British citizenship approval after 10 months

[Bibivaly]

Hi guys , just want to make this post to help others that are waiting for more then 6 months for citizenship approval,as I’ve finally got my approval after 10 months and many steps to presume HO to conclude my application

I’ve done the following:

I've called them twice only to receive general information ( do not call it's a waste of time, they won't even take your reference number through the phone)
I've emailed them many time to different email addresses that I’ve found on this forum I’ve received only one reply with standard response that my application is still in process due to ongoing enquiries and check)
I've contacted MP to ask for updates only to receive the same response, ( MP contacted HO twice, twice she received the same standard response)
I’ve emailed the Home Secretary
I’ve emailed the minister for migration
I've requested and received my SAR file ( nothing interesting in the comments sections)
I've made two complaints to HO on gov website I had to chase a response by emailing the complaint HO team (received the same standard response as previous)

I have requested a complaint review by emailing the review team , post a letter to them and also my MP chased the review on my behalf ( I haven’t received the review yet !) my plan was to take it further to IEC after receiving the review

On Monday 22nd April I have received an email from :
FurtherNationalityEnquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk confirming that my application has been approved and saying that the official letter from ATLAS will arrive in the next 2 weeks

I believe that the minister of migration done the trick ( as he was added to my approval email as a reply )

Also it is possible that the presure on them for the complain review to be the key ( my friend received the approval after she requested the complaint review , the review came in the same day with the approval, in her case)

So my advise will be that once the 6 month are up people should start the complaint procedure, complaint-compliant review-IEC as this might do the trick

But I can’t say 100% that this was the reason why HO finally approved my application

Good luck everyone

[AmazonianX]

Congratulations on winning.

[contorted_svy]

Thank you for reporting back and well done on your perseverance. If a mod could add this post to the sticky on how to chase delayed applications I think it would be greatly helpful to other members.

[alterhase58]

Congratulations, though it took hard work to get the result.

Link to this topic has been post to the sticky.

[Bibivaly]

My complaint review just came today as well , saying that my application has been approved, so this is another strong reason to believe that once people are requesting the review HO will conclude the application to avoid the IEC and ombudsman service investigations

Good luck

[AmazonianX]

My complaint review just came today as well , saying that my application has been approved, so this is another strong reason to believe that once people are requesting the review HO will conclude the application to avoid the IEC and ombudsman service investigations

Good luck

Indeed, thank you for the feedback.

[Bibivaly]

My complaint review just came today as well , saying that my application has been approved, so this is another strong reason to believe that once people are requesting the review HO will conclude the application to avoid the IEC and ombudsman service investigations

Good luck

UPDATE

Today I’ve received my Ceremony invitation from ATLAS
( home.office.atlas@notifications.service.gov.uk) and I’ve booked my ceremony straight away with my local council as they already had my certificate from HO , that’s me done now all it’s left is just the passport procedure

Good luck to everyone and I hope my journey will help others that have theirs applications stuck with HO

[vibemon]

Hi guys , just want to make this post to help others that are waiting for more then 6 months for citizenship approval,as I’ve finally got my approval after 10 months and many steps to presume HO to conclude my application

I’ve done the following:

I've called them twice only to receive general information ( do not call it's a waste of time, they won't even take your reference number through the phone)
I've emailed them many time to different email addresses that I’ve found on this forum I’ve received only one reply with standard response that my application is still in process due to ongoing enquiries and check)
I've contacted MP to ask for updates only to receive the same response, ( MP contacted HO twice, twice she received the same standard response)
I’ve emailed the Home Secretary
I’ve emailed the minister for migration
I've requested and received my SAR file ( nothing interesting in the comments sections)
I've made two complaints to HO on gov website I had to chase a response by emailing the complaint HO team (received the same standard response as previous)

I have requested a complaint review by emailing the review team , post a letter to them and also my MP chased the review on my behalf ( I haven’t received the review yet !) my plan was to take it further to IEC after receiving the review

On Monday 22nd April I have received an email from :
FurtherNationalityEnquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk confirming that my application has been approved and saying that the official letter from ATLAS will arrive in the next 2 weeks

I believe that the minister of migration done the trick ( as he was added to my approval email as a reply )

Also it is possible that the presure on them for the complain review to be the key ( my friend received the approval after she requested the complaint review , the review came in the same day with the approval, in her case)

So my advise will be that once the 6 month are up people should start the complaint procedure, complaint-compliant review-IEC as this might do the trick

But I can’t say 100% that this was the reason why HO finally approved my application

Good luck everyone

Hello! I’m on the same boat as you, except that
I’ve been waiting for 13 months now. I’ve just started the steps you mentioned. The only thing I haven’t done is to request a complaint review? How did you do this? And may I know what did you put in it, and what email address you used to request the complaint review?

