New citizenship form UKF

[Ceelocsta]

Hmm. Well, in that case I guess it makes sense for you to wait until they reply to your email or demand additional documents, preferably providing some sort of reference number so they can match up your new documents with your existing application and other materials. Otherwise they might get confused and you could end up waiting even longer! But in the meantime I'd suggest getting started on your Jamaican passport and your father's passport while you wait for our Vogon friends to make the next move.

I'll keep all of yous updated, thanks for the help

[mbianco21]

Hello:
Yesterday I completed my biometric appointment in Vancouver. Couple of things....

Vancouver is a beautiful city. So, if you have to spend the cash to go do this, and are in the western part of the USA, then it would be hard to find a better city to have to go to. From the airport hotel, it is simple to take the train downtown to Waterfront Station (25 mins) and walk to the appointment (6-7 mins). No cab needed. In addition, if you arrive late to the airport, the Fairmount Airport Hotel is supper convenient and is physically connected to the airport.

As for the appointment... They were fast, courteous and professional. It took maybe 35 minutes from arriving to leaving.

Of note: The employee at the appointment mentioned they were very aware of the situation in the USA regarding the inability to conduct the biometric appointments. From what I understood from him (and I am paraphrasing), VsfGlobal would be the one doing this service in the USA in 2016 (and he didn't know when in 2016). He said, that they were waiting for Homeland Security approval. I thought that was interesting. Also, he confirmed for me that many of the USA applicants were confused by the web site selection of "Country of Residence." He said if you are a USA resident, to pick "Canada" if you want to schedule an appointment in Canada. Whewww.

For anyone going, be extra sure you bring everything in terms of documents: VsfGlobal payment receipt, appointment letter from VsfGlobal, appointment letter from the UK, passport and anything else you suspect relevant (error on side of caution).

Hope that is useful information.

[Mrstomojnr]

Please could someone assist me.
I was born in South Africa in 1988 to a British father
My parents were not married at the time of my birth
But went on to marry when I was 10months old
Am I correct in saying I qualify under 4G?? And if so
Do I acquire citizenship by decent OR otherwise by decent??
Needing some serious help as I would like to know to see if I can pass on citizenship to my son (1years old)

Thanking you in advance

[Antsmall]

You do not have to go through the UKF route because your parents married before your eighteenth birthday. Therefore, apply directly for a passport, using your birth certificate and your parents' marriage certificate (and whatever other documents they want). Use 'long forms' of all documents wherever possible; in fact I believe that they are very insistent on 'long forms' of marriage certificates.
https://www.gov.uk/apply-renew-passport

However, since you were not born in Britain, your child is not automatically British because you are 'British by descent' (just like the UKF people, the only difference being that we have to register first). You may be able to register your child as British IF you do it before the child's 18th birthday. The relevant law is here:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1981/61/section/3
As you can see, there are some conditions, but you may be able to wangle it.

I suggest contacting the PRCBC for more specific information about how to register your child (I am not a lawyer and I haven't really looked into this particular issue very much). Here is their website:
http://ealinglawcentre.org.uk.gridhosted.co.uk/prcbc/
They are good and well-informed people who help with registration of children as British citizens in their free time (for free), and I can't recommend them enough. They played an important role in the victory of section 65 (UKF citizenship route) after many years of struggle.

[Mrstomojnr]

Thank you so much for you assistance.

I wonder if you could point me in the right direction with regards to moving to the U.K. With my husband and child and what route we should take as we don't meet the criteria financially through spousal.

Thanking you in advanced.

[vinny]

Apply for a British passport.

Move with family and work in another EEA country first.

[keji]

Hi house
Update on my application.
Biometric letter arrived yesterday stressing that I v gotten one earlier which I didn't respond to.I never got it,this is the first response of any kind am getting since my application on 3rd August. The letter indicated that I have 30working days to do my biometric or application will b rejected of which I have few days left when d letter arrived. I wonder why it can't be email to you.
Anyway,I put a mail through to the biometric center and explain how urgent it is for me to meet deadline and I already have an appointment for Monday,30th.
Timeline:
Application sent: 3rd August
Fee deduction: 17th August
Biometric letter: dated Oct 29th
Country: Nigeria

[Roka1404]

You do not have to go through the UKF route because your parents married before your eighteenth birthday. Therefore, apply directly for a passport, using your birth certificate and your parents' marriage certificate (and whatever other documents they want). Use 'long forms' of all documents wherever possible; in fact I believe that they are very insistent on 'long forms' of marriage certificates.
https://www.gov.uk/apply-renew-passport

However, since you were not born in Britain, your child is not automatically British because you are 'British by descent' (just like the UKF people, the only difference being that we have to register first). You may be able to register your child as British IF you do it before the child's 18th birthday. The relevant law is here:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1981/61/section/3
As you can see, there are some conditions, but you may be able to wangle it.

