Biometric card returned but passport office needs to see it

[mamabibi]

Hi,

Thank you in advance. Please I apologise if this topic already exists.

I attended my citizenship ceremony on 6th January and sent my passport application the next day with my biometric permit (the lady said I needed to send it) while it was with the passport office I read about the new rule that requires you to destroy and send the biometric permit so I sent it to the address immediately I received it. I have now received my British passport.

My problem is I just applied for a passport for my daughter who was born on 17/11/15 without the card( as I have already destroyed and sent it back). I filled in my new British passport number in the form. They wrote a letter to me saying they need to see my biometric permit or the letter which home office wrote saying I have been granted ILR. I sent all the letters regarding the success of my ILR and they said it is not enough.

I am confused as I'm not sure what else to do really.

Please help

[CR001]

Does your spouse have ILR?

Do you have a copy of your BRP?

[noajthan]

Hi,

Thank you in advance. Please I apologise if this topic already exists.

I attended my citizenship ceremony on 6th January and sent my passport application the next day with my biometric permit (the lady said I needed to send it) while it was with the passport office I read about the new rule that requires you to destroy and send the biometric permit so I sent it to the address immediately I received it. I have now received my British passport.

My problem is I just applied for a passport for my daughter who was born on 17/11/15 without the card( as I have already destroyed and sent it back). I filled in my new British passport number in the form. They wrote a letter to me saying they need to see my biometric permit or the letter which home office wrote saying I have been granted ILR. I sent all the letters regarding the success of my ILR and they said it is not enough.

I am confused as I'm not sure what else to do really.

Please help

You couldn't make it up really. Another example of HO/HMPO 'left-hand' versus 'righthand'.

Have you advised HMPO you sent BRP to HO as per latest rules?
Do you have a copy of BRP?
Have you advised HMPO to contact HO regarding your recent application (giving them HO case reference ID)?
- they could verify your previous ILR status from your HO casenotes

Am I right in thinking HMPO want to see proof of your ILR status (at the time of your child's birth in UK - ?) in order to verify & progress a direct passport application for her?
(ie as an automatic British citizen)

If so, what is/was other parent's immigration status at the time of your child's birth?

[mamabibi]

Does your spouse have ILR?

Do you have a copy of your BRP?

We both had ILR and applied for naturalisation together. So we had our ceremony and passport application done at the same time. Both our BRPs destroyed and sent back.

Yes we have copies of our BRPs which we sent to HMPO as well as any letter associated to our ILR with a cover letter explaining why we do not have the originals. I got a call this afternoon from them saying they have to see the actual cards that's why I am confused. I explained again as I did in the letter saying it was destroyed and sent back. She didn't even know there was any rule like that. So she said she will liaise with her manager and get back to me. I haven't heard anything.

[mamabibi]

Hi,

Thank you in advance. Please I apologise if this topic already exists.

I attended my citizenship ceremony on 6th January and sent my passport application the next day with my biometric permit (the lady said I needed to send it) while it was with the passport office I read about the new rule that requires you to destroy and send the biometric permit so I sent it to the address immediately I received it. I have now received my British passport.

My problem is I just applied for a passport for my daughter who was born on 17/11/15 without the card( as I have already destroyed and sent it back). I filled in my new British passport number in the form. They wrote a letter to me saying they need to see my biometric permit or the letter which home office wrote saying I have been granted ILR. I sent all the letters regarding the success of my ILR and they said it is not enough.

I am confused as I'm not sure what else to do really.

Please help

You couldn't make it up really. Another example of HO/HMPO 'left-hand' versus 'righthand'.

Have you advised HMPO you sent BRP to HO as per latest rules?
Do you have a copy of BRP?
Have you advised HMPO to contact HO regarding your recent application (giving them HO case reference ID)?
- they could verify your previous ILR status from your HO casenotes

Am I right in thinking HMPO want to see proof of your ILR status (at the time of your child's birth in UK - ?) in order to verify & progress a direct passport application for her?
(ie as an automatic British citizen)

If so, what is/was other parent's immigration status at the time of your child's birth?