Thanks.

[Bibivaly]

First you will need an official response to an initial complaint

2 - you need to write an email/letter requesting a review of their response to your initial complaint, you have to specify why you need the review and what extra information you want etc

3- I suggest you send email and post a letter as well , I’ve also asked my MP to chase this review response as most of the times the review team will ignore people

4 - email address: complaintsreview@homeoffice.gov.uk
Address- UKVI Customer Correspondence Hub
7th Floor – Long Corridor
Lunar House
40 Wellesley Road
Croydon
CR9 2BY

Without the response to your initial complaint you can’t request the review

Good luck

[Bibivaly]

Make sure you attach their response to the initial complaint in PDF file or letter

[vibemon]

Thanks for this!

I got a response already from my original complaint last Saturday (after 20 days!!) with the sender saying that he cannot uphold my complaint, enquiries still going, etc.

He advised to email the complaints review team (which you have just mentioned!)

So I already did what you said in steps 2, 3, and 4 yesterday.

Except I haven’t attached a copy of their response (didn’t think about that ).

And also, I recently received a reply from my local MP, saying that he have asked UKVI to review the matter (but this was before I received the most recent email from them about involving the complaints review team).

Should I email my MP again to follow up, this time around my complaints review request?

[contorted_svy]

I would say to email the complaint review team attaching the communication you received from UKVI, and inform your MP of this (with attachments) so they are up to speed.

[vibemon]

OP, may I ask for the email that you used to contact the Home Secretary and Minister for Migration?

Thanks

[alterhase58]

email address:

viewtopic.php?p=2161040&hilit=minister#p2161040

[rusty31]

Hi guys , just want to make this post to help others that are waiting for more then 6 months for citizenship approval,as I’ve finally got my approval after 10 months and many steps to presume HO to conclude my application

I’ve done the following:

I've called them twice only to receive general information ( do not call it's a waste of time, they won't even take your reference number through the phone)
I've emailed them many time to different email addresses that I’ve found on this forum I’ve received only one reply with standard response that my application is still in process due to ongoing enquiries and check)
I've contacted MP to ask for updates only to receive the same response, ( MP contacted HO twice, twice she received the same standard response)
I’ve emailed the Home Secretary
I’ve emailed the minister for migration
I've requested and received my SAR file ( nothing interesting in the comments sections)
I've made two complaints to HO on gov website I had to chase a response by emailing the complaint HO team (received the same standard response as previous)

I have requested a complaint review by emailing the review team , post a letter to them and also my MP chased the review on my behalf ( I haven’t received the review yet !) my plan was to take it further to IEC after receiving the review

On Monday 22nd April I have received an email from :
FurtherNationalityEnquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk confirming that my application has been approved and saying that the official letter from ATLAS will arrive in the next 2 weeks

I believe that the minister of migration done the trick ( as he was added to my approval email as a reply )

Also it is possible that the presure on them for the complain review to be the key ( my friend received the approval after she requested the complaint review , the review came in the same day with the approval, in her case)

So my advise will be that once the 6 month are up people should start the complaint procedure, complaint-compliant review-IEC as this might do the trick

But I can’t say 100% that this was the reason why HO finally approved my application

Good luck everyone

Hi there, thanks for all of the detail!! I'm a bit confused on the difference between the complaints process and the complaint review process? From what I can see, I can make a complaint here --> https://www.gov.uk/complain-uk-visas-immigration

But not sure what you mean by complaint review after this comes back however? I also plan on emailing the minister of migration as soon as it hits 6 months!

I plan to submit these 6 months after our application date (20-Nov-23), however we did our biometrics on 7-Dec-24. Hopefully it will at least hit the queue and we will get an answer back earlier.

[Wanderer2024]

OP, may I ask for the email that you used to contact the Home Secretary and Minister for Migration?

