TIMELINE AFTER NATURALISATION APPLICATION SUBMISSION

[seancody]

FINAL UPDATE
Postal or NCS: POSTAL
Date of submission or posting : 21 Mar 07 (received by HO on 22/03/07)
CRITERIA - 5 years ILR
Date of debit of cheque: 30 March 2007
Date on acknowledgement Letter: April 2007
Date of receipt of acknowledgement Letter: April 2007
Date of receipt of approval : 25 June 2007 (HO letter dated 15/06/07)
Date of Ceremony: 12 July 2007
Date of appln. for passport ? 13 July 2007 ; 17 July 2007 (received at Passport Office late cos of stupid Royal Mail strikes)
Method used ? Check and Send
Date of Receipt? 02 August 2007 (UK Passport and supporting documents)


I am so relieved that the whole process is finally over. The wait at times was agonising, but glad it's all over! These boards have been fantastic and
I hope that all the people still waiting for decisions get good news soon.

[AlexCh]

I am reading with all these messages with envy - my wife applied for naturalisation on 29 of March, 2007 and the only information we have received so far was a letter confirming that her application was received. The letter was dated by 18 of May (1.5 months after the date of the application) and she is still waiting ...

[drabix1]

Ooh AlexCh, I am waiting from 22/11/06! Should be the champion of BC waiting time! 17/1 received letter that they started good character checks and thats it. By the way, recently received my SAB file which showed that my file went to something called AC2 for clearance at the 17/1/07. what is it I dont know but in the HO computer menu there is an option " referred to AC2 yes or no?" So I assume that the people who is not referred to this AC2 approved quite quickly: 1-2 months or so. What is the criteria of referral I dont know : it is in the annex H of HO nationality policy instructions which is not for disclosure. So I am just sitting and waiting.

Yours

[AlexCh]

Do they always send letters when they start character check? I thought they were doing it for all applications?

When I applied for naturalisation, I received two letters - one confirming that they have received the application and another one (a week later) saying that they have started a character check, which could take several months - in reality whole process took just a little longer than 2 monhs.

My wife still has received just one letter - a confirmation of the application and it was 2.5 months ago.

It is probably too early to worry about it - but is there any procedure to check if your application was not lost? Otherwise they can send you purely formal anwers till the end of your life....

[drabix1]

well,ask them( Subject Access Bureau) for your wife file you should receive it within 40 days from it you will see where the file is now.

Yours
Champion of BC waiting time

[drabix1]

Character checks? I think it depends....In my file I saw page printed from the HO computer screen with my BC application. In this page it is an option" refer to AC2 team- yes or no?" I think yes option is to start the character checks and no is no.
IMHO referral to AC2 team means to start character checks because it coincides by date with my good character checjks letter from HO.

wrote an e-mail to them today ...see if I get any reply.

[AlexCh]

well,ask them( Subject Access Bureau) for your wife file you should receive it within 40 days from it you will see where the file is now.

Yours
Champion of BC waiting time

But it does not guarantee that your docs have not been lost? You said that all you could find out was that your application was forwarded to AC2. It does not say what they did with it there - what happens if they just put it straight into a shredder and no any answer from AC2 will come back ever? They obviously do not have any deadlines - so if the application stays in that AC2 for the next 2 years - what exactly can you do? Is there any procedure for such situations?

[AlexCh]

Character checks? I think it depends....In my file I saw page printed from the HO computer screen with my BC application. In this page it is an option" refer to AC2 team- yes or no?" I think yes option is to start the character checks and no is no.
IMHO referral to AC2 team means to start character checks because it coincides by date with my good character checjks letter from HO.

wrote an e-mail to them today ...see if I get any reply.

They definitely had a character check on me - they sent me a letter - but my citizenship was granted in 68 days. I am just trying to understand where my wife's application now - 2.5 months since the confirmation letter and no any letters about the character check, and no results also. So - what are they doing with it?

[drabix1]

Alexch

When you applying for Subject Access Bureau( SAB) disclosure, they'll send you the copies of all documents from your file together with printed copies from their computer file - means that your file is well and alive at least on the date of posting it to you. Concerning the lenght of character checks- they have no time limit on this. In some previous posts on this forum I saw that HO aims to complete 96% of all applications within 6 months and if application is more than 1 year old it shold be made a priority for consideration. What goes on in reality only ...... knows.
Actually you could call them at 0845 010 5200, they answering calls promptly these days but give you very limited information like" your application is still under consideration, bla-bla,etc"

Yours
Champion of BC waiting time

[drabix1]

Concernig the procedures? i think if your application is less than 6 months old you could call them, and apply to SAB for the copies of your wife file to see what is going on. After 6 months maybe go to your MP? or write the letter to the senior manager of Whatever place your file is in? I am still thinking what to do in my case...probably go to my MP.

