british citizenship

sasha · Post by **sasha** » Wed May 10, 2006 2:32 pm

I've been waiting for british citizenship for more then 3 months now. I don't know how long it will take.
Can someone tell me please, is it possible to ask for my passport back (I have ILR) and go on holiday while my application is considered? Can I do that or do I have to wait?

Thank you very much for your help

Post by **John** » Wed May 10, 2006 2:50 pm

Yes you can ask for your passport back, and doing so will not influence the decision on your application.

Of course if you had applied for naturalisation using a NCS office then you would never have lost possession of your passport at all, except for the few minutes at the NCS office while it was photocopied, before being handed back to you.

supertiger · Post by **supertiger** » Wed May 10, 2006 2:52 pm

I think it takes about 6-8 month on average, statistics used to be published on the IND Nationality homepage, not sure if they still do so. U don;t have to submit passport with yr application, in that case you need to photocopy every page of yr passport...

sasha · Post by **sasha** » Wed May 10, 2006 3:06 pm

thank you for your help

bonzoman500 · Post by **bonzoman500** » Wed May 10, 2006 3:23 pm

folks on this forum have actually seen a turnaround of 2 - 3 weeks from submission to approval- mine actually took 10 working days, considering the bank holidays in April...

Did you use NCS?

eeckard · Post by **eeckard** » Wed May 10, 2006 3:25 pm

If you see the link at the top of main forum view for "Timeline after submission". Here everyone posts their timelines.

I recently got mine approved and it took just over 4 weeks via NCS. The same timeline was experienced by others too. Some even quicker.

Post by **John** » Wed May 10, 2006 3:36 pm

I have just looked at the IND website and currently it says :-

These are the waiting times as of end of April.

Naturalisation 5.19 months
Adult registrations 2.67months
Registration of minors 3.78 months
Registration of stateless 7.02 months
Other registrations 3.99 months
Renunciations 1.68 months
Right of Abode applications 0.96 months

Average times for all nationality applications (as of end of April) 4.78 months

That Naturalisation figure of 5.19 months is not good, in the sense that they had got it down to 4.08 only a few months ago.

sasha · Post by **sasha** » Wed May 10, 2006 4:02 pm

No, I didn't, I've sent it by mail. I've received aknowledgment letter 3 months ago!!!

Dawie · Post by **Dawie** » Wed May 10, 2006 5:52 pm

Shoulda used NCS mate. You would have had your British Citizenship and your passport back by now if you had.

sasha · Post by **sasha** » Thu May 11, 2006 8:54 am

NCS is used only by some boroughs in Britain. Unfortunately my borough is not one of them. I had to apply by post

ppron747 · Post by **ppron747** » Thu May 11, 2006 9:24 am

I hope that more NCS offices wil open, as time goes on, but although it is too late for you, sasha, it is worth noting that people aren't restricted to NCS offices in their local borough.
If there's one within a couple of hours, I'd say that the investment of time in making a trip there is worthwhile in terms of time saved in processing the application.
There's a list of NCS offices on this page of the IND website (which seems to be behaving itself this morning....)

sasha · Post by **sasha** » Thu May 11, 2006 9:46 am

yes please, thank you.

Post by **John** » Thu May 11, 2006 9:48 am

I totally agree Paul, using NCS is a very good idea. Well worth paying the checking fee.

Anyone in the Birmingham area, or anywhere in the West Midlands, should use the NCS office at Dudley.

tekaweni · Post by **tekaweni** » Thu May 11, 2006 10:57 am

There there are no NCS offices in Scotland where I live so I travelled to the nearest NCS - Newcastle, 3 hours in the train!

But I had a decision just 2 weeks later, so I consider it worth the hassle.

sasha · Post by **sasha** » Thu May 11, 2006 4:19 pm

If I'd known that I would've applied via NSC route. Too late now.

thank you for your info.

ezh · Post by **ezh** » Sat May 13, 2006 11:14 am

[quote="sasha"]If I'd known that I would've applied via NSC route. Too late now.

thank you for your info.[/quote]

This is why this board exists!!! - a few month ago we were discussing that metter extensively and have concluded that one had to apply only using NCS to avoid lengthy waiting times. I applied by post in Septemebr 2005 and was waiting for 4.5 months!!! That time most of the people who used the NCS were getting their approvals within a month, and some within two weeks - even during the backlog in Liverpool. There is some consolation for you, sasha, it looks that now even the NCS applications take much longer - my friend applied three months ago and he is still waiting... Good lack to you, anyway.

mhunjn · Post by **mhunjn** » Mon May 15, 2006 8:24 am

Not necessarily. My wife applied through NCS on 1st Match, we are still waiting... We had two ack letters, but that's about it.

Dawie wrote:Shoulda used NCS mate. You would have had your British Citizenship and your passport back by now if you had.

Dawie · Post by **Dawie** » Mon May 15, 2006 10:07 am

Fair enough, but all the anecdotal evidence points to the fact that doing your application through the NCS does give your application a higher priority, despite the denials of the Home Office.

eeckard · Post by **eeckard** » Mon May 15, 2006 11:20 am

Just to support the fact that NCS is faster.

When I was at the NCS centre they showed me the envelope they sent it it. It has a bright yellow address sticker on the fron that indicates it is NCS. The lady at the NCS explained to me that this helps their sorting office differentiate normal post apps versus NCS as the "NCS ones are done on a priority basis".

mhunjn · Post by **mhunjn** » Mon May 15, 2006 12:27 pm

True, NCS does generally tend to speed things up. My point was that it is not gauranteed.

Dawie wrote:Fair enough, but all the anecdotal evidence points to the fact that doing your application through the NCS does give your application a higher priority, despite the denials of the Home Office.

Post by **John** » Mon May 15, 2006 1:51 pm

NCS does generally tend to speed things up. My point was that it is not gauranteed.

I think it is too early for you to say that. I believe you only applied in March, say 2 months ago, and the average wait time at the moment is over 5 months.

mhunjn · Post by **mhunjn** » Mon May 15, 2006 4:57 pm

John, you should read my response in the context of the post I was replying to originally

All I meant to say is that going the NCS way does not necessarily gaurantee that the applications will be dealt in very fast turnarounds... like 3 wks as for some lucky people...
...However, from the various posts on this forum, it is evident that NCS applications tend to go through the system quicker than direct application for obvious reasons.

This has been discussed time and again, and I don't want to repeat it again here.

NCS does 'quicken' things up. But this should be considered relative to the IND average time scales as you have rightly suggested.

sasha · Post by **sasha** » Thu May 25, 2006 11:57 am

I phoned the immigration office yesterday. They told me that my case is in the top of the queue to be assigned to a caseworker (after more then 3 months). They advised me that it might be another 4 weeks before someone looks into it but they can't guarantee that!!! I wish I knew about NCS route before I applied!!!

sywahu · Post by **sywahu** » Thu May 25, 2006 1:28 pm

the ncs guy said the same thing yesterday. NCS does mean quicker processing but there are and can be exceptions. Nothing is grtrd but from their experience, HO turn arounds are very good when NCS is used.

Thats what he said when I asked him about processing times.

sasha · Post by **sasha** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 10:47 am

I received my approval two days ago

I waited 4 months all together

Good luck to all of you who are applying

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british citizenship