New citizenship form UKF

[padhme]

Today I received my daughter's certificate of British Citizenship courtesy of UKF and it is a great feeling!

Took just over a couple of weeks to get to me here in Thailand, but the certificate is dated around end of October, which was give or take a couple of days, more or less exactly 6 months after the form was received at the Home Office.

No MP involved.

I hope that everybody with a pending application receives similarly great news in the near future and wish each of you you all the best when you finally become Citizens.

Congratulations Paul!! That is amazing news! I've been waiting on my UKF approval for 7 months now and this gives me hope. Thank you for letting us know!!

[SK413]

Thanks for the info. Although - how can we go abroad when THEY have our passports? Was there any mention of how we might get our passports back without wasting yet more months of our lives?

I'm getting exceedingly cheesed off with these creatures.

Hi Antsmail.

Have you got your biometrics letter yet? Reason I ask is because along with my biometrics enrolment letter which I got in the post, the HO also returned my passport, my birth certificate and my mum's expired passport. (Has this happened to anyone). They sent all of that in one of those big brown envelopes ( which you can buy at your local corner shop or stationary) and I was not pleased at all with that envelope. The envelope had already start to rip at the bottom. What is even more strange is, I sent a prepaid return FedEx envelope with my address (as UKM guidelines say to do) so that they can return documents safely. Anyways, I'm glad they returned my passport as I might need it and 6-8 months is a long time and it seems that is standard waiting time for reply.
Cheers

[Antsmall]

No, I have not got my biometrics letter yet because I am applying from the USA, as is bfrenchfry. All I've received is a letter saying that biometric centres have not been set up in the USA and therefore we will have to wait an indefinite amount of time until they decide to do their jobs and set them up. The letter had no indication of when the centres might open, but merely said that I'd be contacted again by January (it also didn't say what I'd be contacted again about - maybe merely to tell me to wait some more). All the documents that I sent them are still in their hands. I have been waiting for six months now, and I will presumably have to wait not only the remaining months until they set up the biometric centres, but yet more months AFTER the biometrics for them to do whatever else they could have been doing while they were keeping me waiting.

[mbianco21]

Hello. New to the board. Wanted to say how much I appreciate a place to hear other people's stories about this endeavor. As mentioned, with little to no communication from the UK at least we have the members of this forum for something, anything, any news or rumors. I will try to post what I hear and maybe, just maybe it could help someone. So, my situation (and it will sound familiar):

USA citizen, living in Arizona, born 1971 to British born mother.
UKM application submitted: July 8th, 2015
Application acknowledgement: August 25, 2015
Biometric delay letter #1 received: August 25, 2015
Biometric delay letter #2 received: Nov 6, 2015
Sent request (nationalitybiometricsoverseas@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk) for biometric appointment in Vancouver, Canada on Nov 7, 2015: No response. Nothing.

I'll post what any news I can. Thank you.

[Antsmall]

Hello mbianco, and also congratulations to paul29. Whenever someone (especially someone who has been waiting a long time) receives their citizenship through this route, it gives the rest of us hope that the system is actually working despite its glacial rate of activity.

I've heard from people in the Home Office that the letters about 'outstanding policy issues which may affect the outcome of your case' were sent in error. There are no such 'outstanding policy issues', they say. It was just a matter of telling people that their cases 'could not' (I question its physical impossibility, but no matter) be resolved within the allotted 6 months. In some instances this was of course because of the biometric delays in the USA; in others we do not know what is causing the delays other than some general backlogs. In any case 'the outcome of our cases' has nothing to do with it, which is at least slightly comforting, I hope. They simply sent the wrong letter.

And once again, good luck to us all.

[SK413]

I also got that letter with my other documents, your application has complex issues so can't process in six months.

[Antsmall]

Yes, it seems that it's just a form letter which they send off in a hurry without checking its every word. As a person who works at a government office (though not a British one), I can attest that such offices have a number of letters on file, waiting to spring into action, and the busier the office is, the more likely it is that such a prefabricated letter will be sent unchanged even when it contains elements which are irrelevant to the bemused and (as in our cases) perhaps horrified recipient: the person at the computer has a million letters to send out and possibly doesn't even read the text of the letter but just clicks on '6-month delay letter' or something and almost certainly won't take the time to amend it for a particular person. In our cases the delays are not caused by any 'complex issues' or 'outstanding policy issues', but by a backlog that is happening at the moment, caused partially by the sudden introduction of all sorts of new things (the biometric whatnot and other stuff as well I think); however, the pre-existing letter is used anyway. It probably dates from a time (a now-mythical golden age I guess) when delays longer than six months did only occur when real problems existed, and not just as a matter of course as they do now. I think they've now realised that this mistake has been happening - at least this is the impression I get from what they told me.