I have advised them as they wrote a letter requesting to see my BRP and I responded explaining to them but they still insist on seeing the card.

They say I may have to contact HO myself. I asked them to take the BRP number from the copies I sent and check our status. They said they don't have access to do that.

Yes you are right. We were on ILR when our daughter was born. They want to see proof that we had ILR when she was born so they can progress a direct passport application.

We were both had ILR when she was born. Approval letter came in on the 6th of December and our citizenship ceremony was on the 6th of January.

[noajthan]

I have advised them as they wrote a letter requesting to see my BRP and I responded explaining to them but they still insist on seeing the card.

They say I may have to contact HO myself. I asked them to take the BRP number from the copies I sent and check our status. They said they don't have access to do that.

Yes you are right. We were on ILR when our daughter was born. They want to see proof that we had ILR when she was born so they can progress a direct passport application.

We were both had ILR when she was born. Approval letter came in on the 6th of December and our citizenship ceremony was on the 6th of January.

Clearly a major malfunction within & between the HO & HMPO.

Sounds like you've done all you can.
It clearly needs HO to liaise with their HMPO colleagues & cross-reference your case notes.

If all else fails you could try & bring in the big guns - see if your MP can put their weight behind your case.

Best of luck.

[mamabibi]

Thanks! I will wait and see if they will contact me today. If the don't I will give them a call and hear their decision. I will definitely invoke the big guns if no progress after that.

[mamabibi]

Hi,

Just wondering if any of you can help still.

I just received a call from the same lady and his time she says there isn't anything they can do to get my biometric record. She says i have to contact Home office myself as they cannot do it. I contacted HM and was told i may have to do a Subject access request or write a letter to UKVI Liverpool.

Please does anyone know a number or email address i can use to contact them? or even how to go about it? I cannot believe how complicated this has become. We are booked to travel at the end of next month i hope this is resolved by then.

PS: They also said if i had a letter of approval from HM saying i had gotten my ILR. I applied in person at the croydon office, and was never given any letter with the direct information.

Thank you in advance for your help.

[noajthan]

...

Please does anyone know a number or email address i can use to contact them? or even how to go about it? I cannot believe how complicated this has become. We are booked to travel at the end of next month i hope this is resolved by then.

...

Thank you in advance for your help.

Bizarre &, I'm sure it must be quite frustrating.

if it helps here is the form to request SAR from UKVI:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... mmigration

[cs95tdg]

PS: They also said if i had a letter of approval from HM saying i had gotten my ILR. I applied in person at the croydon office, and was never given any letter with the direct information.

There is a letter that the case worker gives you at the time of approving your ILR. At least they did when I applied in person at Croydon PEO. It may be worth checking your ILR documents, if you've still kept them. I have scanned copies of all my immigration letters, so have just checked. The letter is to confirm that they are returning all the documents you provided to support your application and also states that your BRP will arrive within 7 working days. There is second sheet included which states....

These notes are for information purposes only and do not convey the grant of ILR.

But right below that statement it states... Your application of indefinite leave to remain in the UK has been approved. You will be sent a BRP as confirmation of your ILR in the UK.

This must be what they were referring to. Definitely worth checking your past immigration documentation.

[fielddrive]

I did not get any such letter when I got my ILR explicitly stating that I have been granted indef leave to remain. My friend who applied a year before me at PEO did get such a letter.

The level of incompetency at process level within HO is astonishing.

OP should redirect them to gov.uk which requires ppl to surrender their BRP

[mamabibi]

i have searched everywhere I don't have any letter stating that my ILR has been approved.

I can't believe this! I thought it was all over! Is there even a guarantee that this subject access request will show these details?

[cs95tdg]

That's a shame As far as the SAR goes, I'm not sure. If they didn't give you a letter, then they may have other internal documents confirming the grant of ILR, but I don't think it's guaranteed. I can't believe what they've done by introducing this time limit rule to return your BRP, and HMPO not having the ability to get this information off the HO, especially after them being brought under the same umbrella the year before.

[mamabibi]

This was all i received that day. Apologies if it can't be read.

