UKM application experience and timeline

[Ballet]

It was exactly 6 weeks and 2 working days (approval on a Friday and invitation on a Tuesday) from the email that I received saying that a decision had been made (letter dated same day, 26 July) until the day I received the email invitation (10 September). The ceremony has been another month wait (9 October).

I received the approval letter on 31 July (it was posted to family in the UK and they scanned it through to me).

Enjoy your ceremony an Wednesday!
Did you count the 6 weeks from the day the approval was issued or from the day you actually received it?

I waited about 6 weeks for the invitation from approval. The ceremony is this Wednesday!

On another group they are saying they wait on average 12 weeks here in SA for the invite.

Hi,
I had the same experience 3rd week in Aug and received assistance from the very nice lady in the courier return office , she advised that there had been a technical glitch in the enrolment Dept and was able to get the Case Worker onto the issue.

I did finally get an e-mail from my Case Worker who arranged for my Biometric enrolment , I received e-mail notice the Caseworker indicating verification and granting of approval on 30 Aug, indicating that an invitation letter would be forwarded by the local Consulate in Capetown.
5 weeks and waiting !

The name of the game seems to be patience.

[jkproperties]

I am decided I am done waiting lol,

I called PTA Consulate today, explained my situation to the Consular Officer, she asked me to send her a mail, she will try to get me into the first available ceremony as soon as she gets my citizenship certificate.

So hopefully I will gain back some lost time,
Good luck everyone.

It was exactly 6 weeks and 2 working days (approval on a Friday and invitation on a Tuesday) from the email that I received saying that a decision had been made (letter dated same day, 26 July) until the day I received the email invitation (10 September). The ceremony has been another month wait (9 October).

I received the approval letter on 31 July (it was posted to family in the UK and they scanned it through to me).

Enjoy your ceremony an Wednesday!
Did you count the 6 weeks from the day the approval was issued or from the day you actually received it?

I waited about 6 weeks for the invitation from approval. The ceremony is this Wednesday!

On another group they are saying they wait on average 12 weeks here in SA for the invite.

[Rabbit123]

Would be interesting to know how often consulates have ceremonies.
I don’t think there are many in my area...

I write an email to HO today, asking which consulate will contact me. I was too curious and couldn’t wait any longer

[Ballet]

I attended my citizenship ceremony this afternoon. There were about 36 of us and we had tea and cake afterward.

I have submitted an online application for a UK passport already. My identity has been verified online and I have received a mail asking me to send my documents to the passport office.

Nearly there!

Eligibility criteria: UKM (Romein)
Nationality: South African
Applying from: South Africa
Method of application: Online
Date of application: 8 March 2019
Payment method: Credit card (8 March 2019)
Date of acknowledgement email: 11 March 2019
Documents sent by courier: 11 March 2019
Date of receipt by UKVI (DHL tracking): 14 March 2019
Date of biometric appt invitation email: 4 June 2019
Date of biometrics appt confirmation email: 5 June 2019
Biometrics done: 6 June 2019
Application to retain SA citizenship: 14 June 2019
SA citizenship retention granted by DHA: 12 July 2019
Email from Nationality Courier Service: 26 July 2019
Date of UK citizenship approval: 26 July 2019
Received original documents back (regular post): 31 July 2019
Invitation email for the oath ceremony: 10 September 2019
Date of ceremony: 9 October 2019
Date applied for passport: 9 October 2019
Passport Application received:
Passport Application Marked Dispatched:
Date passport received:

[Faircape]

Congratulations Ballet , you must be elated that you are close to the end of your journey after 7 months!, a glass of bubbles would be appropriate !!
After reading your recent post , yesterday I asked my daughter resident in the UK to open the envelope of returned documents which contained a letter from the Home Office dated end Aug , formally confirming that my application had been successful and that a letter inviting me to attend a citizenship shortly would be forthcoming shortly - also noting that I should not contact the Embassy until I have received my invitation - only to contact back if no invitation had been received within 12 weeks.
Perhaps I will be lucky like you and receive the invitation next weeks (when 6 weeks is up)!!

With your online passport application did you identify a UK passport holder resident in the UK ?