Thanks

Hi, any luck with your application ? I am on the same boat. I had submitted 2 complaints and 1 formal review which came back yesterday. I have escalated to IEC, not sure what else to do now!

Thanks

[vibemon]

Just got an email this morning that my formal complaint will not be possible to respond within the 20 day service standard due to demand, apologies, etc.

Really frustrated at this point now.

Seems like you are a step ahead of me if you already submitted an IEC complaint review.

What did they say about your formal complaint?

[Wanderer2024]

Just got an email this morning that my formal complaint will not be possible to respond within the 20 day service standard due to demand, apologies, etc.

Really frustrated at this point now.

Seems like you are a step ahead of me if you already submitted an IEC complaint review.

What did they say about your formal complaint?

The formal complaint came back and was not upheld.

I also keep emailing the FurtherNationalityEnquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk for updates every 3-4 weeks. This morning I received a reply that says my application is not assigned to a case worker.....
I have forwarded this email to IEC as well. Not sure how long will they take to respond.

I am really frustrated with this.

[vibemon]

Oh that is really annoying!

How long has it been?

I have been waiting for 14 months already.

[Dancull]

Just got an email this morning that my formal complaint will not be possible to respond within the 20 day service standard due to demand, apologies, etc.

Really frustrated at this point now.

Seems like you are a step ahead of me if you already submitted an IEC complaint review.

What did they say about your formal complaint?

The formal complaint came back and was not upheld.

I also keep emailing the FurtherNationalityEnquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk for updates every 3-4 weeks. This morning I received a reply that says my application is not assigned to a case worker.....
I have forwarded this email to IEC as well. Not sure how long will they take to respond.

I am really frustrated with this.

My complaint also couldn't be upheld, and MP got the reply from HO, pretty much a standard answer in a short version. From the look of my SAR, my application had not even been looked at until 4th month passed.

[Wanderer2024]

Oh that is really annoying!

How long has it been?

I have been waiting for 14 months already.

It has been more than 10 months now!

[Wanderer2024]

Just got an email this morning that my formal complaint will not be possible to respond within the 20 day service standard due to demand, apologies, etc.

Really frustrated at this point now.

Seems like you are a step ahead of me if you already submitted an IEC complaint review.

What did they say about your formal complaint?

The formal complaint came back and was not upheld.

I also keep emailing the FurtherNationalityEnquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk for updates every 3-4 weeks. This morning I received a reply that says my application is not assigned to a case worker.....
I have forwarded this email to IEC as well. Not sure how long will they take to respond.

I am really frustrated with this.

My complaint also couldn't be upheld, and MP got the reply from HO, pretty much a standard answer in a short version. From the look of my SAR, my application had not even been looked at until 4th month passed.

How long has it been for you?

What kind of SAR did you submit to take a look at your application?

[Dancull]

Just got an email this morning that my formal complaint will not be possible to respond within the 20 day service standard due to demand, apologies, etc.

Really frustrated at this point now.

Seems like you are a step ahead of me if you already submitted an IEC complaint review.

What did they say about your formal complaint?

The formal complaint came back and was not upheld.

I also keep emailing the FurtherNationalityEnquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk for updates every 3-4 weeks. This morning I received a reply that says my application is not assigned to a case worker.....
I have forwarded this email to IEC as well. Not sure how long will they take to respond.

I am really frustrated with this.

My complaint also couldn't be upheld, and MP got the reply from HO, pretty much a standard answer in a short version. From the look of my SAR, my application had not even been looked at until 4th month passed.

How long has it been for you?

What kind of SAR did you submit to take a look at your application?

I am reaching the 7th month soon.

I did two SARs, one was detailed and one was basic.

My basic SAR showed a lot more information than the detailed one regarding the naturalisation application.

[Wanderer2024]

I am reaching the 7th month soon.

I did two SARs, one was detailed and one was basic.

My basic SAR showed a lot more information than the detailed one regarding the naturalisation application.

But the basis one only includes applications submitted outside UK (confused).

[Dancull]

I am reaching the 7th month soon.

I did two SARs, one was detailed and one was basic.

My basic SAR showed a lot more information than the detailed one regarding the naturalisation application.

But the basis one only includes applications submitted outside UK (confused).

Mine showed all the applications I made inside and outside the UK, including how they were considered etc.