[cs95tdg]

That's similar to the first page of the letter I received, but not identical from what I can see. Is there any reference to the fact that this BRP is for a settlement BRP (ILR) in the letter? To see if you could possible ask HMPO whether they would accept it, even though it doesn't have a sentence confirming your ILR has been approved.

[fielddrive]

this is similar to what i received

[mamabibi]

There's no mention of settlement or even ILR on the letter. I have sent this letter as well as the letter that came with my biometric card and they have said they can't accept it as it doesn't state tgat I was granted ILR.

On the biometric card letter, there is a unique reference number on it which matches the one on my BRP ( I sent a scanned copy to them). They have also said that is not enough. My phone conversation with them today, they all seemed clueless. I feel like I'm starting this process all over again. Lol

[mamabibi]

I just found this letter that was given to us on the day as well. But it doesn't even have a date or any reference or even our names on it. But there is a code at the bottom left and I'm hoping that is not generic. This letter absolutely has no link to us and could have been gotten from anyone.

[cs95tdg]

That appears similar to what I received. But it was stapled together with the first letter which had my details and also the card payment receipt for the fee - which again states this is a payment for a settlement application. All put together it all indicates that you were granted ILR on that day.

Worth a try if you have copies of all these.

[mamabibi]

Thank you for your response.

Yes I received other letters as well as this but it wasn't stapled together. I had sent the other letters to HMPO except this one. I have now sent it to them yesterday.

I'm just a bit worried as this letter does not have any of our details on it and looks like a very plain letter and so they may say it's not enough.

I will wait and hear what they say.

[mamabibi]

Hello guys,

My worst fear had been confirmed. They said the above letter is not enough as it doesn't contain our names or any details. I am now stuck as I do not know what else to do.

I wrote a letter to UKVI Liverpool since the 10th of February, requesting proof of my ILR. I have not received any response from them and it's almost 3 weeks now.

Please does anybody know how else I can contact UKVI to know the progress? Or how I can involve my MP? Frustrated!

[vinny]

You couldn't make it up really. Another example of HO/HMPO 'left-hand' versus 'righthand'.

Their rules are incompatible with each other.

If all else fails you could try & bring in the big guns - see if your MP can put their weight behind your case.

Ask your MP, if you could nominate the people in these two departments of Her Majesty's Government, UKVI and HMPO, both branches of HO, for the Jobsworth award.

[JohnnyZee]

Hi mamabibi - Sorry to see you go through all this pain. My suggestion would be to email home office. I have these email addresses, send to all of them in one email:

Citizenship.support@gsi.gov.uk
NationalitySupportTeamFMT@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
FurtherNationalityEnquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

* Make sure you write on the top something like: PLEASE FORWARD TO RELEVANT TEAM. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR PROOF OF ILR HELD PREVIOUSLY, I AM NOW A BRITISH CITIZEN.
* Your opening line should be something like: I became a British Citizen in [Nov/Dec 2015]. I have since returned my ILR BRP card as per your instructions.
* Then explain your whole story in bullet points.
* Attach scan of letter from HMPO stating they need proof of ILR.
* Sign off at the end with your full name, email, physical address and phone.

Hopefully someone will respond to you in a week. I wanted to contact home office about my certificate of naturalisation and did the same. I got an email a week later. All the best.

[fielddrive]

Hello guys,

My worst fear had been confirmed. They said the above letter is not enough as it doesn't contain our names or any details. I am now stuck as I do not know what else to do.

I wrote a letter to UKVI Liverpool since the 10th of February, requesting proof of my ILR. I have not received any response from them and it's almost 3 weeks now.

Please does anybody know how else I can contact UKVI to know the progress? Or how I can involve my MP? Frustrated!

Sorry to hear about your ordeal... Maybe your MP can help but worth a shot

[tulipz]

OMG!
I will be in EXACTLY THIS situation very soon. Citizenship ceremony booked for Wednesday (02 March). Baby born in January while our naturalisations applications were under consideration. We both had ILRs back then.

Is there anything I can do to now to avoid this situation?