Home Office delivery from DX secure has just been and opened the envelope to great news!
Original documents was accompanied with a decision letter dated 15th March 2010.
"I am pleased to say that the application has been successful and you will shortly receive a letter inviting you to attend a citizenship ceremony. When you attend a ceremony you will be presented with a certificate of British Citizenship
Please note, this letter is not an invitation to a ceremony. You should not contact your local authority until you have received your invitation. If you have not received your invitation within 2 weeks of the above date, you should contact HO to request a further copy."
It looks like the decision was made the same day the application was allocated to the caseworker and the day he rang me up to confirm details!
Update timelines:
NCS or Postal : Postal Leeds
Date of submission or posting : 23/02/2010
Date recieved by HO: 24/02/2010 (Special Delivery)
CRITERIA: 3 Years married + 5yrs ILR
Date of debit of Card : 27/02/2010
Date receipt of acknowledgement : 26/02/2010 (letter received 03/03/10)
Rang UKBA: 10/03/10 - With caseworking team, awaiting allocation to caseworker.
Rang UKBA: 15/03/10 - with caseworker, under consideration.
Date of receipt of approval : 20/03/10 (Missed delivery on 18th, redelivered 20th) Letter dated 15/03/10
Date of citizenship Ceremony : Pending
Date of passport application : Pending
Method used : TBA
Date for passport Interview: Pending
Date of Receipt of Passport: Pending
Should receive the ceremony letter sometime next week - hopefully, in time for 8th April group ceremony that is being held by the register office in my council.
Thanks all for your support and for the assurances along the way. Really impressed by the turnaround time as I remember my brother applying and taking at least 4 months to get approval.
It's a great community of support here and I just wanted to wish everyone else applying and those awaiting decision letters all the best! I'm sure you'll hear of great news soon too - Yarons, Brightest, Kindley, Citizen1000 and Tim55!
Will keep checking for updates and update you when I take ceremony and passport application.