my timeline: Eligibility Criteria: EEA 5 Years + 1 year permanent residence Method of Application: NCS Islington Date of Application: 26/03/2013 Date of receipt by UKBA: 27/03/2013 Date of Acknowledgement: 04/04/2013 (received 08/04/2013) Date of debit fees: 04/04/2013 Date of Approval: 18/04/2013 (...

I don't think it has anything to do with whether the application is sent through NCS or not. It may have to do with the fact that some councils only seem to post the applications once a week or so Thats very quick. POSTAL applications are quickly sorting out than the NCS. I applied thru NCS on 13/03...