[drabix1]

by the way, in the copies of your file from the HO you will see all movements of your file and its current location.

[UKArgie]

FINAL UPDATE
Postal or NCS: POSTAL
Date of submission or posting : 21 Mar 07 (received by HO on 22/03/07)
CRITERIA - 5 years ILR
Date of debit of cheque: 30 March 2007
Date on acknowledgement Letter: April 2007
Date of receipt of acknowledgement Letter: April 2007
Date of receipt of approval : 25 June 2007 (HO letter dated 15/06/07)
Date of Ceremony: 12 July 2007
Date of appln. for passport ? 13 July 2007 ; 17 July 2007 (received at Passport Office late cos of stupid Royal Mail strikes)
Method used ? Check and Send
Date of Receipt? 02 August 2007 (UK Passport and supporting documents)

I am so relieved that the whole process is finally over. The wait at times was agonising, but glad it's all over! These boards have been fantastic and
I hope that all the people still waiting for decisions get good news soon.

Congrats! I sent my passport application on 31st July, had my ceremony on 18th July, but couldn't be arsed to apply earlier, lol.

With further Royal Mail strikes coming I think will take longer... but I am not in a hirry, no travels plans until October, earliest.

[steve567]

Postal or NCS: POSTAL
Date of submission or posting : 15 May 07
CRITERIA - 4 years + ILR1 year
Date of debit of cheque: 25 May 2007 (around that date, only after ack letter)
Date of receipt of acknowledgement Letter: 21 May 07
Date of receipt of approval : 4 August 2007 (HO letter dated 01/08/2007)
Date of Ceremony: awaiting

It took 2 months and 2 weeks to receive letter.

[seancody]

FINAL UPDATE
Postal or NCS: POSTAL
Date of submission or posting : 21 Mar 07 (received by HO on 22/03/07)
CRITERIA - 5 years ILR
Date of debit of cheque: 30 March 2007
Date on acknowledgement Letter: April 2007
Date of receipt of acknowledgement Letter: April 2007
Date of receipt of approval : 25 June 2007 (HO letter dated 15/06/07)
Date of Ceremony: 12 July 2007
Date of appln. for passport ? 13 July 2007 ; 17 July 2007 (received at Passport Office late cos of stupid Royal Mail strikes)
Method used ? Check and Send
Date of Receipt? 02 August 2007 (UK Passport and supporting documents)

I am so relieved that the whole process is finally over. The wait at times was agonising, but glad it's all over! These boards have been fantastic and
I hope that all the people still waiting for decisions get good news soon.

Congrats! I sent my passport application on 31st July, had my ceremony on 18th July, but couldn't be arsed to apply earlier, lol.

With further Royal Mail strikes coming I think will take longer... but I am not in a hirry, no travels plans until October, earliest.

Cheers dude! I was proper in a hurry to apply for mine cos I didn't want to have to attend an interview which sounds really ominous to me lol. The woman who did the check and send for me forgot to charge me the extra £3 for secure delivery of my supporting documents, even though I ticked the box on the form, but I still received them by secure delivery anyway lol, saved £3!

And yeah Royal Mail suck serious mule, I sent the form on the Friday, and it was *apparently* meant to be sent by Secure Next Day delivery, but the passport office never received it till the Tuesday. But ah well, least I have it now. So glad I didn't need to have an interview, that was my biggest worry cos it would have made things take longer.

[steve567]

Cheers dude! I was proper in a hurry to apply for mine cos I didn't want to have to attend an interview which sounds really ominous to me lol.

Sorry I missed some update news. When will interveiw be started to apply applicants? According to its website, it would have been introduced well over one month previousluy.

[stedman]

Re the interviews, according to the IPS site only a few towns/cities have started this (Newport, Peterborough, Belfast, not London) and I reckon people who have gone through the naturalization process are less likely to be called until it goes nationwide - the reason this has been introduced is to prevent those people who for e. g. apply for a dead child's birth certificate and use that to fraudulently obtain a passport.

[UKArgie]

Re the interviews, according to the IPS site only a few towns/cities have started this (Newport, Peterborough, Belfast, not London) and I reckon people who have gone through the naturalization process are less likely to be called until it goes nationwide - the reason this has been introduced is to prevent those people who for e. g. apply for a dead child's birth certificate and use that to fraudulently obtain a passport.

Ture, it will take long until they get their act together and people whu have just been naturalised are less likely to be interviewed, they had been checked already The plonkers issued 12,000 passports based on fraudulent papers...