I suggest contacting the PRCBC for more specific information about how to register your child (I am not a lawyer and I haven't really looked into this particular issue very much). Here is their website:
http://ealinglawcentre.org.uk.gridhosted.co.uk/prcbc/
They are good and well-informed people who help with registration of children as British citizens in their free time (for free), and I can't recommend them enough. They played an important role in the victory of section 65 (UKF citizenship route) after many years of struggle.

Hi Antsmall,

The first paragraph above you say about applying straight for a British Passport if parents married before 18th birthday - is this really the case? My girlfriend is in a situation where her father was born in the UK (1963), she is South African (born 1988) and although her parents weren't married at the time of birth, they married soon after (definitely before her 18th birthday). We have pretty much done all the forms for UKF. She will still need to go down the UKF route though won't she?

Thanks

[Antsmall]

It is my understanding that, as in the previous person's case, this person also does not need the UKF citizenship route. She can simply apply for a passport by following the rules for first-time passport applications (which are a bit more stringent than the ones for passport renewals). She should be sure to send in the long forms of any certificates which allow them (e.g. the parents' marriage certificate) because officials can be very pernickety about long forms as opposed to short forms.

Parents' marriage subsequent to birth, but (arbitrarily) before the 18th birthday, will retroactively activate the automatic citizenship which the person would have had if their parents had married before their birth. (Married civilly, that is. My parents did in fact marry, but it was a church marriage and therefore the British authorities did not consider it valid and I was denied citizenship of my own country through no fault of my own. So I fought for years until we got the law changed and the UKF route came into being).

[Roka1404]

It is my understanding that, as in the previous person's case, this person also does not need the UKF citizenship route. She can simply apply for a passport by following the rules for first-time passport applications (which are a bit more stringent than the ones for passport renewals). She should be sure to send in the long forms of any certificates which allow them (e.g. the parents' marriage certificate) because officials can be very pernickety about long forms as opposed to short forms.

Parents' marriage subsequent to birth, but (arbitrarily) before the 18th birthday, will retroactively activate the automatic citizenship which the person would have had if their parents had married before their birth. (Married civilly, that is. My parents did in fact marry, but it was a church marriage and therefore the British authorities did not consider it valid and I was denied citizenship of my own country through no fault of my own. So I fought for years until we got the law changed and the UKF route came into being).

Hi Antsmall,

Thanks so much for getting back to me, wish I had found this forum sooner!

What you're saying is very interesting, so were you in a similar situation and were successful in obtaining the passport without UKF?

thanks

Thanks

[Antsmall]

No, I don't have British citizenship yet. My parents' marriage wasn't considered valid by the British authorities (because it was a church marriage) and IF they had married civilly before my 18th birthday I would have been 'rehabilitated' and given British citizenship as if they had married (civilly) before my birth, but by the time we discovered this, my parents had already separated. So I fought for years to change the law, and the result of those efforts, through the collaboration of several people, was the new citizenship route UKF.

My UKF application, which I made in May, is being delayed indefinitely because biometric facilities have not yet been set up in the USA, where I happen to live at the moment. So I don't know when I will be granted my birthright by what should have been my country all along.

[canabrit]

No news is.... no news?

