Hi enzhaus. i am also a UKM applicant. Submitted application in Jan. Did biometrics in Feb, and am now awaiting approval. It's true there is nothing in the UKM guide that indicates that it's acceptable to send a notarized color copy of your passport (versus the actual passport) and rightfully so, no moderator here would likely ever recommend doing that.
But that's what I did. And the delay
ambrit (above) is experiencing is one of the reasons I did it. I have int'l travel at the end of March, and again in May. Also, I swapped a few messages with another applicant from this forum named
elizababa last year, who had the same concern, since biometrics were not up and running in the US yet and applications were being further delayed. She went ahead and sent a notarized copy of her US passport instead of the original. She wrote a cover letter with her application explaining that she had int'l travel planned, and she ultimately experienced no delay in her approval. It is worth noting that she DID include a few extra docs that weren't required (grandma's birth certificate, grandparent's marriage license), so it's possible those helped sway the agent to overlook the fact that she didn't send an original passport. She also might have gotten a more experienced and/or lenient agent. There's really no way of knowing, so it's a risk for sure. But because my citizenship approval isn't particularly time sensitive and because being without my passport for 3-6 months isn't realistic for me and IS time sensitive, and would stress me out considerably, I decided to take the risk. It could very well come back to haunt me. We'll see.
ambrit, i hope that your application delay is just a fluke and that they will get you back on track before your May travel.
This thread contains my conversation with elizababa from last spring.
british-citizenship/ukm-applicants-for- ... 17-40.html
Here's a current UKM thread with my dates, ambrit's and others'...
british-citizenship/ukm-application-exp ... 05125.html