[Ben170292]

I just thought I would post about my application so far.

I sent my former on 19/09/15 from Melbourne, Australia.
Today 02/10/15 I have had what I think is the fee deducted from my account $173aud which is around £80.

How long does the next step usually take?

Just an update,

My local post office received my documents and letter for Biometrics on 12/11/15, I have now booked to do that tomorrow 20/11/15.

Has anyone done the Biometrics in Melbourne? the location on my booking is:

Visa & Permit Facilitation Centre
Level 13
Victoria

Would I be correct in saying the actual address is:

VFS Services Australia Pty Ltd.
Suite 3, Level 13, 55 Swanston Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3000.

For people who have done the Biometrics what was the next thing you got? the letter for the ceremony?

Ben

[padhme]

Hi everyone!!!! I am extremely pleased to say that I received my approval letter this morning dated 17/11!!!!!!! I'm shaking and cannot believe it!!! I've been dancing around my flat all morning and cannot stop smiling!!!!

In total it took more or less exactly 7 months. I am in the UK, and was able to get my MP to give them a bit of a nudge, so that definitely would have helped. If it helps, I am a UKF applicant (daughter of unmarried British citizen father), and sent my application on 16/04 by post.

I cannot begin to express in words how elated I feel right now. I've only posted in this topic twice, but I feel so strangely connected with all of you guys for having been through more or less the same excruciating wait that I have, and not least the same injustice that I have as a result of the archaic nationality laws that barred us from citizenship in the first place. And here I was already beginning to lose all hope. So stay strong for those still waiting because I am very very positive that you will get yours soon!!!! Much love to you all!!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!



- Lucie

[padhme]

P.S. Ben, I did my biometrics in May and never heard from them again until this morning when I got my approval letter. They said to wait until I get my ceremony invitation letter which should come within the next 2 weeks, but I'll ring up my council anyway and see if I can book it without.

Also, don't worry if anyone received the 6+ months extension blah blah letter because I got a letter via my MP saying my application was subject to further scrutiny and will take longer than expected etc but I got my approval a little under 2 weeks after that. So don't worry!! As mentioned above, it's just something they send to give themselves a bit more time!

- Lucie

[keji]

Hi everyone!!!! I am extremely pleased to say that I received my approval letter this morning dated 17/11!!!!!!! I'm shaking and cannot believe it!!! I've been dancing around my flat all morning and cannot stop smiling!!!!

In total it took more or less exactly 7 months. I am in the UK, and was able to get my MP to give them a bit of a nudge, so that definitely would have helped. If it helps, I am a UKF applicant (daughter of unmarried British citizen father), and sent my application on 16/04 by post.

I cannot begin to express in words how elated I feel right now. I've only posted in this topic twice, but I feel so strangely connected with all of you guys for having been through more or less the same excruciating wait that I have, and not least the same injustice that I have as a result of the archaic nationality laws that barred us from citizenship in the first place. And here I was already beginning to lose all hope. So stay strong for those still waiting because I am very very positive that you will get yours soon!!!! Much love to you all!!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!



- Lucie

congratulationsss,i feel you, am exited for you

[lagos1980]

Hi everyone!!!! I am extremely pleased to say that I received my approval letter this morning dated 17/11!!!!!!! I'm shaking and cannot believe it!!! I've been dancing around my flat all morning and cannot stop smiling!!!!

In total it took more or less exactly 7 months. I am in the UK, and was able to get my MP to give them a bit of a nudge, so that definitely would have helped. If it helps, I am a UKF applicant (daughter of unmarried British citizen father), and sent my application on 16/04 by post.

I cannot begin to express in words how elated I feel right now. I've only posted in this topic twice, but I feel so strangely connected with all of you guys for having been through more or less the same excruciating wait that I have, and not least the same injustice that I have as a result of the archaic nationality laws that barred us from citizenship in the first place. And here I was already beginning to lose all hope. So stay strong for those still waiting because I am very very positive that you will get yours soon!!!! Much love to you all!!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!



