Place of Naturalisation on Passport Application

[rahul_yanina]

Hi,

I applied for my passport today. One field which did confuse me was the place of issue of naturalisation certificate, and so I left it blank. I took the application to the post office and asked the person checking the application, and she said I should put Hatfield (which is where my citizenship ceremony was held) and non London.

Now I have seen someone say hey were told the opposite.

So can someone shed some more light on this, and whether this is going to prolong the process or even hamper it? Anyone with any experience of doing the same as me?

Thanks for looking!

[lemess]

you should put what the certificate says as the place of issue - it's usually "Home office London". It is not the place of the ceremony.

[rahul_yanina]

It's not explicit in the guidelines, neither did the person doing the checking tell me this. The language in the form was also a bit confusing, as it said something like - Date certificate issued ....... at .............. (place of issue).

So what can this mistake(if it is one) result in, keeping in mind that I have obviously enclosed my certificate with the application?

[ppron747]

I wouldn't worry about it - the UKPS will realise, when they see the original document - this sort of thing must be coming up all the time.

This question actually pre-dates the introduction of citizenship ceremonies by many years - in the past it was possible to be naturalised in many parts of "the Empire". Not everyone who acquired British nationality by naturalisation outside the UK itself is still British today - hence the need to establish where the naturalisation was effected.

IMO the correct answer to the question - for someone naturalised by the Home Office - is either "London" or just "UK". The certificate might have been validated by your participation in a ceremony in Hatfield, but it was prepared by the Home Office which is nominally in London, not in Hatfield. I think the Post Office official was wrong to give you this advice.

[rahul_yanina]

Thanks for the answer mate. Thanks for the perspective on it's need in the form as well.

Since the naturalisation certificate is attached, I hope you are right about it not being a big issue. It should be obvious what the mistake was and they should really not make a big deal about it, I hope anyway.

They should also make it clearer in the 'how to' pages really - that's what it is for. Any way in which this kind of feedback can be communicated to the Passport Office?

No one here made this mistake in their passport application themselves?

[ppron747]

......They should also make it clearer in the 'how to' pages really - that's what it is for. Any way in which this kind of feedback can be communicated to the Passport Office?.....

Cheers Rahul! Might be worth filling in the form at http://www.ukpa.gov.uk/forms/f_servicefeedback.asp

[rahul_yanina]

Definitely will do. Thanks for the link!

[Joseph]

In answer to your original question, filling in the single word "London" worked for my recent 5 postal passport applications, which were processed in less than a week.

Joseph

[John]

It is a shame that the form does not make this matter abundantly clear. Does it mean where the certificate was printed, or indeed where it was handed to the new British Citizen.

I suspect that the advice given to the OP :-

I took the application to the post office and asked the person checking the application, and she said I should put Hatfield (which is where my citizenship ceremony was held)

-: is the correct action. That is certainly what we did ... enter Birmingham .... where the Citizenship Ceremony was held.

In any case I suspect it is not that important to the Passport Agency given, as already said, the Certificate needs to be enclosed with the passport application. Certainly not worth anyone losing sleep over this.

[rahul_yanina]

Thanks J & J (that's John and Joseph, not Johnson and Johnson!) for your replies.

I will definitely leave this feedback with the Passport Office to make this clear on the form, as it is simple to do this, one way or the other.

John, how long did your passport application take? And did you use the post office? Did you experience any delays at all?

[John]

rahul_yanina, we are talking of my wife's passport application here. After attending her Citizenship Ceremony early afternoon the passport application was taken to the Post Office for checking later than same afternoon. Just over a week later the new British Passport arrived. This was in June last year. Recent postings on this Board indicate that it will take about a week for the new British passport to arrive.

The Post Office checking service is recommended. The real cost of that checking is minimal given that you don't have to bear the cost of Special Delivery to get the application and supporting documents to the Passport Agency ... each Post Office sends all the applications received by them that day by Special Delivery ... all in one big envelope.

Word of warning! Where you sign the passport application form it says your signature must not touch the edge of the box. They mean it! The application will get rejected if that rule is not complied with.

[rahul_yanina]

Thanks for the info John. I have already applied using the checking service.

What strikes me is the pedantic and control freak nature of the passport service. What happens if the sig touches the border - big deal! It's almost like this power of dishing out passports have gone to someone's head!

I don't think my sig did touch the border, but it's still a stupid rule.

Hopefully, I will get the passport next week sometime, considering I applied for it yesterday.

I think they use a courier for the special delivery they talk about - since I paid the extra £3, I think they will send it that way. Is it like the RMSD service which normally arrives quite early in the morning? Do they leave a card and you have to call them up like other couriers requiring a sig? And are both the supporting docs and the passport delivered that way?

Sorry for so many questions!

[John]

I don't think my sig did touch the border, but it's still a stupid rule.

I think there is a guarantee it didn't it! The person at the Post Office would have rejected the application if it had!

it's still a stupid rule

Actually I disagree! The actual signature on the application form is scanned and when the passport arrives you will see that it already bears your signature .. as from the application form.

In other words this has security implications. In the "old days" the passport was sent to the person and they were asked to sign it. But what if the passport was intercepted in the post? It could then be signed by someone else in your name. That is no longer possible.

[rahul_yanina]

I don't disagree with them asking people to make sure that the sig remains within the borders. What I find stupid is that they will reject the application even if touches the border! That's excessive to me. Everything needs to be done with a perspective in mind. So what if it touches the border ? If the signature is within the borders, that should be good enough.

However, if I mention this to the passport office, I am sure that I will be given a speech on terrorists and the threat they pose - as if the only way they get away with it is by cloning signatures!

Rant over!

[Joseph]

My countersigner "touched" the border and the application was accepted anyway by post and the passport was delivered within one week of the application being received.

If I submitted the application at the postal checking service it probably would have been rejected by an over-zealous clerk (unnecessarily as my case shows) and I would have had to gone back to my countersigner.

rahul, you should get your passport in less than a week, considering that the more expensive post office checking service is supposed to be faster than the postal route.

Our documents were delivered by no-name couriers in unmarked cars in white envelopes that said "this is not a circular." Very tatty but efficient. They even delivered on Saturday.

Joseph

[John]

My countersigner "touched" the border and the application was accepted anyway

That would not be a problem ..... but if your signature on the application form had touched the sides then it would have been rejected.

The courier service you mentioned ..... the Passport Office started using that after items started going missing in the post.