BC - successful application and amazingly quick response!

[hs159]

Hi All,

Just wanted to share the good news with you guys about my successful naturalization application I submitted my application (based on 4 years on wp + 1 year on ILR) on 26 May through Nationality Checking Service. Got application acknowledgement letter from home office on 1st June. Then on 3rd June, got another letter from home office confirming that my application has been successful! amazing, innit?:) just in a week time!! Got invitiation from my local council last week to attend citizenship ceremnoy on 30th June Once I attend the cermenoy, bingo and I'll apply for the passport!

Can someone please advice about the process of applying for british passport? I already owe big thanks to experts on this forum for their advice throughout my ILR and naturalization process

Regards,
hs159.

[John]

Congratulations .... yet another good advertisement for the Nationality Checking Service!

Getting a British Passport? Get an application form from a Post Office, well certainly any main Post Office. You can obviously do that now, you have not got to wait until Thursday to obtain the application form.

Fill in the form .... get someone to countersign the form and the back of one of your photos ... then when you have your Certificate of Nationality, details of which need to go on to the passport application form .... yes you could post the application, but don't ..... take the fully completed form with the two passport sized pics ... your current passport and your Certificate of Naturalisation .... to a "High Street Partner" such as a main (not sub) Post Office and use their checking service. The Passport Agency give priority to applications submitted via a "High Street Partner". Expect the new passport to arrive after say 10 days, and your existing passport and Certificate of Naturalisation to be returned about the same time.

Just one final point .... where you need to sign the application form ..... it says keep your signature inside the declaration box. It means it! The application will get rejected if any part of your signature hits the edge of the box. Why? Because that signature will be scanned and put on to your British passport.

[PB]

Hi,

Can you share what documents did you take with you for the Nationality checking service? Where did you go for NCS?

Did you appear for the English language test?

TIA,
PB

[hs159]

Hi PB,

I used NCS at St. Albans which is nearest to my home. You can find the list of complete NCS centers in one of the earlier posts on this forum.

Here is the list of documents that I took with me

1. Passports (both old and new)
2. Completed AN(1) form signed by myself and both referees
3. ILR letter from home office
4. MSc degree
5. P60 for last 5 years and salary slips for last 3 months

P60 and salary slips are not required but it is good to submit them since they may help in speeding up your application. The girl at NCS took all my documents and photo copied them and returned me originals except MSc degree (home office needs the original however they posted it back within 5 days)

For English language test, no I didn't appear for any test. Since I did my MSc from a British university, and that is sufficient to prove English language skills.

HTH,
hs159.

[fadibatti]

Hello hs159-

Congrats !

a quick question for moderators though, with this amazingly quick turn around time...

1. Does HO really conduct background checks. If not, then why ??? and if yes, then how could they manage to get the results back in such an amzing timeframe ???

2. As mentioned in Section 4.4.1 (Subsection 4, good character) - Annex D - Chapter 18, Nationality Instructions (to be construed as operational regulations) :
"Police enquiries, or other information, may suggest that an applicant is heavily in debt. This, in itself, should not be grounds for refusal if the loan repayments have been made as agreed or if acceptable efforts are being made to pay off accumulated debts. But where an applicant deliberately and recklessly builds up debts and there is no evidence of a serious intention to pay them off, the application should normally be refused. "

The findings in above para require a bit of time to be spent in searching the results. How could they be so quick??

Moderators please advise..

[John]

Congratulations, HS159, and so quick! Yet another good advertisement for the Nationality Checking Service.

Fadibatti, as regards the point you make, I think it is possible for us to assume that IND will contact a credit reference agency whenever they feel the need. Such agencies operate on a computer-to-computer basis and accordingly there will be no delay in getting back the result of a search.

If the search reveals anything worrying then they would obviously look into that further.

Also they no doubt have access to the HMRC (previously Inland Revenue) computer system, so checking out a person's tax record can be done very quickly. Same with the Police National Computer system.

[fadibatti]

Hello -

A quick question though, if you are applying for natutalization and included in your application are your wife and dependant daughter (ofcourse using seperate application forms), what documents do you require to show the English Language Proficiency for your dependants???.

In my case its the Degree Certificate issued from a British University.

I would appreciate your response.

Thanks and best regards

Fadibatti

[John]

Fadibatti, that is not quite the way it works.

For your wife she would apply for naturalisation in her own right, so needs to provide her own evidence of her Language ability .... or from 1st November, her own evidence of passing the Citizenship Test or attending a Citizenship/Language course.

Dependent daughter? Presumably under 18 years of age. That child can be entered upon the application form for one of the parents and then when that parent is naturalised as British the child will be Registered as British. In practice, after it is granted, it really makes no difference whether one is naturalised or registered as British.

However it is not necessary for someone applying to be registered as British to worry at all about language ability or any citizenship test or course. Those requirements apply only to those applying to be naturalised.

The dependent daughter is now 18 years old or more? If so, same as for your wife.

[fadibatti]

Thanks John -

My daughter is 8 years old. Also my wife is attending a local college for one year course in Interior Designing. Do you reckon it to be a sufficinet proof of language proficiency ???

Thanks again for your time.

Regards

Fadibatti

[John]

my wife is attending a local college for one year course in Interior Designing. Do you reckon it to be a sufficient proof of language proficiency ???

Did she need to prove her English ability to get on to the course? Take, for example, IELTS and get a certain score? If so, what score did she get?

If not, what proof of her English ability is there? Has she undertaken any degree course conducted in English? Or taken any ESOL course or exam?

[skiptonlad]

I am told that there is a great rush at the NCS centres to meet the deadline before 01.11.2005.
Any recent experiences of submitting applications in Sep 05 and getting a quick response, please?

[fadibatti]

John- Thanks again

My wife is holding a foreign degree where the medium of instruction has been English throughout. Here in UK, she did not have to prove any language proficiency. They accepted her as it is with the certificates and degree available. Ofcourse she can speak good English.

Do you think its better to take IELTS or TOEFL kind of tests ????

skiptonlad -

What is the rush before 1.11.2005 at NCS??? Guess I am missing something here ???

Appreciate your time... Thanks

Regards

Fadibatti

[John]

If you wife's degree course was conducted in English, and that can be proved, that should be sufficient to prove the English ability.

What is the rush before 1.11.2005 at NCS??? Guess I am missing something here ???

Any application for naturalisation received by IND or or after 01.11.05 needs to be accompanied with documentation concerning the new Citizenship Test, or attendance on a combined language and citizenship course.

That Citizenship requirement does not apply to applications received by IND on 31.10.05 or earlier. Hence the big rush to get applications in this month before the new requirement takes effect.

[fadibatti]

Thanks John -

As always you have been very helpful. You are a jewel

[John]

fadibatti, when did you, your wife and your daughter get your ILR visas? At least one year ago? If so, are you intending to submit the applications for British Citizenship this month?