- Lucie

Congratulations Lucie!
My 6 month mark is in 2 months. If I don't hear back 2 weeks before the 6 months, I'll be sure to email my MP.

[mbianco21]

Hello:

My application is a "UKM". Today, 11/21/2015, I received my biometric appointment letter via email for use in Canada. I am in the USA, so I am making the trip up there to do my appointment. Just thought I'd let the forum know in case USA residents want alternative plans due to no biometric appointments being offered her in the States. So, it is possible. Will report back experience after I return next week.

[Antsmall]

Hello! So, how did you arrange for the biometric appointment in Canada, and how did you get your passport back? (Others on this thread have been experiencing problems in obtaining their passports back and in receiving any reply from that biometric email address we've been given as the only way to arrange biometric appointments abroad). Also, when did you apply - what is your timeline? All this might be useful for other applicants in the USA to know. Thanks very much!

[Antsmall]

By the way, I just wrote to that email address (NationalityBiometricsOverseas@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk) which was given on my 'biometric delay letter' as the only means of arranging for my passport to be sent back in order to do my biometrics outside the USA, and I received an auto-reply saying essentially that I won't receive a reply to my message. At least so it seems. It's not clear whether 'this email' refers to the message I sent or the email ADDRESS - but then again the email address is the same one to which I wrote, and again the ONLY means of communication which they offer to us.

Here's what they say:

"Thank you for your email to UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI).
If your enquiry is regarding a biometric issue this will be dealt within the agreed service standards timeframe.
If your enquiry relates to any other issue please go to:
https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration

You will not receive a response to this email. "

And of course the website which they supply gives 'get your original documents back' and then supplies the binary option of whether we applied from inside the UK or from abroad - and if we applied from abroad we have to 'contact the visa centre through which we applied'.
https://www.gov.uk/visa-documents-returned
Of course, we never applied through any visa application centre because we're not applying for a visa in the first place. In other words these people are categorising 'outside the UK' as only visa applications and then forcing all communication through the bottleneck of these 'visa application centres' which we've never contacted because we're applying for citizenship, which has nothing to do with them.

This is what happens when incompetent, illogical people try to make everything automated. Their unwarranted assumptions (including "outside the UK = visa application") are transformed into ironclad categories and there's no human being that will communicate with us. And the only email address that we've been given is one which gives autoreplies declaring that our message will not be answered.

[mbianco21]

Hello:

Some of my details below. So, I never sent my passport, just a certified (notarized) color copy of entire passport. The site for Canada is: http://www.vfsglobal.co.uk/canada/book_appointment.html. There is a special link for overseas citizen application. You must select "Canada" for country of residence both on application page and profile- not USA. This is important. Went pretty smoothly. Cost was 10 pounds. I will post my experience at the appointment as I am going up to Vancouver tomorrow night.

Details:
USA citizen, living in Arizona, born 1971 to British born mother.
UKM application submitted: July 8th, 2015
Application acknowledgement: August 25, 2015
Biometric delay letter #1 received: August 25, 2015
Biometric delay letter #2 received: Nov 6, 2015
Sent request (nationalitybiometricsoverseas@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk) for biometric appointment in Vancouver, Canada on Nov 7, 2015
Biometric appointment letter received 11/21/2015 (via email, pdf)
Biometric (in Vancouver, Canada appointment): 11/24/2015
Biometric complete: TBD

[bfrenchfry]

Hello:

Some of my details below. So, I never sent my passport, just a certified (notarized) color copy of entire passport. The site for Canada is: http://www.vfsglobal.co.uk/canada/book_appointment.html. There is a special link for overseas citizen application. You must select "Canada" for country of residence both on application page and profile- not USA. This is important. Went pretty smoothly. Cost was 10 pounds. I will post my experience at the appointment as I am going up to Vancouver tomorrow night.

Details:
USA citizen, living in Arizona, born 1971 to British born mother.
UKM application submitted: July 8th, 2015
Application acknowledgement: August 25, 2015
Biometric delay letter #1 received: August 25, 2015
Biometric delay letter #2 received: Nov 6, 2015
Sent request (nationalitybiometricsoverseas@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk) for biometric appointment in Vancouver, Canada on Nov 7, 2015
Biometric appointment letter received 11/21/2015 (via email, pdf)
Biometric (in Vancouver, Canada appointment): 11/24/2015
Biometric complete: TBD

Thanks for this info! After I had gotten the biometric delay letter again I emailed the biometrics overseas address they submitted. It took 3.5 weeks for them to respond to my request to go to Canada with an email saying to contact them if I would like to go to Canada (yes, they're that ridiculous). After I sent back another email saying please read my email you just responded to and give me the information I requested they finally emailed back the enrollment letter. It says I have 30 business days to go somewhere else but of course doesn't explain how to apply through Canada. Your information is extra appreciated because of this!! Tomorrow I will try and get an appointment online like you did through Canada's vfs and try and go the week after thanksgiving. It would be great if you could post how your experience goes. I'm very curious if once you get there they're going to be confused how you're American and managed to get through their system by lying about your country of residence.

