TIMELINE AFTER NATURALISATION APPLICATION SUBMISSION

[TintinHerge]

I am coming back to this board after a few months and so this question might sound silly to some.

Lot of the recent applicants have said they are applying based on 4 + 1 criteria. Didnt some law come in force this summer saying the number of years for Infinite Leave to Remain has been changed to 5 ?? So shudnt it be 5+1 , or has that law been taken back ?

Thanks

[kairos]

Just called the home office to say that I've made a mistake with my application (I sent a notorized copy of my passport instead of the original but only copied the ID page, not the whole passport as required. I know- I'm an idiot).

The recording that they play whilst keeping you on hold now says, "Please be advised that applications for naturalisation are taking an average of 6 months to process. If your application was made less than 6 months ago it is likely to be in the que and we will be unable to give you any further information".

Do you think that's just the worst case scenario or that the new changes (character checks for everyone) are holding things up?

[bavaarun]

NCS or Postal : NCS Bromley
Date of submission : December 20th 2006
CRITERIA - 5 years (4 Work Permit and 1 ILR)
Date of debit of debit/credit card : 28th December 2006
Date of receipt of acknowledgement : January 8th 2007(Date on letter: 28th December 2006)

I am expecting further information from home office.

[speed]

NCS or Postal : NCS
If NCS, which centre : Bracknell(by appointment)
Date of submission or posting : Dec 18, 2006
CRITERIA - 4Yrs WP +1 Yr ILR
Date of debit of debit/credit card : Paid by the Postal Order.
Date of receipt of acknowledgement : 28th Dec
Date of receipt of approval : 11th Jan(dated 8th Jan)
Date of receipt of invitations : Waiting.

[kairos]

Called the HO again this morning, to check on the status of my postal application (made Nov 21, 2006) and was told by the very friendly attendant that my file STILL hasn't been assigned to a caseworker. I asked when this might happen and he said, "usually in the third month after an application is sent. Then it can be approved quite quickly, or if they need to make further enquiries it can take longer".

I also asked if it was okay for me to periodically call them for updates. He said it was absolutely fine, "that's what we're here for"! I've been hesitant about phoning but it sounds like they really don't mind.

My wife and I travel a lot and I may need to go abroad for work soon too. Sadly, even if calling for regular updates won't make them angry, I don't think it will make them go any faster either.

[delboyt46]

Criteria-Spouse and Son Visa (4 1/2 yrs in UK)

Postal Application-Arrived on 31st October 2006

Card Debited-14th November 2006

Acknowledgment Letter Dated 13/11/2006

Acknowledgment Letter Arrived 17/11/2006

Character Checks Letter Dated 22/01/07

Character Checks Leter Arrived 25/01/07

Awaiting Character Checks

[kairos]

Hi delboyt46,

Did they return your passport and other documents with the character-check letter?

[delboyt46]

Yes,All Passports,P60s,CRBs everything came back and page with writing for certificate.

[kairos]

Wow- I'm surprised they're doing character checks when you sent in a CRB Check and P60s. I didn't send in either of those things; only my passport and marriage certificate. I guess I should expect to hear from them in a few weeks, as I applied about three weeks after you did.

What do you mean by 'writing for certificate'?

[delboyt46]

When they reply they do a dummy certificate.Just all the writing that will be used.An excellent idea so you can re adjust at this stage.

I was very suprised about the character checks however since 10th Dec 2006 all applicants over 10 need charaacter checks.So I would imagine they are doing checks on my step son.

He is 16 so maybe with school and tax office.Do not know only guessing!

Good luck.The passports were returned by courier company.Securemail.Not Royal Mail.Took all week to arrive.

[Dawie]

Well I just applied for naturalisation on Tuesday 7 February 2007 at the NCS at Wandsworth Borough.

I have to say that it's a very slick and effecient service. The advisor was very helpful and I had an interesting chat with him. He told me that currently naturalisation applications submitted from the Wandsworth NCS are taking between 4 to 6 weeks to be approved. He also told me that although the NCS used to be very popular, they just process a handful of naturalisation applications these days.

Probably most interestingly he also hinted (although he wouldn't confirm or deny it explicitly) that your current nationality can influence the amount of time it takes for your naturalisation application to be approved. Whether this was pure speculation on his part or not, I'm not sure, but he seemed pretty confident he knew what was going on in the Home Office.

[bbdivo]

Good Luck Dawie, interesting that he mentioned that they had been processing fewer applications lately, wonder why that is? Actually thinking about it maybe the change from 4-5 years on ILR has had some effect.

[kairos]

Yes, good luck Dawie! Based on the NCS experiences of others here, I think you'll probably get a response very quickly.

The Home Office have updated their website to state that waiting times for Nationality applications are at an average of 4.03 months. That's down from 4.32 months at the end of October.

I called the HO yesterday and was told by a rather aggressive phone attendant, who was obviously reading that I've phoned several times before, that it still hasn't been assigned to a case worker and that if I wanted my passport back I'd have to withdraw my application. Her tone was a surprise as the last person I spoke to suggested it was fine to call. I've explained to them that I need my passport back as my work requires me to travel but she acted as though I was unreasonable and suspicious.

I'm not sure why it's taking so long. I respect their need to do a thorough job but I think for the substantial cost of the application they could at least glance at passports and send them back quickly to minimize the inconvenience to applicants.

[Marco 72]

I am surprised that someone in the NCS would make those statements, particularly about the processing times. The Home Office seems to take great pains to stress that the NCS is not a fast track. In my case, when I submitted my application at NCS Camden on 29 January, I was told that the current processing time from the IND website was just over four months. I just received the acknowledgement letter today.