All the best with the passport, by all accounts, most have received heir passport in around 2 weeks

[Faircape]

Congratulations Ballet , you must be elated that you are close to the end of your journey after 7 months!, a glass of bubbles would be appropriate !!
After reading your recent post , yesterday I asked my daughter resident in the UK to open the envelope of returned documents which contained a letter from the Home Office dated end Aug , formally confirming that my application had been successful and that a letter inviting me to attend a citizenship shortly would be forthcoming shortly - also noting that I should not contact the Embassy until I have received my invitation - only to contact back if no invitation had been received within 12 weeks.
Perhaps I will be lucky like you and receive the invitation next weeks (when 6 weeks is up)!!

With your online passport application did you identify a UK passport holder resident in the UK ?

All the best with the passport, by all accounts, most have received heir passport in around 2 weeks

[Ballet]

I am more relieved than elated to be at this point. It has been an exhausting process.

I used a UK passport holder who is resident in the UK to confirm my identity. I had to provide the passport office with a name and email address. She had to confirm my name, address and date of birth. It all happened in minutes. I then immediately received an email telling me what address to send my documents to (it includes a unique application number) and which documents to send. I am heading to DHL this afternoon to courier the documents to Durham and hope to have the passport by the week after next. I will update here as I go through the process.

I hope you do get your invitation soon. The waiting is a killer!

Congratulations Ballet , you must be elated that you are close to the end of your journey after 7 months!, a glass of bubbles would be appropriate !!
After reading your recent post , yesterday I asked my daughter resident in the UK to open the envelope of returned documents which contained a letter from the Home Office dated end Aug , formally confirming that my application had been successful and that a letter inviting me to attend a citizenship shortly would be forthcoming shortly - also noting that I should not contact the Embassy until I have received my invitation - only to contact back if no invitation had been received within 12 weeks.
Perhaps I will be lucky like you and receive the invitation next weeks (when 6 weeks is up)!!

With your online passport application did you identify a UK passport holder resident in the UK ?

All the best with the passport, by all accounts, most have received heir passport in around 2 weeks

[Rabbit123]

Update:

Eligibility Criteria: UKM
Applying from: EU
Method of application: Online with documents sent by post
Payment method: Credit card
Date of application: March 30, 2019
Date documents sent: April 8, 2019
Date of UKVI acknowledgement email: april 1, 2019
Date of receipt by UKVI: Not known
Date of e-mail requesting biometrics: July 22, 2019
Bio-metrics done: August 13, 2019
Date of approval: september 11, 2019
Date of invitation to ceremony: October 10, 2019
Date of ceremony: PENDING
Date applied for passport: PENDING
Date passport received: PENDING

[Ballet]

Ah, there it is! One step at a time...

Update:

Eligibility Criteria: UKM
Applying from: EU
Method of application: Online with documents sent by post
Payment method: Credit card
Date of application: March 30, 2019
Date documents sent: April 8, 2019
Date of UKVI acknowledgement email: april 1, 2019
Date of receipt by UKVI: Not known
Date of e-mail requesting biometrics: July 22, 2019
Bio-metrics done: August 13, 2019
Date of approval: september 11, 2019
Date of invitation to ceremony: October 10, 2019
Date of ceremony: PENDING
Date applied for passport: PENDING
Date passport received: PENDING

[Rabbit123]

I was totally surprised by the arrival of the email today.
I wouldn’t call it coincidence though. I wrote the email to HO yesterday (just wanted to know which consulate it would be) and then the email from the consulate (nearby!) came today. And it’s only been 5 weeks since approval.
Anyway, I’m happy!!

Ballet, so now it’s official! Congratulations. The number of people in your ceremony is amazing!

[Ballet]

Our ceremony was conducted by the vice consul. She said that South Africa has the largest community of British citizens living outside of the UK. I'm not sure how often the ceremonies take place but we have them at least monthly in 3 centres with about the same number of people at each (my brothers' ceremonies were the same; one in Durban and the other Pretoria, where I went).

I was totally surprised by the arrival of the email today.
I wouldn’t call it coincidence though. I wrote the email to HO yesterday (just wanted to know which consulate it would be) and then the email from the consulate (nearby!) came today. And it’s only been 5 weeks since approval.
Anyway, I’m happy!!