So, I took JJL's advice and tried to get the Brit consulate to send a word to the home office in the hopes of speeding up the process, or at least getting my documents back in the interim. First, I emailed. I received an automated response back, which offered nothing helpful. No surprise. The website says the public needs to book an appointment to see anyone, but there seemed to be no option for setting up an appointment. (insert eye roll). So, since I'm in a major urban centre, I simply walked on over a couple days later. It was quite weird. The Consulate is in a major office building, located behind a locked glass door. You can't see the secretary, but there is a phone in the hallway. You pick it up and can speak to her. I tried explaining the situation, but it seemed clear she wasn't familiar with the UKF app in particular (no surprise there either), and she seemed to think I was just waiting for a certificate to come to them at the Consulate. I explained that I was waiting for my documents to come directly back to me, plus a letter perhaps inviting me to set up a biometrics appointment. She wasn't really paying attention, and didn't seem to be familiar with this process, but she eventually offered to write the Home Office an email. This was last thursday. Today I received an email from someone at the Home Office. It read:

"We have been asked to contact you by the post abroad as you have requested a progress report on the status of your application. I can confirm we received your request for application for Naturalisation in October 2015, please note it can take six months or more from the date of receipt for an application to be dealt with. If an application is successful it can take up 12 weeks for the paper work to be received at the post abroad."

So, while it was nice to get a reply, it basically raises more questions than it answers. First, they seem to be giving themselves even more time than they lay out in the UKF guide. 6+ months + 12 weeks? Secondly, despite the acknowledgement, it's weird that the person said 'application for naturalisation', because citizenship by descent is decidedly not naturalisation. In fact, it's basically the other option of two. Naturalisation people can pass down citizenship, whereas 'by descent' people cannot. So it seems like the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is talking about. I imagine that the secretary at the Consulate messed up a bit of the information in her email to the Head Office (I saw that coming a mile away, since she seemed so fuzzy on the UKF procedure), so she may have emailed them about 'Naturalisation', and thus, the reply I received may indeed be a stock response to a 'naturalisation' process enquiry. However, since the person at the Home Office also confirmed my application, you would think that any confusion would be cleared up when they looked into it.

Sooo... are they not paying attention? Did the person who replied not look into it any more than superficially? Is it even being dealt with? Reminder- they took the ceremony fee from my card on Oct 12th, so I would imagine somebody somewhere knows something.

Anyway, I had been hoping I would be on a somewhat similar timeline to JJL or Ben in Australia, but I get the feeling I'm in for a long one... Darn.

Timeline:
UKF app arrives Liverpool: Oct 2nd
Card charged ceremony fee: Oct 12th
No acknowledgement at any point.
Email to national enquiries at 4 weeks. No response.
Email to Further National Enquiries 2 weeks later. No response.
Email to Consulate Nov 23rd. No response (except automated).
Visit to Consulate Nov 26th. Promise of email.
Email back from Home Office with wrong information: December 2nd.
Not having your passport for the holidays? Priceless.

[NJProfessor]

Antsmall,

Finally got back on and replied to your reply on my post in the April application timeline forum: http://www.immigrationboards.com/britis ... -1700.html

Bottom line, nothing new. Got the biometrics not available yet in USA letter, ALONG WITH all my documentation. The letter said I would hear again by Dec 25. I suspect now that will be a further delay letter.

I noted the comments about doing biometrics in Canada, but am not clear on how to get them to invite me to do the biometrics there before I go to the site others have mentioned to set an appointment. Did I miss something?

Thanks for any advice and sorry to have not responded sooner.

[Scotcrawford66]

Hello all,

I made a UKF application for my 13 yr old daughter.
They've debited £80 for the ceremonial fee ( possibly my fault ) but surly
someone should have noticed that the applicant is only 13 yrs of age.
Also I would assume that they would verify all the documentation submitted for the application, before requesting biometrics.
It's now 4 months from when she had her biometrics captured?

Timeline:
Country: South Africa.
Application arrives Liverpool April 13
Email to Further Nationality Enquiries June 07
Ceremony fee debited June 10. ( daughter is only 13 yrs old)??
Email back saying my documents have been sent back with a tracking number.
Received documents and a letter requesting my daughter to make a biometric data appointment. 02 July
Sent email to 0ocbeappointments@tlscontact.com requesting an appointment ASAP. 2 July .
Received email 03 July confirming a appointment date for the 06 July.
Traveled to Port Elizabeth - South Africa, for data capture. 06 July.
Email to Further Nationality Enquiries August 06
Email back saying : I can only comment that your daughters application is ongoing in the application process. August 17.
Email to Further Nationality Enquiries October 11.
Email back saying : That my daughters application has not been processed within the six months. Which I'm well aware of.
And also:
All none complex cases continue to be decided well within our six month service standard. If a case cannot be decided within that timescale customers will be contacted individually as early as possible in the process to explain why.

And still no communication to date.

I'm starting to wonder if they know what's going on with the UKF applications.

