September 2014 - Naturalisation Application Timeline

[Gladwing]

Thanks for sharing this info. Very useful one. I am already on the 5th month so not sure how far this will go on. I now think that based on my analysis through this forum, most straight forward applications are approved within 3 months time while those ones that require additional checks may take longer. I relooked at my acknowledgement letter that I received on the 16th of Sep 2014 and they have mentioned that the home office would target to approve 95% of the applications within 6 months and other may take more time due to one of the following reasons (then there was a list of causes for delays mentioned). One of the reasons that I saw was ‘if we had provided any information that requires verification by another government department’. As I have mentioned my PCN numbers(2 of them) in the civil penalty section in the application, I think mine might have gone for additional verification. This may take longer as per their disclaimer. Otherwise mine is a straight forward application too. Not sure if all the other friends who applied in September had something or the other like me which might have lead for additional checks? Also, wondering if there is a possibility that the approval letter may have got lost in the post? In any case it is really unfortunate that there is no tracking system online to check our status, even if it mean the same status we at least know it is WIP. I sincerely wish all of us start getting these approvals soon.

[rajo1]

Hello Sir

I have sent my application on 27 of September, and the Home Office received on 29 of September according to the Royal Mail tracking service, I can assure for you that I did not have a single crime, neither penalty nor any thing else, apart from that I have changed my middle name legally and I have attached my Deed Poll certificate with my application, which I believe It should have not delay my application for that long time.

Because legally everyone has the right to change his/her name as they wish by changing it a lawful way, and since this day I don't have any response from the Home Office, as some of you may aware of I have contacted the Home Office by email, I asked them if they could clarify in which ground they are using to approve some of the applications within or less than two months, and some are taking longer than six months, they only answer I got from them was shamefully a common response which is available online.

I am afraid to say this, but the Home Office is out of touch since this Torry lead government came in power, they cut the Home Office staffs, they closed down the immigration agency UKBA, since the rise of the UKIP party which is against the immigration, torries are playing a kinfolk game of cracking down the immigrants and that includes of decreasing the number of immigrants who are becoming British Citizenship, in October 2013 they introduced this new law which compelled every applicant of British Citizenship to pass both Life in the UK test and English ESOL, they again recently introduced a new policy which is prohibiting any one who entered UK illegally to not apply British citizenship for ten years.

The general elections is very close, four months away, and they want something they can go with the election campaign, but I am very sad that we became the Torries political slogan.

[stokbrig]

What do you expect to happen to our applications after the general election!?

[cmpic]

What do you expect to happen to our applications after the general election!?

Nothing. Laws are generally not retroactive, they are normally forward looking. So we should be unaffected.

Separately, I hear from my council that approvals are coming through for last year's applicants but volumes of approvals are fairly low. Apparently there is a large backlog of applications built up.

[cov]

I can't wait any longer where is my approval ??????? its been 4 month

[cmpic]

frustrating. chances are that they haven't even looked at our applications yet... the response some people who applied before us have gotten recently is that their applications are just now being assigned to caseworkers...

[Cadix1976]

I can't wait any longer where is my approval ??????? its been 4 month

Hi,cov me too is been 4 month now I'm so upset about the home office in the way they treat people , my friend got his approval in 2 months

[zabizabi]

Hi Guys, don't be panic, it will come on time, You are thinking to much about it, Keep it away from your mind up to 6 months.Some us waited 3 years ,some 5 and Ooo My God 10 years , long time, so relax let give them some more months with smiles , and after 6 months make your face like this but when it comes to your hand

[cmpic]

Two people got their approvals today after 8-8.5 months – so we can expect ours in May-June timeframe!

[london_2014]

Looks like we have had a very quite christmas...and i am afraid that it might remain this way for another month atleast....i.e., until feb I am expecting nothing from them....as predicted earlier..

Once again I am almost correct (bar few days till feb)...most likely many of us here are looking for than 6 months now....be prepared..obtain you local mps email...draft an email and send it if not heard before march..

[Anoolka]

Still waiting here.
Went through some other forums here, for example February 2014 applications and, guess what, those people are still waiting. Almost 12 months now!!!

[weeman1978]

IS THIS POSSIBLE?