Ballet, so now it’s official! Congratulations. The number of people in your ceremony is amazing!

[jkproperties]

Congratulations,
Wow 36 is a lot of people.

I attended my citizenship ceremony this afternoon. There were about 36 of us and we had tea and cake afterward.

I have submitted an online application for a UK passport already. My identity has been verified online and I have received a mail asking me to send my documents to the passport office.

Nearly there!

Eligibility criteria: UKM (Romein)
Nationality: South African
Applying from: South Africa
Method of application: Online
Date of application: 8 March 2019
Payment method: Credit card (8 March 2019)
Date of acknowledgement email: 11 March 2019
Documents sent by courier: 11 March 2019
Date of receipt by UKVI (DHL tracking): 14 March 2019
Date of biometric appt invitation email: 4 June 2019
Date of biometrics appt confirmation email: 5 June 2019
Biometrics done: 6 June 2019
Application to retain SA citizenship: 14 June 2019
SA citizenship retention granted by DHA: 12 July 2019
Email from Nationality Courier Service: 26 July 2019
Date of UK citizenship approval: 26 July 2019
Received original documents back (regular post): 31 July 2019
Invitation email for the oath ceremony: 10 September 2019
Date of ceremony: 9 October 2019
Date applied for passport: 9 October 2019
Passport Application received:
Passport Application Marked Dispatched:
Date passport received:

[Rabbit123]

Eligibility Criteria: UKM
Applying from: EU
Method of application: Online with documents sent by post
Payment method: Credit card
Date of application: March 30, 2019
Date documents sent: April 8, 2019
Date of UKVI acknowledgement email: april 1, 2019
Date of receipt by UKVI: Not known
Date of e-mail requesting biometrics: July 22, 2019
Bio-metrics done: August 13, 2019
Date of approval: september 11, 2019
Date of invitation to ceremony: October 10, 2019
Date of ceremony: November 7, 2019
Date applied for passport: PENDING
Date passport received: PENDING

[Rabbit123]

My date for the ceremony is fixed and I am so excited!
It will be a private ceremony as I am the only applicant very different to yours then, ballet!

[Ballet]

Congratulations! The weeks between the invitation and ceremony flew by for me. I thought they would crawl but thankfully I was so busy I didn’t notice.

Yes! One person in a ceremony is very different from mine; mine was practically a party.

My date for the ceremony is fixed and I am so excited!
It will be a private ceremony as I am the only applicant very different to yours then, ballet!

[Faircape]

Eligibility Criteria: UKM
Applying from: EU
Method of application: Online with documents sent by post
Payment method: Credit card
Date of application: March 30, 2019
Date documents sent: April 8, 2019
Date of UKVI acknowledgement email: april 1, 2019
Date of receipt by UKVI: Not known
Date of e-mail requesting biometrics: July 22, 2019
Bio-metrics done: August 13, 2019
Date of approval: september 11, 2019
Date of invitation to ceremony: October 10, 2019
Date of ceremony: November 7, 2019
Date applied for passport: PENDING
Date passport received: PENDING

Hi Rabbit
congratulations on your ceremony approval and wish you all of the best even if you are the only (special) one- you have persevered for so long , your process give3s hope and I am still waiting on my invitation, but will be patient.
I have been married for over 40 years to an EEA national (could not get nationality because Home Affiars to provide documentation in time) , my kids are in Europe so this my last chance to travel 12000km to see my grandchildren- thankfully my acceptance is now in sight, probably like very many South Africans in my position.
The assistance given by others registered in this site have been invaluable and I am passing this insight onto friends who may also find the communications useful - special; mention to "Ballet" who has really saved me a huge amount of time.

