Nationality Application Filed at Haringey NCS

[Joseph]

I recently submitted my nationality application at the Haringey NCS (Nationality Checking Service). Here are a few comments:

• They have a walk in service from 9:30 – 11:30 (no appointments).
• Fees including VAT are £35.25 for a single, £58.75 for joint husband and wife, plus £11.75 for children (one or more).
• They are very busy right now, so expect a wait of a few hours before you are seen. This delay seems to have increased dramatically over the last few weeks. If you arrive before 11:30, you will be seen in any case but you have to wait. They have a nice waiting room and a “marriage room” next door for overflow.
• If you submit a joint application (husband and wife) make sure both adults appear personally. This is quite different than submitting an immigration application in Croydon, where the main applicant can do everything on behalf of the other family members.
• They copy everything except the academic certificates, which are sent to Liverpool in the original. These will be sent back by post.
• They ask you to make sure that you are not travelling over the next 5 days, because you need to be in the UK when the application is received in Liverpool. The application is sent overnight, but I think they add a few days to cover any delays that might occur in the Home Office logging in the application.
• They said the Home Office will acknowledge the application in writing within 2 weeks.
• They said they would send the application that day and provided me with a special delivery tracking number so I could monitor its progress.
• The lady who checked my application said their “record” was getting Home Office approval in 5 days, but they don’t want to raise peoples' hopes unrealistically. Her more "official" line was that the majority of people can expect approval within about 3 months (which is less than the official 4.11 months on the Website).
• She said their most famous client was the American actor David Soul, who starred in the West End theatre show, Jerry Springer-The Opera.

Overall it’s a great service. The wait is a bit inconvenient but the ability to walk in is excellent for people like me who travel a lot and who don’t know their schedule weeks in advance (which is the time some of other centres require for advance booking). I had booked at Wadsworth, but had to cancel when a trip came up.

I’ll let you know how things proceed.
Regards
Joseph

[John]

Joseph, great post. Very helpful to those that will follow down that path.

Hope you don't have to wait too long before you get your "application successful" letter.

[olisun]

• The lady who checked my application said their “record” was getting Home Office approval in 5 days <== there have been a few cases reported on this forum, including mine

[PB]

Hi Joseph,

Could you let me know what documentation did you submit as proof of your knowledge of the English language?

Ta,
PB

[Joseph]

John,
Thanks. Let's wait and see.

Olisun,
That's right, 5 days was their record. But it wasn't you they were talking about because you want to the Brent NCS right?

PB
I submitted a verification letter from the registrar of the university confirming dates of attendance and award of the degree. The letter is on official letterhead has a raised seal in the signature part. I requested this from the school when I applied for HSMP and the school issued it free of charge, unlike issuing a transcript. It seemed to be perfectly acceptable to the person checking the documents.

I have a diploma which is framed but I wasn't going to send that.
Joseph

[olisun]

lol

I was talking in general

[basis]

Good luck Joseph ! I am sure it would be a success in a week's time.
The title of the post is little bit confusing ...... one could think of a new process or form by IND (quite possible due to new citizenship post thingy)

[Joseph]

basis
You're right! I edited the title. Thanks!
Joseph

[Joseph]

I received an acknowledgement letter from the Home Office in Liverpool dated the day after my wife and I went to Haringey. It was sent by 2nd class post. Basically it said:

Mr & Mrs ______
Address

Our ref: Axxxxxxx [this is a new HO reference number]

Date: 13/09/05

This is to acknowledge receipt of your applications and the following documents.

Application forms – 2
Home Office Letters – 4
Photo-copied Documents
Supporting Document – 2

Tbe fee of £536 is also acknowledged.

WHAT IF YOU WANT TO CONTACT US

If you do need to contact us you should write or telephone quoting the reference number at the top of this acknowledgement.
We would ask that you do not contact us unless it is absolutely necessary.
THIS LETTER SHOULD BE RETAINED AS IT MIGHT BE NECESSARY TO PRODUCE IT AT AN EARLIER DATE
Office open for inquiries - Mon - Fri 9am to 4:30 pm

My credit card was debited the same day. So far, everything has been very efficient.

Regards
Joseph

[olisun]

you will get an approval letter either on monday or tuesday

[Joseph]

Olisun and others,

It was not as quick as Olisun had predicted but I got my approval letter today!

All in all, it took 20 days or about 14 working days. Maybe it took a little longer because it was a family application. Anyway, I can't complain!

Joseph

[John]

Hey Joseph ... and family ... congratulations!

Enjoy your Citizenship Ceremony!

[Chess]

Olisun and others,

It was not as quick as Olisun had predicted but I got my approval letter today!

All in all, it took 20 days or about 14 working days. Maybe it took a little longer because it was a family application. Anyway, I can't complain!