Eligibility criteria: 2 Year Spouse + ILR
Language criteria met: B1 & Life in the UK
Current nationality :PAKISTAN
Method of application: SELF
Date of application: 04/01/2015
Payment method: Credit Card
Date of acknowledgment: 13/01/15
Date approval received: 23/01/15 (Special delivery envelope , sent with the application).
Date of ceremony:awaiting for letter from council

An applicant from January recieved an approval yesterday 23/01/15 , that's 8 WORKING DAYS from the acknowledgement until he received the letter of approval. while we are here waiting for alomoust 5 months. what exactly kind of check they are doing?

[amjadboby]

Hi guys
I applied on 11 sept 2014 as a spouce of british, I had applied with three penalty points on my license but they were not from the court so it was not a conviction anyway, now those points have removed from my counterpart and I have sent to the nationality team Liverpool office today as an update
It's just to make their attention towards my application may be they would look at my application beacUse of that letter lol it is just a try let see what happen

[Cadix1976]

Hi guys
I applied on 11 sept 2014 as a spouce of british, I had applied with three penalty points on my license but they were not from the court so it was not a conviction anyway, now those points have removed from my counterpart and I have sent to the nationality team Liverpool office today as an update
It's just to make their attention towards my application may be they would look at my application beacUse of that letter lol it is just a try let see what happen

Hi, amaja you are not alone I ve applied on 24 sept and I'm still waiting

[cmpic]

Another FOI request response:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ ... 033913.pdf

some stats I ran below (assumed applications made mid-month for %s). Data is as of Sept-30th:

It seems a large number were approved in the 4th month and then in the 6th month...

[Gladwing]

Another FOI request response:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ ... 033913.pdf

some stats I ran below (assumed applications made mid-month for %s). Data is as of Sept-30th:

It seems a large number were approved in the 4th month and then in the 6th month...

Thanks for this info..I am not too sure how you were able to compare the approval %s from the data provided by home office. Can you pls explain how you are able to say that a large number of approvals are received on the 4th and 6th month? Is that an overall trend starting from jan 2014 applications?

Sorry if I am unable to understand but will be interesting and useful to know..thanks once again

[cmpic]

Sure.
I assumed the applications are made at middle of the month (on average). Thus, for eg, as of end of Sept, June applications would have been outstanding for 3.5 months (half of June and all of July, Aug and Sept).

[cmpic]

two more applicants got approved today - one from Feb and one from May. At least its not complete drought out there !

[weeman1978]

guys one of the january applicant got this,

Eligibility Criteria : Married to a British Citizen (ILR obtained based on Tier 1 General)
Language criteria : Life in the UK test + Tier 1 General + UK Degree
Method of application: NCS Haringey
Date of application: 05 Jan 2015
Payment method: Credit Card
Date of receipt by UKBA: 06 Jan 2015 (Tracked via Royal Mail website)
Date of debit or clearance of fees: 08 Jan 2015
Date of acknowledgment: 15th Jan 2015 (Dated 09 Jan 2015)
Date approval received: 28th Jan 2015 (Dated 21st Jan 2015)
Date of ceremony: Will book tomorrow

Thats 9 WORKING DAYS the MOMENT they recieved the application until they make the decision. this is lightning fast application. so what happened to the double checking they are talking about? so what about the POLICE CHECK?CRB?HMRC?CRIMINAL CHECK IN THE COUNTRY OF ORIGIN they've done that on 9 WORKING DAYS? SERIOUSLY?..and when ever we call them they just say ON PROCESS, UNDER CONSIDERATION,THIRD PARTY CHECKING? FINAL STAGE OF APPLICATION even if you are already more than 6 months.

[cmpic]

This is nothing new. They only do their checks if their computer says so... in each and every month there are people who get their approvals in matter of days. If you like at the info from FOI that I posted earlier, by the end of September, 30 of 7,355 applications submitted in the same month were decided on.

guys one of the january applicant got this,

Eligibility Criteria : Married to a British Citizen (ILR obtained based on Tier 1 General)
Language criteria : Life in the UK test + Tier 1 General + UK Degree
Method of application: NCS Haringey
Date of application: 05 Jan 2015
Payment method: Credit Card
Date of receipt by UKBA: 06 Jan 2015 (Tracked via Royal Mail website)
Date of debit or clearance of fees: 08 Jan 2015
Date of acknowledgment: 15th Jan 2015 (Dated 09 Jan 2015)
Date approval received: 28th Jan 2015 (Dated 21st Jan 2015)
Date of ceremony: Will book tomorrow

Thats 9 WORKING DAYS the MOMENT they recieved the application until they make the decision. this is lightning fast application. so what happened to the double checking they are talking about? so what about the POLICE CHECK?CRB?HMRC?CRIMINAL CHECK IN THE COUNTRY OF ORIGIN they've done that on 9 WORKING DAYS? SERIOUSLY?..and when ever we call them they just say ON PROCESS, UNDER CONSIDERATION,THIRD PARTY CHECKING? FINAL STAGE OF APPLICATION even if you are already more than 6 months.

