First of all, congratulations on your application! It must be a nice way to end the year before Xmas. May I ask when you applied and roughly how long it took for you to receive the HO decision letter? Reading your post I did have a few further questions, as I too applied through this pilot scheme.legend786 wrote:As I have read all posts above so I thought I should share my experience and it will help others. I applied my citizenship & passport application together. Thankfully it was approved, attended ceremony (private), had to call HM passport office in order to find out about passport application and point should be noted here by those who have applied same as me " Lady over the phone gave the different passport ref. no than the one was originally printed on passport application form on very first page under the bar code" she explained, ref. no has been changed since then and use the new one from now on as old one does not exist any more,
1) Were you asked to call the passport office after the ceremony, or did you do that after waiting since you didn't receive the passport ? I.e. As they stated when submitting the application with the AN form?
2) I did notice that passport application barcode number was different on the payment slip at the time I submitted my application at the NCS, and they explained that they assign a different one to thats on the original application form (I kept a photocopy of the form with me and also asked for a copy of the payment slip for my records). So that appears to match your experience above.
3) I'm slightly confused as to why you had to send your naturalisation certificate and current passport, along with the fee to return those supporting documents - did she explain why? The whole purpose of this pilot scheme was to avoid doing that, as per the NCS staff and what's published on the council websites!also she gave me address to post and told me to write down necessary stuff ref. no etc. and surname on right hand side of envelope plus I sent my naturalisation certificate, my current nationality passport, alongside covering letter mentioning about passport application with passport office pending already and postal order for £3 to get my certificate and other important documents through secure delivery before interview. I am still waiting for response from them and will update accordingly. I hope it helps!
4) Additionally, another benefit was that we wouldn't have to attend an identity interview, as that was supposed to be done via the single biometric appointment - AN application (because the two applications were submitted at the same time). This again appears to deviate from what the NCS staff advised, and what's published on the council websites! All these points appear to indicate that the scheme hasn't quite been implemented as planned by the HO - no fault of the NCS services as they would only be able to advise applicants based on what they have been told!
Several advantages of the scheme, appear to be non-existent, based on your experience. Do let us know the process as you proceed with your passport application - it'll certainly help those of us who have applied through this pilot scheme now, and those who are considering applying through it in the future.