[canabrit]

Funnily enough,

Just a day after receiving confirmation of application (prompted by my consulate), I received the brown envelope. So, I've scheduled a biometrics appointment -I hope I did this right. The website is weird, and only has options for visas or overseas citizenship. Does this sound right to anyone else who's done it?- and I also received an additional letter that said my case will take more than 6 months due to 'exceptionally complex issues'. I take it this is due to the fact my father himself was technically born overseas while my grandfather was in the military. However, my understanding is if you're doing crown service, then your children's nationality status isn't affected. Thoughts?

However, to speak to this point I included my grandfather's military records.... but they didn't return these. Not sure if they're keeping them to scrutinize them, or they simply forgot. Ugh. No idea. Anyone know what to do in a situation like this? Who to contact? I did get back my passport and my father's birth certificate.

Finally, someone else had mentioned sending a Fed Ex pre-paid return envelope which they didn't use. I too had sent a UPS pre-paid return envelope which they didn't use. So that was a waste of 75 bucks. I think unless you can somehow pay for a pre-paid 'royal mail' envelope, then you're going to get the second class brown one coming back your way.

[bfrenchfry]

Antsmall,

Finally got back on and replied to your reply on my post in the April application timeline forum: http://www.immigrationboards.com/britis ... -1700.html

Bottom line, nothing new. Got the biometrics not available yet in USA letter, ALONG WITH all my documentation. The letter said I would hear again by Dec 25. I suspect now that will be a further delay letter.

I noted the comments about doing biometrics in Canada, but am not clear on how to get them to invite me to do the biometrics there before I go to the site others have mentioned to set an appointment. Did I miss something?

Thanks for any advice and sorry to have not responded sooner.

After I got my letter saying I wouldn't hear until December, I got another one in the mail saying they didn't expect biometrics centers to be in the US until next year and they'd contact me with a status update in January. If my case was urgent I could contact NationalityBiometricsOverseas@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk to request the ability to go to Canada or Mexico at my expense. It took them about 3 weeks to reply, but eventually they emailed me my letter with the barcode. My nearest city is Toronto and they only do appointments on Tuesday mornings but I'm all booked for next week. If you want to go to Canada I suggest emailing them, but note that some other people did as well and were told since they applied recently they felt the delay in biometric centers wouldn't affect their 6 month timeline and so weren't allowed to file abroad. I'm at 7.5 months right now

[SK413]

Funnily enough,

Just a day after receiving confirmation of application (prompted by my consulate), I received the brown envelope. So, I've scheduled a biometrics appointment -I hope I did this right. The website is weird, and only has options for visas or overseas citizenship. Does this sound right to anyone else who's done it?- and I also received an additional letter that said my case will take more than 6 months due to 'exceptionally complex issues'. I take it this is due to the fact my father himself was technically born overseas while my grandfather was in the military. However, my understanding is if you're doing crown service, then your children's nationality status isn't affected. Thoughts?

However, to speak to this point I included my grandfather's military records.... but they didn't return these. Not sure if they're keeping them to scrutinize them, or they simply forgot. Ugh. No idea. Anyone know what to do in a situation like this? Who to contact? I did get back my passport and my father's birth certificate.

Finally, someone else had mentioned sending a Fed Ex pre-paid return envelope which they didn't use. I too had sent a UPS pre-paid return envelope which they didn't use. So that was a waste of 75 bucks. I think unless you can somehow pay for a pre-paid 'royal mail' envelope, then you're going to get the second class brown one coming back your way.

Hi canabrit.
Vfs global website is weird. From what you have written everything seems OK. I had the same issues (overseas citizenship) n stress myself out unnecessary. Don't worry you should be fine.
Seems like they're sending that "exceptional complex issues" letter to every1. Just trying to cover up for they ineptitude.
I got back my documents by that 2nd class brown envelope and was absolutely fuming. Can't understand why they tell us to send a prepaid return envelope and then send it 2nd class. (I sent it by Fedex) . Mine cost 100 bucks.
You don't need to contact anyone. Just sit tight and be patient for this long-haul HO ride.