[viglen210]

the figures from FOIR tell the real story:
1. the drop in processing rate in the summer months is due to the passport backlog that was reported at the time. (30 in September means you have one person to deal with thousands of applications)
2. this is coupled by the untimely recent changes to good character criteria.

it is almost certain that the HO is dealing with the newer applications <after sorting out staff> to keep their figures right and ignoring the people applied in the summer with the HO maybe losing track of where the files are stored.

total shambolic mess! and they are getting away with it

[london_2014]

some one in some other threads mentioned that he got a response from HO saying that they are trying to clear all these cases by 27 th Feb..i do not know what they referred to when they said "these". I am frustrated and a bit lost..all the people getting approvals in weeks times..even people who applied in Janaury...

7-8 months.....atleast and may end up with a refusal.....

[akhurshid]

This should give you guys some hope

Alhamdulillah and praise to almighty Allah / God . I have got my British citizenship today
My timeline:
Eligibility criteria: 10 y + 1 year ILR
Language criteria met: IELTS
Current nationality: Bangladeshi
Method of application: NCS
Council name if NCS used: Hounslow
Date of application: 16/09/2014
Payment method: Debit Card
Date of acknowledgment: 24/09/2014
Date of debit or clearance of fees: 25/09/2014
Date approval received: 30/01/2015 - letter dated 24/01/2015
Date of ceremony: 25/02/2015

[bestofall]

Hello to you all. I've been a lurker for a while and this is my first post. Here are my details.

Eligibility criteria: 5 years & 15+ years ILR
Language criteria met: LITUK + CEFR C1
Method of application: Post
Date of application: 10/09/14
Payment method: CC
Date of receipt by UKBA: 11/09/14
Date of acknowledgment: 17/09/14
Date of debit or clearance of fees: 19/09/14
Date approval received: Waiting
Date of ceremony: Waiting

The UKVI requested additional information from me in early Dec 2014, about my eligibility, so I'm guessing my application wasn't assigned to a caseworker until then. Interestingly, they returned most of documentation immediately after I provided the additional information but no decision.

Based on FOI earlier in this thread, it's likely that it will be a long wait. There was a September acceptance posted in the main timeline thread so hopefully the September decisions will start coming through now.

[ukswus]

I think you need to calm down. I don't want to be rude, but it's none of our business how the British government does these checks. If you look into the recent report from inspector general, you will see that they have a risk- based approach to more detailed checks, and rightly so. If they checked everyone on every smallest details, the process would take years, not months.Complaining about other people will do you no good, except that people will stop sharing their information on this site.

guys one of the january applicant got this,

Eligibility Criteria : Married to a British Citizen (ILR obtained based on Tier 1 General)
Language criteria : Life in the UK test + Tier 1 General + UK Degree
Method of application: NCS Haringey
Date of application: 05 Jan 2015
Payment method: Credit Card
Date of receipt by UKBA: 06 Jan 2015 (Tracked via Royal Mail website)
Date of debit or clearance of fees: 08 Jan 2015
Date of acknowledgment: 15th Jan 2015 (Dated 09 Jan 2015)
Date approval received: 28th Jan 2015 (Dated 21st Jan 2015)
Date of ceremony: Will book tomorrow

Thats 9 WORKING DAYS the MOMENT they recieved the application until they make the decision. this is lightning fast application. so what happened to the double checking they are talking about? so what about the POLICE CHECK?CRB?HMRC?CRIMINAL CHECK IN THE COUNTRY OF ORIGIN they've done that on 9 WORKING DAYS? SERIOUSLY?..and when ever we call them they just say ON PROCESS, UNDER CONSIDERATION,THIRD PARTY CHECKING? FINAL STAGE OF APPLICATION even if you are already more than 6 months.