[UKArgie]

Cheers dude! I was proper in a hurry to apply for mine cos I didn't want to have to attend an interview which sounds really ominous to me lol. The woman who did the check and send for me forgot to charge me the extra £3 for secure delivery of my supporting documents, even though I ticked the box on the form, but I still received them by secure delivery anyway lol, saved £3!

And yeah Royal Mail suck serious mule, I sent the form on the Friday, and it was *apparently* meant to be sent by Secure Next Day delivery, but the passport office never received it till the Tuesday. But ah well, least I have it now. So glad I didn't need to have an interview, that was my biggest worry cos it would have made things take longer.

The lady who checked my application was very thorough, she really did it very carefully and double checked everything, and she obviously knew what she was doing...

[maveli62]

Just got a call from passprot office. The system doesn't allow more than 30 characters for first name and middle names combined. In my case I have 2 middle names which eats up 20 characters. They suggested to drop one and it will be issued today.

[UKArgie]

Update:

NCS or Postal: NCS
If NCS: Brighton Registry Office
Date of submission or posting: 8th May 2007
CRITERIA - EU Passsport, excersisng Treaty rights, 5 years + 1 Year ILR (According to new rules asfrom 30 April 2006)
Date of receipt of Documents at HO: 09/05/2007
Date of debit: 29/05/2007
Date of letter of acknowledgement: 29/05/2007
Date of receipt of acknowledgement: 02/06/2007
Date of Approval: 15th June 2007
Date of receipt of approval: 21st June 2007
Date of receipt Ceremony Invitation:21st June 2007
Date of Ceremony: 18th July 2007
Date of appln. for passport: 31/07/2007
Date of receipt of supporting Docs.: 08/08/2007
Date of Receipt passport: TBA

[champion]

Date of submission or posting : 29 Mar 2007
Criteria : Indian, 4 years residence + 2 year ILR
Date of debit of debit/credit card : 11th may
Date of receipt of acknowledgement : arnd 11th may
date of docs recd + letter of successful : arnd 19th Jul
Date of receipt of approval : (see above line)
Citizenship ceremony : 6th aug. (I put lots of effort to got the 6th aug slot)
Ceremony innvitation letter: 3rd aug

Date of appln. for passport: 08/aug/2007
Date of receipt of supporting Docs.: await
Date of Receipt passport: TBA

[Angel]

UPDATE:

NCS or Postal: POSTAL
If NCS, which centre
Date of submission or posting: 23 MAR 07
CRITERIA - 5 yr stay (4 + 1 yr ILR): 5 yrs stay (spouse of BC)
Date of debit of debit/credit card: 02 APR 07
Date of receipt of acknowledgement: 30 MAR 07
Date of request for add docs to support the residence: 17 MAY 07
Date of receipt of add acknowledgement card: 6 JUN 07
Date of receipt of approval: 09 JUN 07, dated 05 JUN 07
Date of Ceremony: 08 AUG 07
Date of appln. for passport: 08 AUG 07
Method used: Check and Send
Date of Receipt: TBA

[UKArgie]

Final Update!!!!!!

NCS or Postal: NCS
If NCS: Brighton Registry Office
Date of submission or posting: 8th May 2007
CRITERIA - EU Passsport, excersisng Treaty rights, 5 years + 1 Year ILR (According to new rules asfrom 30 April 2006)
Date of receipt of Documents at HO: 09/05/2007
Date of debit: 29/05/2007
Date of letter of acknowledgement: 29/05/2007
Date of receipt of acknowledgement: 02/06/2007
Date of Approval: 15th June 2007
Date of receipt of approval: 21st June 2007
Date of receipt Ceremony Invitation:21st June 2007
Date of Ceremony: 18th July 2007
Date of appln. for passport: 31/07/2007
Date of receipt of supporting Docs.: 08/08/2007
Date of Receipt passport: 09/08/2007



All the best for the ones still waiting!!!

Ed

[Docterror]

CRITERIA - 5 yr stay (4 + 1 yr ILR): 5 yrs stay (spouse of BC)

Angel, if you are spouse of UK citizen, why did you wait for the 1 year on ILR?

[Angel]

CRITERIA - 5 yr stay (4 + 1 yr ILR): 5 yrs stay (spouse of BC)

Angel, if you are spouse of UK citizen, why did you wait for the 1 year on ILR?

When I received my ILR, I was advised by HO to do so. I'm not sure why, but in my case things were always a little bit complicated, it took me in first place 2 years to get my marriage visa, instead of 2.

But at the end of the day I'm still lucky, because it's all over now and I'm officially British