My impression is that some NCS's may be flooded with applications and others relatively idle, at least in London. Perhaps people haven't understood that they can use any NCS, not necessarily the one in the area where they live. Or they don't know that their local council is now providing this service. At the beginning of the year I booked an appointment with Camden NCS and they told me there was a 3-4 weeks wait. However I later discovered an NCS had opened at my local council (Westminster). When I called them they said they could see me the next day, if I wished. In the end it took me a long time to get the references and supporting documents, and by then I thought I might as well use the appointment I'd booked with NCS Camden, rather than cancel it and get a new one closer to home.

By the way, did the guy hint which nationalities were likely in his opinion to result in a longer or shorter wait?

[Dawie]

As far as the processing time was concerned, the guy was adament that it would take 4 - 6 weeks to process. I've read too many postings on this board to have my hopes too high that this will actually be the case though. When I left the NCS office, they guy even said "See you in a month's time for your citizenship ceremony", so he was confident. I hope he's right!

I thought it was all a bit odd, but maybe he hadn't read the Home Office memo telling everyone to deny that the NCS was a priority service! There's no doubt that for the majority of cases the NCS is far quicker than postal applications, but I think for political reasons everyone is supposed to deny it.

As for processing times by nationality, the guy made a comment about South African, Australian and New Zealand applications coming through very quickly. He made no mention of any other nationalities. But I got the feeling that from his body language after he said it that he wasn't supposed to say it. I guess he may have just said that because I'm South African, and Wandsworth NCS probably deals with a lot of Australian, New Zealand and South African applications because so many of us live in Wandsworth borough.

[stedman]

I could say Nigerians and Indians have the speediest approval rates and South Africans the slowest, based on the experience of my 4 friends who have applied in the last year. I think this thread is as good a guide as any - there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. My sister got hers in record time - submitted early october and got her approval at the end of the month.

[darksquid]

I had my NCS appointment on Friday (East Kilbride, near Glasgow, NCS centre). When I asked about processing times, the officer gave the standard answer, referring to the website.... but she also implied that if your previous visas were issued quickly and without complication, chances are that naturalisation will come through quickly as well. She also mentioned that they have been dealing with alot of Americans like myself recently, and that 'things seem to be running quite smoothly' just now.

[Dawie]

It would be interesting for anyone posting their submission times to also mention what their nationality is so we can get an idea of any trend by nationality.

[tekaweni]

I'm surprised the HO doesnt want us to think of the NCS as a priority service, I'd go as far as to say they should actively advertise it as such.

My impression of the HO has always been one of battle-weary caseworkers struggling to keep up with a daily avalanche of 500+ new applications. By distributing the pre-vetting of applications to multiple NCS's they can obviously get through them a lot quicker. And it obviously works well; my own application took just 2 weeks from end to end.

[Dawie]

I'm surprised the HO doesnt want us to think of the NCS as a priority service, I'd go as far as to say they should actively advertise it as such.

Problem with that is that then the Home Office would have to manage the one thing it doesn't like to manage....people's expectations. I think they've learned from the past to under-promise and over-deliver just because it makes them look good when they say something will take 4 months and it only takes 4 weeks.

[Christophe]

Based on the NCS experiences of others here, I I called the HO yesterday and was told by a rather aggressive phone attendant, who was obviously reading that I've phoned several times before, that it still hasn't been assigned to a case worker and that if I wanted my passport back I'd have to withdraw my application.

A request for a return of passport shouldn't mean that you have to withdraw an application for naturalisation, according to this page from the IND website:

If you want your passport back so that you can travel, we will return it, but we will cancel your application. Certificate of Approval, European or Nationality applications are not affected by the return of passports.

[kairos]

She said that once my passport has been seen by the caseworker they will be able to return it without terminating the application. Unfortunately, this doesn't help me as my file hadn't been assigned to a caseworker when I called last week. I was hoping to travel at the end of this week.

I'm just going to cancel my trip. I don't want to telephone them again to find out what's going on, just in case it somehow prejudices them. I thought that was extremely unlikely until I spoke to this woman who was clearly p'd off about something and made reference to the fact that I'd phoned before.

[Marco 72]

kairos, I think it's a bit unlikely that the people you speak to may have any influence on your application. Most likely they are just call centre workers who have been contracted out to the Home Office and have no contact whatsoever with the caseworkers. Sometimes you get a rude one, if you're unlucky.

[kairos]

That's what I thought. But it then occurred to me that they must log every phone call and that repeated enquiries might make the caseworker look negatively upon the file.

You're probably right; it doesn't make a lot of sense. But I can't claim to have any insight into how they operate.

How frustrating that so many of us must sit around wondering about the mysterious workings of the Great Home Office. Like this latest question about whether the Great Home Office will treat us differently based on our existing nationalities. It's like some Kafkain nightmare. After 4 visas and now this process (which amounts to 1 tedious application for every year of my life in the UK), I cannot wait to become a British Citizen and get the HO out of my life.

[kairos]

It came! I just got a Citizenship Invitation in the post today! I've booked a group ceremony at Westminster Town Hall next Wednesday (Feb 21).

Of course, this isn't the end of my troubles. The Home Office misaddressed the package containing my passport and other materials so SecureMail tried to deliver it last week (which would have meant I could have left for my trip today), and now won't redeliver it until they've received written confirmation of the correct address from the HO.

Oh well.

Here's my info:

Citizenship: Canadian
Date of Entry in UK: October 2001
Circumstances : Student Visa: 1.5 Years, Working Holiday: 1.5 Years, LLR: 2 Years, ILR: 2 Mos (Spouse of UK citizen)
Application Made : Post
Application Posted : 21 November, 2006
Card Debited : 4 December, 2006
Application Acknowledgement letter : 5 December, 2006
Citizenship Invitation Dated: 07 February, 2007 (Received 15 Feb)
Ceremony: Westminster; 21 February, 2007