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hi Hank007Hank007 wrote:Nearly 12 weeks ago I applied for British citizenship using form ukf. According to the postal tracker my application arrived at the correct address, however I have received no form of acknowledgement from the home office. I am living overseas in New Zealand, my mother is a New Zealander and my father is a UK born citizen. As you can imagine I am feeling very apprehensive about the application considering it included personal documents of both me and my father. I have sent a very polite email to the home office seeking some form of acknowledgement, to which I received a terse automated frequently asked questions list, of which no questions had any relevance to my application. I was wondering if any one had any information or advice on how to go about dealing with the situation.
g_barrie_g wrote:BIOMETRICS
I have finally enrolled my facial and fingerprint details at VFS Singapore on 21 August 2015.
I have on my hand my Registration and Biometrics receipts.
VFS Singapore saved me from going beyond the 30 working days deadline in enrolling my Biometric details. As their appointment system for Overseas Citizenship applicants category is up and running smoothly. I am very thankful that the VFS Singapore staff were very accomodating, systematic and up to date about section 65 and UKF procedures.
Now I can peacefully wait again for the next process.
Hi Harry, I would just like to know how did you do your biometrics in the Philippines, I'm having problems with the website, Ive called the vfs manila but they can't seem to help me, I'm in the Philippines and got till May 15 to submit my biometrics, any advice on what to do, thanks.PinoyHarry wrote:Hi Guys!
I've been following this forum for a couple of months now and it is very helpful and it feels really great to see the progress of some applicants here that have been approved and almost done with the process. It's great to know that there are also some Filipino applicants here that some have already got approved (Congrats Kapatids!) . For those who is still in the process waiting for an update don't lose hope guys a bit more everything will definitely fall to plan. Anyway I'm here to share my story and timeline of my application (well, me and my older sister).
I'm Harry 23y/o, from the Philippines, dad is a British and mom is a Filipina who are not married. This law and opportuniy is an answer to all of our prayers. Me and my Older sister are applying at the same time.
August 10 applications and Documents was sent to UKHO
August 15 the 80£ was been cashed by HO without any acknowledgement
Sept 15 Biometrics Request letter was made by the HO
Dec 02 when the letter arrived in our home and surprisingly it was the 30th or last business day for us to submit our biometrics so we rushed and have our biometrics taken at the same day
January 15 when the Letter was made by the UKHO that was sent to my dad in UK (he received it on the 19th of Jan) and the letter states that our Application have been successfull and we are expecting to receive an invitation for the citizenship ceremony here in the UK embassy in Manila. The letter said that if we dont receive an invitation within 6weeks we should email the email address that they provided which we did today since until now we are still waiting for an update. Hoping that sooner or later we can hear again from them. Anyway Goodluck to all of us here and will update if something will happen
Any heads up what will happen next? Thanks!!
NJProfessor wrote:FINALLY.
Received a letter today via regular US Mail, that my application has been accepted and I should expect to get a letter inviting me to the ceremony within 12 weeks.
While my application was via UKM (not UKF) I posted on this thread a while back since I think US-based folks with both forms have been in similar circumstances, since biometrics remain unavailable here. It has been a ridiculously long slog.
I originally applied April 8, 2015, so it took just over a YEAR to get my approval. And it required I got to Toronto (last December) to do biometrics. But it finally seems to have happened.
I do want to thank other posters on this thread and others; I learned many things from your experiences that ended up helping in mine.
For those of you still waiting for six months or longer, I hope things are resolved soon.
Hi Ian,ian_the_eagle wrote:Hi Harry, I would just like to know how did you do your biometrics in the Philippines, I'm having problems with the website, Ive called the vfs manila but they can't seem to help me, I'm in the Philippines and got till May 15 to submit my biometrics, any advice on what to do, thanks.PinoyHarry wrote:Hi Guys!
I've been following this forum for a couple of months now and it is very helpful and it feels really great to see the progress of some applicants here that have been approved and almost done with the process. It's great to know that there are also some Filipino applicants here that some have already got approved (Congrats Kapatids!) . For those who is still in the process waiting for an update don't lose hope guys a bit more everything will definitely fall to plan. Anyway I'm here to share my story and timeline of my application (well, me and my older sister).
I'm Harry 23y/o, from the Philippines, dad is a British and mom is a Filipina who are not married. This law and opportuniy is an answer to all of our prayers. Me and my Older sister are applying at the same time.
August 10 applications and Documents was sent to UKHO
August 15 the 80£ was been cashed by HO without any acknowledgement
Sept 15 Biometrics Request letter was made by the HO
Dec 02 when the letter arrived in our home and surprisingly it was the 30th or last business day for us to submit our biometrics so we rushed and have our biometrics taken at the same day
January 15 when the Letter was made by the UKHO that was sent to my dad in UK (he received it on the 19th of Jan) and the letter states that our Application have been successfull and we are expecting to receive an invitation for the citizenship ceremony here in the UK embassy in Manila. The letter said that if we dont receive an invitation within 6weeks we should email the email address that they provided which we did today since until now we are still waiting for an update. Hoping that sooner or later we can hear again from them. Anyway Goodluck to all of us here and will update if something will happen
Any heads up what will happen next? Thanks!!
canabrit wrote:Well everyone,
I'm pretty much signing off. I got my passport yesterday, so I'm all wrapped up (or, nearly- but I'll get to that in a minute).