Joseph

Congs Joseph,

please dont desert the forum though - we still need your expertise

Now you are both American and British - what an interesting combination

[Joseph]

And Brazilian too.
Joseph

[Rogerio]

Joseph,

Parabens !!! Very happy for you & your family.

Don't forget to tell us about the citizenship cerimony, and take those must have pictures!!! I regret I did not have mine taken!!!

Cheers fellow Brit-Brazilian.

Rogerio

[yorkking]

Rogerio,
how long did your process take and what was ur experience in terms of waiting time?
YK

[Rogerio]

YK

Mine was last year... I lodged the application around 6 Sep 04, and got the approval letter on 2 Nov, and attended the cerimony on 15 Nov 04.

Not as fast as some of the people on here, but then again, the NCS was not available then, and there was considerable confusion over the English language requirement.

Mine was a very straightforward case (4 years WP + 1 on ILR). It cost me £218 then.

Rogerio

[Joseph]

Here's an update:

Our citizenship ceremony invitations arrived in the post the middle of last week, about 4 weeks after the application was received in Liverpool. After checking with our local Council, the next group ceremony is in late November, which suits me fine due to travel between now and then.

User will take comfort knowing that he is not the only one with errors in the naturalisation certificate! One of my family members has a mispelling in the name (shown on the invitation letter), which is an obvious error on the Home Office's side. Hopefully this will be fixed quickly after the ceremony. User's advice on how to expedite this will be greatly appreciated!

Joseph

[User]

Oops! Joseph! I really wished I was the last one that suffered that spelling mistake! Anyway...

This is what I did to get the correction done ASAP, otherwise it would normally take anywhere up to 3 months.

1. Attend the ceremony and take the certificate.
2. Come home and write a brief letter describing the spelling mistake, attaching as much information as possible to prove it is certainly the HO's spelling mistake and not a fault of yours.
Also ensure you attach a copy of the relevant pages of the naturalisation application - this would also prove that the mistaks was Ho's.

3. Add a note in the letter requesting for quick processing of the correction - I did that and also wrote a short note as to why i need to apply for my british passport ASAP - in my case i had automatically lost my Indian citizensip and hence could not use my existing Indian passport + the UK ILR in it, if i had to travel (business reasons).

4. Send out the letter + tthe Naturalisation certificate - i would advise, by Speacial delivery (I did the next day 9 AM service) - so we have a proof of posting this out to HO.

5. Wait for a couple of days - i would suggeest about 10 working days and give them a call and chase up your application and again re-iterate your need for quick processing of the correction request.

6. And wait in the hope of recieving the corrected certificate back

It took about 3-4 weeks in all, for my certificate to get corrected (if i remember correctly).

Good luck and nice to know you are now British (and American and Brazilian)

Ta!

regards.

[Joseph]

User,
Many thanks for the instant reply!

On your item 2, I take it that you were able to submit a xerox copy (not the original document) of supporting documents such as the birth certificate or the passport data page, because they already have the NCS-certified copy on file?

Thanks again!

Joseph

[User]

Cheers Joseph. Yep. That is correct.

But I added the relevant pages of my Citizenship application and fee reciept page as well - because these had my coorect place of birth and i just included a xerox copy (whichi had taken when submitting my application) of these pages as well to prove my point that in my application the place of brith data was correct and indeed its HO's mistake on the naturalisation certificate.

Yes - they do have the copy in their files, but i thougt it will help if i added this as well, just in case it helps.

They certainly know my place of birth data from my immigration records for more than 5.5 years, but still they made this mistake, you see. So i just thought even though they have the application copy, i will anyway add it, so it helps me.

Ta!

reagrds.

[Joseph]

User,
Thanks again. Mine is also an obvious typographical error on their part so I am confident there will be no issue.

From my read of the rules, if the error is their fault they just reprint a new corrected certificate showing the same certificate number and showing the date of your ceremony as the date of the certificate. I assume that's what you got.

Best regards,
Joseph

[User]

Yes, Joseph - that is correct! The ceremony date and the date of citizenship was all the same. I am not sure about the certificate number though - i will have to check through my xerox copy of the old certificate and see what it is vis-a-vis the new one. May be they are same - like you said.

Ta!

regards.

[yorkking]

I have got the invitation letter today and my wife's name has been mis-spelt incorrectly.
I really hope and wish that this gets sorted ASAP.
How was your experience? Did you get the replacement certificate immediately - i mean how long did it take to get the replacement certificate with the correct name?
gs

[John]

Yorkking, as I think it says on that letter you have received, tell them immediately about that wrong spelling. The Local Authority will get in touch with IND in Liverpool and hopefully will produce a correct certificate to be handed to your wife at the Citizenship Ceremony.