Requesting Documents back mid application

[Dudley83]

Good morning all. I'm hoping someone here can help me.

Firstly, a bit about my wife.

My wife (from Mexico) has lived in the UK for 10 years and has been married to me for those 10 years. She had her spousal visa from year 1 and ILR for 5+ years before applying for British Citizenship. She is a language teacher, fluently bilingual and has all required certs to back this up.

She applied for British Citizenship on the 7th June 2017 and we are awaiting a reply from them. I am aware it can take around 12 weeks to complete. I have also heard rumours that EU get fast tracked as they get a full refund if it takes longer than 12 weeks is this true? Are others being put to the side because of this?

My other questions are:

1) Has anyone who has applied in April/May received their citizenship yet? Or are you all still waiting?
2) Has anyone who applied in June received their citizenship yet?
3) If we need to return back to my wife's country for a visit can I request her passport details etc to be returned? Will they cancel the application or can it continue as normal?

Thanks all.

John

[alterhase58]

UKVI only ever say "wait six months" - where do you get the 12 weeks rule from? Certainly on average from the timelines submitted it currently takes around three months however others have taken up to six or many more months. EU citizens don't get preferential treatment - citizenship come under UK law, not EU regulations. Quite a few applications from EU citizens have been refused and nobody has been refunded under whatever circumstance. Please share the source of the rumour.

[gindog_g]

Hi, we applied on 4th May and are still waiting. Similar situation, I'm a British National and my wife of 7 years from South America. 3 Month mark is up shortly so I'll keep you posted.

[Dudley83]

Thanks @Gindog_g. Looks like yours should be sorted soon. I have seen a couple March dates already getting their replies.

We need to fly out to Mex end of Aug for 4 weeks and am a bit concerned about asking for passport details back (didn't us NCS - like an idiot!) I have read that it is fairly straightforward. I just don't want anything arriving while we are away.

Seems like the returns process is fine with it not effecting the decision any.

Currently we are both glued to the link where you can check the status (although it's only beta stage, which is not always 100% accurate).

Thanks

John.

[Dudley83]

So, long story short - We need to fly out to Mexico end of Aug for 4 weeks and am a bit concerned about asking for passport details back (didn't us NCS - like an idiot!) I have read that it is fairly straightforward and I believe requesting them back with NOT negatively effect the decision. (I saw on the site you can click to withdraw application or not - we will not be withdrawing). Am I correct in my thinking?

Our application went out in June, and we were hopeful for a fast 2 month application before our vacation. Thanks to march issues, seems like we are destined for closer to the full 6 months time, so we should have more than enough time before anything gets decided and sent back to the UK address.

Currently we are both glued to the link where you can check the status (although it's only beta stage, which is not always 100% accurate).

Thanks

John.