Here are my details...
sept 30- UKF app sent from Canada.
oct 2nd - received, liverpool.
oct 12- payment taken.
dec 1st(?)- biometrics invitation letter received (dated 27th Nov), along with 1/3rd of my documents.
dec 15- biometrics completed in Canada.
feb 17th- acceptance letter received (dated Feb 2nd) another 1/3rd of documents returned.
april 14 - citizenship ceremony
april 27- passport documents sent to Durham
may 6th - passport arrives in canada via DHL
So, a couple notes to mention. My timeline seems about average. There are people who shot through much quicker, and those like Antsmall, bfrenchfry, NJprof, etc. who took much longer (though I believe they're all USA based, which had an extra complication with biometrics). It was over 6 months from the start of my application to my ceremony. Though it could have been even longer- I barely snuck into the April ceremony, and only avoided waiting another month until May because I happened to go to the Consulate here (in early april) to ask them if they'd received anything (which they don't really want you to do). At that point I still hadn't heard a single thing since my Feb 17th acceptance letter. They initially said 'no', then double checked, and sure enough my certificate was there, and they snuck me in to April's. This kind of thing seems par for the course. Indeed, it's worth mentioning that I sent plenty of emails over the course of the 6 1/2 months trying to prompt things. I'm pretty sure my prompting got the biometrics letter up and running, and I had to do another round of emails when the 6 weeks lapsed after getting my acceptance letter (you're supposed to wait 6 weeks for a ceremony invite). Not to mention going to the consulate...
And of course, you'll notice that I'm still missing 1/3rd of my documents. So I'm not entirely out of the process, and will have to keep up that inquiry.
So... a pretty average experience all around.
The passport experience itself was quite simple (as others have mentioned), and as you can see, very quick. It took about a week. I didn't have a British counter-signer for it. I could only find an EU counter-signer who fit their list of occupations. But they explicitly favour an EU counter-signer (over american or commonwealth) if no British one can be found.
I never had anyone representing me through either process.
So that's about it. Hope that's helpful. Good luck to everyone, especially the three americanos I already mentioned who have been waiting and waiting and waiting.
Pip pip. Cheerio.
-Canabrit
Hey keji may I ask where you from? It seems that the passport application timeframe process depend on the country you're applying from. Canadians and Americans applicants got their passport for just a week or two, I'm from the Philippines, application takes at least 16 weeks as per her majesty when I emailed them. They confirmed that they got my application and an interview might be scheduled to verify the documents and applicant are legit. I'm on my 5th week since they received my application and until now no update. Hoping to hear from them soon.keji wrote:canabrit wrote:Well everyone,
I'm pretty much signing off. I got my passport yesterday, so I'm all wrapped up (or, nearly- but I'll get to that in a minute).
Here are my details...
sept 30- UKF app sent from Canada.
oct 2nd - received, liverpool.
oct 12- payment taken.
dec 1st(?)- biometrics invitation letter received (dated 27th Nov), along with 1/3rd of my documents.
dec 15- biometrics completed in Canada.
feb 17th- acceptance letter received (dated Feb 2nd) another 1/3rd of documents returned.
april 14 - citizenship ceremony
april 27- passport documents sent to Durham
may 6th - passport arrives in canada via DHL
So, a couple notes to mention. My timeline seems about average. There are people who shot through much quicker, and those like Antsmall, bfrenchfry, NJprof, etc. who took much longer (though I believe they're all USA based, which had an extra complication with biometrics). It was over 6 months from the start of my application to my ceremony. Though it could have been even longer- I barely snuck into the April ceremony, and only avoided waiting another month until May because I happened to go to the Consulate here (in early april) to ask them if they'd received anything (which they don't really want you to do). At that point I still hadn't heard a single thing since my Feb 17th acceptance letter. They initially said 'no', then double checked, and sure enough my certificate was there, and they snuck me in to April's. This kind of thing seems par for the course. Indeed, it's worth mentioning that I sent plenty of emails over the course of the 6 1/2 months trying to prompt things. I'm pretty sure my prompting got the biometrics letter up and running, and I had to do another round of emails when the 6 weeks lapsed after getting my acceptance letter (you're supposed to wait 6 weeks for a ceremony invite). Not to mention going to the consulate...
And of course, you'll notice that I'm still missing 1/3rd of my documents. So I'm not entirely out of the process, and will have to keep up that inquiry.
So... a pretty average experience all around.
The passport experience itself was quite simple (as others have mentioned), and as you can see, very quick. It took about a week. I didn't have a British counter-signer for it. I could only find an EU counter-signer who fit their list of occupations. But they explicitly favour an EU counter-signer (over american or commonwealth) if no British one can be found.
I never had anyone representing me through either process.
So that's about it. Hope that's helpful. Good luck to everyone, especially the three americanos I already mentioned who have been waiting and waiting and waiting.
Pip pip. Cheerio.