[Faircape]

Eligibility Criteria: UKM
Applying from: EU
Method of application: Online with documents sent by post
Payment method: Credit card
Date of application: March 30, 2019
Date documents sent: April 8, 2019
Date of UKVI acknowledgement email: april 1, 2019
Date of receipt by UKVI: Not known
Date of e-mail requesting biometrics: July 22, 2019
Bio-metrics done: August 13, 2019
Date of approval: september 11, 2019
Date of invitation to ceremony: October 10, 2019
Date of ceremony: November 7, 2019
Date applied for passport: PENDING
Date passport received: PENDING

Hi Rabbit
congratulations on your ceremony approval and wish you all of the best even if you are the only (special) one- you have persevered for so long , your process give3s hope and I am still waiting on my invitation, but will be patient.
I have been married for over 40 years to an EEA national (could not get nationality because Home Affiars to provide documentation in time) , my kids are in Europe so this my last chance to travel 12000km to see my grandchildren- thankfully my acceptance is now in sight, probably like very many South Africans in my position.
The assistance given by others registered in this site have been invaluable and I am passing this insight onto friends who may also find the communications useful - special; mention to "Ballet" who has really saved me a huge amount of time.

[jkproperties]

Congratulations

My date for the ceremony is fixed and I am so excited!
It will be a private ceremony as I am the only applicant very different to yours then, ballet!

[Domikys]

Hi
Am a Canadian citizen born by a British born mother.
My biological mother gave me up for adoption immediately after my birth..am I eligible for UKM application..my live birth registration has my biological mothers name on it while my provincial birth certificate has my adoptive mothers name on it....my biological mother left Britain at 10yrs and naturalized in Canada...I was born out of wedlock.please kindly advise i want to start the process of UKM nationality application process.
Cheers

[Domikys]

Is unfortunate no forum member was a able to give a reply to my query had to submit it the best possible way I could...hoping for a favorable response.

Eligibility Criteria: UKM
Nationality: Canadian
Applying from: Nigeria
Method of application: Online with documents sent via DHL
Payment method: Credit card
Date of application: October 21,2019
Date documents sent: October 22,2019
Date of UKVI acknowledgement email: October 22,2019
Date of payment receipt by UKVI: October 22,2019
Date of documents arrival at UKVI:October 24,2019
Date funds withdrawn: October 23,2019
Date of e-mail requesting biometrics: PENDING
Bio-metrics done: PENDING
Date of approval: PENDING
Date of invitation to ceremony: PENDING
Date of ceremony: PENDING
Date applied for passport: PENDING
Date passport received: PENDING

[CR001]

Is unfortunate no forum member was a able to give a reply to my query had to submit it the best possible way I could...hoping for a favorable response.

Kindly note that not many, if any, on the forum would be familiar with circumstances or situations such as yours of adoption and claiming through your birth mother on UKM, which is likely why no one has responded.

The members who have posted in this topic are straightforward and simple applications.

[Domikys]

Thanks so much for your reply...I hope to accept what ever decision is made whether good or bad.was thinking since my biological mum was British born and i was given up for adoption after 3 days of birth and I have all the required documents and court order that might make my case straight forward and British born mothers name is on my live birth statement..

Tried to read up how a poster here Shaun 45 who had similar circumstances like mine ended up but he didn't do a follow up post after he got decision.

[Ballet]

@Faircape and @jkproperties

Has there been any progress on your applications? I am waiting for my passport application to be approved. Documents were received and were being processed on 15 October.

[Faircape]

Hi Ballet,
I am progressing into my 9th week from approval of my application , have queried at the beginning of the week with both Citizenship support and Consul in Capetown, but thusfar no response . It is disconcerting that there appears to be very little consistency in timelines and applications seem to go astray.

I keep on trying to be positive.

Wishing you all the best with your passport!!

[Rabbit123]

I can’t help in any way unfortunately - that’s why I didn’t comment. Hope you’ll succeed though

Is unfortunate no forum member was a able to give a reply to my query had to submit it the best possible way I could...hoping for a favorable response.

Eligibility Criteria: UKM
Nationality: Canadian
Applying from: Nigeria
Method of application: Online with documents sent via DHL
Payment method: Credit card
Date of application: October 21,2019
Date documents sent: October 22,2019
Date of UKVI acknowledgement email: October 22,2019
Date of payment receipt by UKVI: October 22,2019
Date of documents arrival at UKVI:October 24,2019
Date funds withdrawn: October 23,2019
Date of e-mail requesting biometrics: PENDING
Bio-metrics done: PENDING
Date of approval: PENDING
Date of invitation to ceremony: PENDING
Date of ceremony: PENDING
Date applied for passport: PENDING
Date passport received: PENDING