[Antsmall]

A colour photocopy? We UKF people were definitely required to send our ORIGINAL passports and not a photocopy. That is why our passports are in the hands of the Home Office and we cannot go abroad for the biometrics without getting the passports back first - which appears exceedingly difficult.

Where did you find the option to send a colour photocopy of your passport? I never saw it on our application form or guidance or any of the UKF materials.

[mbianco21]

Hello:

This is from the May UKM Guide:

"1 If you cannot send your original passport, because the authorities of your country do not allow passports to cross national borders, you should send a complete copy of your passport that has been certified by a local notary or equivalent. If you submit a copy of your passport, you may be asked to provide or present the original document to one of our staff, in your country, for verification."

[bfrenchfry]

By the way, I just wrote to that email address (NationalityBiometricsOverseas@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk) which was given on my 'biometric delay letter' as the only means of arranging for my passport to be sent back in order to do my biometrics outside the USA, and I received an auto-reply saying essentially that I won't receive a reply to my message. At least so it seems. It's not clear whether 'this email' refers to the message I sent or the email ADDRESS - but then again the email address is the same one to which I wrote, and again the ONLY means of communication which they offer to us.

Here's what they say:

"Thank you for your email to UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI).
If your enquiry is regarding a biometric issue this will be dealt within the agreed service standards timeframe.
If your enquiry relates to any other issue please go to:
https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration

You will not receive a response to this email. "

And of course the website which they supply gives 'get your original documents back' and then supplies the binary option of whether we applied from inside the UK or from abroad - and if we applied from abroad we have to 'contact the visa centre through which we applied'.
https://www.gov.uk/visa-documents-returned
Of course, we never applied through any visa application centre because we're not applying for a visa in the first place. In other words these people are categorising 'outside the UK' as only visa applications and then forcing all communication through the bottleneck of these 'visa application centres' which we've never contacted because we're applying for citizenship, which has nothing to do with them.

This is what happens when incompetent, illogical people try to make everything automated. Their unwarranted assumptions (including "outside the UK = visa application") are transformed into ironclad categories and there's no human being that will communicate with us. And the only email address that we've been given is one which gives autoreplies declaring that our message will not be answered.

Did you try and call them to get your passport back? I know they're so unhelpful and no one knows what's going on so they won't update you on your status, but perhaps you can get someone to at least send you your documents? The number is 03001232253 When I applied for my passport back it was just the one link and now it seems they've made it so you only use that online form if you're in the UK. They can't even give us one useful way of handling our situations. So sad.

[mbianco21]

Hello:

Some of my details below. So, I never sent my passport, just a certified (notarized) color copy of entire passport. The site for Canada is: http://www.vfsglobal.co.uk/canada/book_appointment.html. There is a special link for overseas citizen application. You must select "Canada" for country of residence both on application page and profile- not USA. This is important. Went pretty smoothly. Cost was 10 pounds. I will post my experience at the appointment as I am going up to Vancouver tomorrow night.

Details:
USA citizen, living in Arizona, born 1971 to British born mother.
UKM application submitted: July 8th, 2015
Application acknowledgement: August 25, 2015
Biometric delay letter #1 received: August 25, 2015
Biometric delay letter #2 received: Nov 6, 2015
Sent request (nationalitybiometricsoverseas@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk) for biometric appointment in Vancouver, Canada on Nov 7, 2015
Biometric appointment letter received 11/21/2015 (via email, pdf)
Biometric (in Vancouver, Canada appointment): 11/24/2015
Biometric complete: TBD

Thanks for this info! After I had gotten the biometric delay letter again I emailed the biometrics overseas address they submitted. It took 3.5 weeks for them to respond to my request to go to Canada with an email saying to contact them if I would like to go to Canada (yes, they're that ridiculous). After I sent back another email saying please read my email you just responded to and give me the information I requested they finally emailed back the enrollment letter. It says I have 30 business days to go somewhere else but of course doesn't explain how to apply through Canada. Your information is extra appreciated because of this!! Tomorrow I will try and get an appointment online like you did through Canada's vfs and try and go the week after thanksgiving. It would be great if you could post how your experience goes. I'm very curious if once you get there they're going to be confused how you're American and managed to get through their system by lying about your country of residence.