-Canabrit
congrats Canabrit,
i still dont have my passport yet its almost 3 months now after scaling through the address evidence stuff , the last i heard was they are trying to verify my registration certificate and until they do passport cant be printed.so, you are pretty fast and lucky with the passport stuff.
best of luck
PinoyHarry wrote:Hey keji may I ask where you from? It seems that the passport application timeframe process depend on the country you're applying from. Canadians and Americans applicants got their passport for just a week or two, I'm from the Philippines, application takes at least 16 weeks as per her majesty when I emailed them. They confirmed that they got my application and an interview might be scheduled to verify the documents and applicant are legit. I'm on my 5th week since they received my application and until now no update. Hoping to hear from them soon.keji wrote:canabrit wrote:Well everyone,
I'm pretty much signing off. I got my passport yesterday, so I'm all wrapped up (or, nearly- but I'll get to that in a minute).
Here are my details...
sept 30- UKF app sent from Canada.
oct 2nd - received, liverpool.
oct 12- payment taken.
dec 1st(?)- biometrics invitation letter received (dated 27th Nov), along with 1/3rd of my documents.
dec 15- biometrics completed in Canada.
feb 17th- acceptance letter received (dated Feb 2nd) another 1/3rd of documents returned.
april 14 - citizenship ceremony
april 27- passport documents sent to Durham
may 6th - passport arrives in canada via DHL
So, a couple notes to mention. My timeline seems about average. There are people who shot through much quicker, and those like Antsmall, bfrenchfry, NJprof, etc. who took much longer (though I believe they're all USA based, which had an extra complication with biometrics). It was over 6 months from the start of my application to my ceremony. Though it could have been even longer- I barely snuck into the April ceremony, and only avoided waiting another month until May because I happened to go to the Consulate here (in early april) to ask them if they'd received anything (which they don't really want you to do). At that point I still hadn't heard a single thing since my Feb 17th acceptance letter. They initially said 'no', then double checked, and sure enough my certificate was there, and they snuck me in to April's. This kind of thing seems par for the course. Indeed, it's worth mentioning that I sent plenty of emails over the course of the 6 1/2 months trying to prompt things. I'm pretty sure my prompting got the biometrics letter up and running, and I had to do another round of emails when the 6 weeks lapsed after getting my acceptance letter (you're supposed to wait 6 weeks for a ceremony invite). Not to mention going to the consulate...
And of course, you'll notice that I'm still missing 1/3rd of my documents. So I'm not entirely out of the process, and will have to keep up that inquiry.
So... a pretty average experience all around.
The passport experience itself was quite simple (as others have mentioned), and as you can see, very quick. It took about a week. I didn't have a British counter-signer for it. I could only find an EU counter-signer who fit their list of occupations. But they explicitly favour an EU counter-signer (over american or commonwealth) if no British one can be found.
I never had anyone representing me through either process.
So that's about it. Hope that's helpful. Good luck to everyone, especially the three americanos I already mentioned who have been waiting and waiting and waiting.
Pip pip. Cheerio.
-Canabrit
congrats Canabrit,
i still dont have my passport yet its almost 3 months now after scaling through the address evidence stuff , the last i heard was they are trying to verify my registration certificate and until they do passport cant be printed.so, you are pretty fast and lucky with the passport stuff.
best of luck
Antsmall wrote:I have a question for those who had to send their citizenship registration certificates in order to receive passports. Did you have your registration certificate eventually returned to you once the passport application was complete? Thanks for the information!
keji wrote:Antsmall wrote:I have a question for those who had to send their citizenship registration certificates in order to receive passports. Did you have your registration certificate eventually returned to you once the passport application was complete? Thanks for the information!
sure, they will return it because its yours and its the evidence of how you got your citizenship. i still have my father"s certificate used in backing up my ukf form then and it was issued since the 70's
I just noticed that the printed mail label must be used within 24 hours, so that option will not work.a_powers wrote:I am getting ready to send in the UKM form and was wondering how you send a return envelope with postage for a return of the documents. I am in the USA.
I went to the Royal mail website and see that they have a way to print a mail label to an Avery sheet. I was wondering if anyone has done it this way.
Thanks a lot.
Nigeria, at least 14 weeks. received a letter yesterday stating that they are satisfy with my documents and verification now but they still need their overseas team to verify other things and they cant say for how long.
Personal contact details removed to protect from spammers and scammers.Demmie wrote:Hello Keji, I have been following this thread for quite a while. I am in the process of putting in my application and seeing that you did yours from Nigeria, would be happy if we can share info as per how it works from Nigeria. Kindly send me an email on xxxxxxxxxxx . I will be more than glad to get an email from you and I pray your passport comes in anytime soon.
Demmie wrote:Nigeria, at least 14 weeks. received a letter yesterday stating that they are satisfy with my documents and verification now but they still need their overseas team to verify other things and they cant say for how long.
Hello Keji, I have been following this thread for quite a while. I am in the process of putting in my application and seeing that you did yours from Nigeria, would be happy if we can share info as per how it works from Nigeria. Kindly send me an email on xxxxxxxxxxx . I will be more than glad to get an email from you and I pray your passport comes in anytime soon.