07/2014
Date approval received: 10/10/2014 (Dated: 04/10/2014)
Date of ceremony: TBC

Atlast I have received it....
I have called council to book an citizenship ceremony and the earliest available date is 10th December
Dont know what to do now.... I thought I will book my ceremony early and apply for passport as I need to travel for long duration..

Congratulations..... Book a private ceremonies if you can't wait

[julyilr]

Eligibility criteria: 5 years Tier 1 General + 1 years ILR
Language criteria met: UK university degree
Method of application: NCS Hounslow
Date of application: 04/07/2014
Payment method: Credit Card
Date of receipt by UKBA: Dated 15/07/2014
Date of acknowledgment: received (Dated 15/07/2014)
Date of debit or clearance of fees: 15/07/2014
Date approval received: 10/10/2014 (Dated: 04/10/2014)
Date of ceremony: TBC

Atlast I have received it....
I have called council to book an citizenship ceremony and the earliest available date is 10th December
Dont know what to do now.... I thought I will book my ceremony early and apply for passport as I need to travel for long duration..

[Navin]

If it has been 6 months or more then that is unacceptable. I have had a brief look and found this response from a similar case in where you are able to request the status of your application. Have a look….https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ ... tion_statu

Tq for the reply .

[shaheen]

Approval received.

Eligibility criteria: HSMP + Tier 1 + ILR
Language criteria met: Degree certificate, uni letter plus NARIC SoC
Method of application: NCS
Date of application: 19 May 2014
Payment method: Debit Card
Date of receipt by UKBA: 21 May 2014
Date of acknowledgement: 02 June 2014 (Dated 28 May 2014)
Date of debit or clearance of fees: 28 May 2014
Date approval received: 10/10/2014 (Dated 30 Sept 2014)
Date of ceremony: 21 Oct 2014

[boone]

If it has been 6 months or more then that is unacceptable. I have had a brief look and found this response from a similar case in where you are able to request the status of your application. Have a look….https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ ... tion_statu

[Navin]

Hi Guys,
I am a new member in this site as i have no idea, how the system work aroundhere.
Anyways, i Applied for a Naturalisation On April as its been 6 months already and i still havent got any news from the HQ.
I call the Department and all i could get was wait another 1 months.At this moment i have no idea what do do. Could anyone help me ?

[smshad]

Hi,
Sorry for the late reply. I did not call HO neither I emailed them because I receive my approval in good time.
Looking at the average time for last few months on this forum and from many who I know personally, I guessed the time period correctly. I would say 4-4.5 months is max time.

i gave you home office number and email id to contact, did you tried called them, if yes please do let me know which number is exist.

[onabanjo]

Hi Guru's
I will be applying for naturalisation(UK) in a few days time, but I have a few questions to ask.

1.I have done my IELTS english test(I have an average of 5.5 on all the four sections required-speaking -listening-writing and the other).
2.The life in UK certificate I hold is the very one I used,when applying for indefinate leave to remain--now over a year.
Questions--What validity do you need on the above documents,when making this application ??
Do we pay the application fee and ceremony fee all at once ??
Do I need to send anything related to a points based calculator ??,I have seen this mentioned a number of times on this Great Forum

Any one with relevant advice can post-----Thank you

" Life in the UK Test Certificate does not have a VALIDITY DATE , so it does not matter if you have passed it over a year or five years ago.
Secondly, You pay the application fee which currently is £906.00 all at once and it includes the ceremony fee. You dont need to send anything related to a ponts based calculator because the test in English language which have just done does not require you include that.
Good luck"

[kadd]

Hi Guru's
I will be applying for naturalisation(UK) in a few days time, but I have a few questions to ask.

1.I have done my IELTS english test(I have an average of 5.5 on all the four sections required-speaking -listening-writing and the other).
2.The life in UK certificate I hold is the very one I used,when applying for indefinate leave to remain--now over a year.
Questions--What validity do you need on the above documents,when making this application ??
Do we pay the application fee and ceremony fee all at once ??
Do I need to send anything related to a points based calculator ??,I have seen this mentioned a number of times on this Great Forum

Any one with relevant advice can post-----Thank you

[Relatively Fat]

Hi guys.

Eligibility criteria: LLR (Refugee Status) 5yrs + 1 year ILR
Language + UK knowledge criteria met: LIUK + ESOL Entry 3 (speaking and listening).
Method of application: NCS (Croydon)
Date of application: 30/04/2014
Payment method: Debit Card
Date of receipt by UKBA: 01/05/2014
Clearance of fees: 09/05/2014
Date of acknowledgment: received 15/05/2014 (Dated 12/05/2014)
Date approval on letter: waiting
Date of ceremony:waiting
Days from receipt: 5 months and 8 days (161 days).

Update sought:
1 - Sent them an email yesterday, to furthernationalityenquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk. Got an automated reply from them "Thank you for your email to the Further Nationality Enquiries mailbox. Our service standard for responding to your email is 20 working days. Every effort will be made to deal with your enquiry within this timescale and we respectfully request that you do not chase your enquiry within this time."

2 - Rang them today (on 0300 123 2253) and was told still in progress, that the six months haven't passed yet ( well, almost!).


I wonder why it's taking so long for my approval...
Previous posts seem to show the status of many applications made in May 2014 is on-going/ under consideration. Let me speculate a bit here. I wonder if this has anything to do with the passport service backlog that was before summer holiday this year. I remember reading newspaper reports saying that quick processing of naturalisation might have caused the blacklong at Her Majesty's Passport Service (now defunct and is under HO). One report said that there have been 200000 approved citizenship applications last year alone (no source provided in the article). But interestingly, it said that staff from other departments were drafted in to clear the blacklog at the passport service (and were paid an exorbitant amount for overtime). Now, where could they be drafted in from? Nationality Team? Nah. All this is mere conjecture and can't be, because how would one explain other applications that were made after May and yet got processed? Don't know and getting a bit anxious and frustrated now.

[nkim2222]

I applied on the 13 of june..got a knowledgement letter after 2 wks..till now am waiting for approval. .will call themm in 2 wks time..Congrats to those who are waiting ..Be blessed. .