I will let the forum know. As for "lying" about my country of residence, I am going to speculate until I actually go to the appointment. So here is what I think, the "country of residence" selection on the web site is used to narrow down locations for an appointment. They have these places all over the world. I don't believe it to be an official proclamation of one's country of residence. Couple more things: the way I understand it, "where" you are a resident would not have any bearing on your right to register as a UK citizen. This biometric agency clearly knows my details, as does the Home Office. They have my US passport information, payment, etc. In addition, another blogger tried to select USA and upon doing so was offered no appointments, rendering her effort useless. She later reported that she was trying to reset her application so she could select Canada.(post here: http://www.expatforum.com/expats/britai ... ics-2.html) So that is my take on it. Again, I will let the forum know of my experience once I attend this appointment.

[bfrenchfry]

I will let the forum know. As for "lying" about my country of residence, I am going to speculate until I actually go to the appointment. So here is what I think, the "country of residence" selection on the web site is used to narrow down locations for an appointment. They have these places all over the world. I don't believe it to be an official proclamation of one's country of residence. Couple more things: the way I understand it, "where" you are a resident would not have any bearing on your right to register as a UK citizen. This biometric agency clearly knows my details, as does the Home Office. They have my US passport information, payment, etc. In addition, another blogger tried to select USA and upon doing so was offered no appointments, rendering her effort useless. She later reported that she was trying to reset her application so she could select Canada.(post here: http://www.expatforum.com/expats/britai ... ics-2.html) So that is my take on it. Again, I will let the forum know of my experience once I attend this appointment.

Thank you! I'm booked for December 8th in Canada. You're right, if you pick American it doesn't work, so Canada as country of residence it is! Fingers crossed this finally works as next week is my 7 month mark

[canabrit]

Hi everyone,

Been reading about your plights for about a week and thought it was high time I joined in on the pain. And like many others, I must say I'm very happy to have found you guys, as it is somehow relieving to know you're all out there and we're in this bureaucratic nightmare together.

Okay, my UKF nightmare hasn't gone on quite as long as some, but with each passing day I get more and more anxious about it (I'd like my deceased father's birth certificate back, please). I'm also in Canada, so I imagine that if I ever get to the Biometrics step, it'll be less of a problem than it seems to be for my North American brethren like Antsmall and bfrenchfry. But here is my timeframe info, as I have found this sort of layout quite useful from other posters (not that it makes anything go faster; this whole things seems like a total crap shoot, but the frame of reference has been most appreciated):

Sent my UKF to Liverpool Sept 30th.
It arrived Oct 2nd.
Card charged Oct 12.
Any acknowledgement? Nope.
Any emails from them? Nope.
Documents back? No sir.

I also sent an email on week 4 (Oct 30th), as it says you should received acknowledgement within 2-4 weeks during busy times.
Any reply? Nope.

I then waited 2 weeks and sent another email to the FurtherNationalEnquiries email on Nov 13th.
Any reply? Nope.

There was an instant automated response from that one, however, which said to allow for 20 business days for them to get back (i.e. a month), and to please not 'chase' the enquiry. So I've been twiddling my thumbs ever since. Except that I did come across this forum, which has been nice.

So, Friday of this week will mark 8 weeks since they've had my application (and today marks 6 since my card was charged). My fingers are crossed the brown envelope will arrive with my passport/documents before then, but from what I've read here... I'm not counting on it.

Also, a little humour-- I saw this old Fedex commercial online, and it made me laugh. I think this must be what's happening over at the Home Office in Liverpool with our documents...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrMURochE6Y

Cheerio,
Canabrit

[Antsmall]

Every time I think about FedEx I can't help suspecting that the film Castaway is an accurate representation of what is happening to our documents even as we speak.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJvosb4UCLs

[Ceelocsta]

Hi does anyone know if u need to send passports as well as the birth cert ? I don't have a passport due to me having no nationality and my father does not have a passport or his old expired one since its been a while he left the country. I only sent them off with full birth certs