[NJProfessor]

After I got my letter saying I wouldn't hear until December, I got another one in the mail saying they didn't expect biometrics centers to be in the US until next year and they'd contact me with a status update in January. If my case was urgent I could contact NationalityBiometricsOverseas@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk to request the ability to go to Canada or Mexico at my expense. It took them about 3 weeks to reply, but eventually they emailed me my letter with the barcode. My nearest city is Toronto and they only do appointments on Tuesday mornings but I'm all booked for next week. If you want to go to Canada I suggest emailing them, but note that some other people did as well and were told since they applied recently they felt the delay in biometric centers wouldn't affect their 6 month timeline and so weren't allowed to file abroad. I'm at 7.5 months right now

Thanks bfrenchfry!

I have been in process since April 8. In fact, it appears they lost track of me, since I never even had the ceremony fee taken until late August, and only after I emailed several times. So I am at just about 8 months. The letter I got in October did not mention any contact, so I did not have that info. Now I do! Next step will be to see if I can find a time to make a Canada trip and try to get that set up. I'm normally in NJ, but for now am based in Iowa, so the particular Canadian location may not make much difference!

[canabrit]

Hi canabrit.
Vfs global website is weird. From what you have written everything seems OK. I had the same issues (overseas citizenship) n stress myself out unnecessary. Don't worry you should be fine.
Seems like they're sending that "exceptional complex issues" letter to every1. Just trying to cover up for they ineptitude.
I got back my documents by that 2nd class brown envelope and was absolutely fuming. Can't understand why they tell us to send a prepaid return envelope and then send it 2nd class. (I sent it by Fedex) . Mine cost 100 bucks.
You don't need to contact anyone. Just sit tight and be patient for this long-haul HO ride.

Ha! No doubt it'll be one. Nice to not feel alone though. Thanks for letting me know. I now see some of the posts relating to the 'exceptionally complex issues,' perhaps it is just them stalling after all. I guess we'll see. I mean, I did think my case would be a little outside the box because of the military thing, but ultimately that shouldn't be too tricky for them to figure out or verify. They are the Home Office after all. You would think they have access to British records. But who knows- maybe not, considering they've seemingly kept my gramp's records that I sent. (I'm hoping they didn't just fall behind a desk somewhere).

And yeah, bummer about the wasted money on the return envelopes. I've looked at the guide again, and I think it specifies that you can put a return pre-paid Royal Mail envelope in your package... but nothing about couriers. It occurs to me that couriers, like UPS or Fed Ex, don't just get dumped back in the mail- they require a pick-up. So that's probably what keeps them from doing it. They have no intention of scheduling a pick up for our envelopes. Whereas if it's pre-paid Royal Mail, they can just send it through with their post.

[bfrenchfry]

Thanks bfrenchfry!

I have been in process since April 8. In fact, it appears they lost track of me, since I never even had the ceremony fee taken until late August, and only after I emailed several times. So I am at just about 8 months. The letter I got in October did not mention any contact, so I did not have that info. Now I do! Next step will be to see if I can find a time to make a Canada trip and try to get that set up. I'm normally in NJ, but for now am based in Iowa, so the particular Canadian location may not make much difference!

Ah, yea same happened to me. I applied April 28th, and they didn't deduct my money until August 21st, and I think that was only because I was hounding them for information. Pretty sure they had lost mine as well. Someone else went to Vancouver for theirs recently. Scroll back through the thread and they instruct how to sign up for an appt at a Canadian office once you get your biometric letter. It's weird where you have to claim your residence is Canada, but apparently it doesn't matter once you arrive. Good luck getting the letter!

[Ceelocsta]

4th dec Application has now been acknowledged exactly 4 weeks Now I need to enrol my biometrics and also it says they have received payment of £80 which is still in my account.

Dunno if this is good news or bad news with the supporting documents but they seem to know that I am a stateless which means I have no passport.

[Antsmall]

I am in considerable distress.

After receiving the letter about the delays in biometric what-have-you in the USA, giving me the option of having my biometrics done in Canada or Mexico and providing only the usual unresponsive email address if I wanted to discuss this further, I emailed that address (the biometrics overseas one that never answers) with a few QUESTIONS, including whether having my passport sent back to me prematurely for biometric reasons would mean that I'd have to send it back to them later.

Unsurprisingly, I received no reply other than an auto-response giving me an entirely irrelevant website about visas and informing me that my message would receive no reply. Classic Home Office behaviour.

Then today I received my famous Royal Mail International Tracked and Signed envelope which I had laboriously obtained from a friend in Britain and sent along with my original application (in May) for the allegedly "safe" return of my documents. It contained some of my original documents, a covering letter marked 'document return' making NO REFERENCE TO BIOMETRICS, and - not my passport or my father's.

The letter listed the documents being returned, including my passport and my father's passport, but the envelope was split in several places around the edges, and one of the splits was large enough to allow a passport-sized object to fall out - or be removed.

No biometric letter.
No passport.

And, to add insult to injury, the covering letter said that I would have to re-send any documents that they request when they do finally BEGIN processing my (entirely straightforward) application.

So, I didn't ask for the return of my documents; they returned them anyway with a promise that I'd have to pay AGAIN to send them back (obtaining yet another Royal Mail Nanchara Envelope to send along with my expensive courier package); they lost my passport and my father's passport (both of which have great emotional value); and they completely ignored the biometric issue which was THE ENTIRE REASON why we were corresponding in the first place. They behaved as if I had initiated a 'request for return of documents', which I had never done, and as if the biometric thing didn't even exist.

So, having waited all week to have a break from my insufferable cubicle slave job and enjoy the weekend, I used my entire Saturday contacting various bureaucrats (postal people in the USA, postal people in Britain, consular people by email, the fax number provided on the 'document return' letter, etc) and researching what on earth I could possibly do to retrieve our passports.

The postal services here tell me that if they find a passport, they immediately post it to the nearest consulate of its nationality. For my passport, if that happens, it will not be a problem because they are actually human people who work, but what of my father's old blue passport, sent, if at all, to a British consulate which does not allow anyone to contact it? They have no email address, their phone number only has recorded messages telling them to go to their website which immediately redirects to the useless gov.uk, they only allow people to talk to them in person if they have an appointment, and the only (few) appointments they have are 'emergency travel document' and 'notary services'. Therefore the only way for me to ASK these laggards if my father's passport has arrived there is to LIE and make an appointment for something which I don't need. Who knows, maybe they'll have me arrested for lying to public officials.

I called their emergency number, which lists, inter alia, the problem "if you have lost your passport", and after a few rings it hung up on me. I called again immediately and only heard a robot message saying "this number is not accepting calls". So this is the only lifeline that British people abroad have when emergencies happen: a phone number which hangs up on them and then pretends not to exist.

I have not eaten today. I went immediately to the post office to retrieve my package, almost inebriated with joy at the thought of being able to DO SOMETHING about my citizenship after waiting so long, and fantasising about writing to my father that his precious old blue passport, which contained many stamps and visas from his travels with me when I was a child, was finally safely in my hands once more.

What was I thinking? How could I possibly expect these morons to get one thing right, ever?

I have lost my appetite entirely. I hope that at least it's good for my figure. The only time when my mother ever called me beautiful was when I'd lost weight because I was depressed over a boy and couldn't eat. "So beautiful: just skin and bones", she said. Well maybe I'll be beautiful again soon.

[NJProfessor]

As with others in the U.S., I have been getting very sporadic communication about the fact that it remains impossible to do the biometrics in the U.S. My story is more frustrating than just that, but at least after many months of nothing, I did get such a letter a few months ago. But then nothing at all.

I applied in April on UKM (Child of a British Mother) and finally heard something many months later (My fee wasn't even taken out until August, so I think my app got lost somewhere.)

The update is this. I took the advice from this board to contact NationalityBiometricsOverseas@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk to see about doing my biometrics in Canada or England rather than the U.S. I sent this email on 3 December. TODAY (6 December) I received a reply, and the reply included the biometrics letter with my barcode, etc., giving me 30 working days to get it done. I am absolutely shocked at the almost immediate response.

So now I have to work out getting to Canada (or maybe even a quick trip to the U.K. between Christmas and New Years, we'll see.

But I am thrilled about finally being able to move this forward. Would never have known what to do without stumbling across this board.

[Antsmall]

Whereas I wrote to the same email address in November with a few QUESTIONS, and they did not send me a biometric letter, sent me back all my documents in error which I didn't request (without mentioning biometrics), and lost both my passport and my father's passport.

[Antsmall]

The Home Office Nationality Hotline (or some such similar name) is 0300 123 2253 (choose option 1). If you call the 0300 123 2241 number (which they give on their letters and which is on this page http://contactnumbers.guru/home-office/ too) you'll just have to stay on hold for ages before being told to call the nationality hotline anyway, so it's better to call the nationality hotline directly.