Nationality Application: In between NDRS+JCAP and now Passport Fees taken ...

[newtoforum2018]

Hello everyone, my first time posting here (so looking forward to receiving replies to my question) ... although I have been a regular visitor (read only) for last 8 years when I first applied for Tier 1 from outside UK, so thank you to all on here, it's been helpful along all the steps so far ...

For a quick background and intro, we moved to UK at the end of 2010 (one of the last lot to get Tier 1 before it got closed) and then applied for extension by post at the end of 2012, which was granted after a few months around early 2013. We then applied for our ILR at the in-person appointment at the start of 2016 and was granted it the same day with BRPs coming after a couple of days. So Have always had a fairly straight forward case each time (for two adults, me and my wife, and our son, who is 9 now) ... so that's just the background ... now we were eligible for applying for citizenship and passports at the start of 2017 but were in no rush and then later some medical issues in the family had us focusing on those instead and finally after an year and a half of being eligible we applied the naturalization and passports last month (October 2018).

To be more specific:
Applied via ONLINE application on the 10/10/2018
Got Biometrics letters at the end of the process as fees charged straight away so on same 10/10/2018
Acknowledgement letters and case IDs received by Email on 11/10/2018
Biometrics Enrolled at local post office on 12/10/2018
NDRS + JCAP appointment was on 19/10/2018
According to the Royal Mail tracking, UKVI (Liverpool) received documents via NDRS on 22/10/2018
Now I just noticed that Passport Fees was taken on cards on 05/11/2018

So my question (for which I couldn't find the answer of in the forum) is ... are our applications approved? When approximately should we expect approval letters?

We got two receipts from local council after our NDRS+JCAP appointment. The JCAP receipt which lists the tracking nos. for the three passport applications also states "Fee accepted to be forwarded to HM Passport Office on successful completion of your citizenship application"

So today morning I filled the online query form at gov website for tracking the passports using the reference nos. from this JCAP receipt and I have received this email back from HMO after a few hours ...

Thank you for your enquiry regarding your passport applications.

I can confirm that your passport applications were received by the Liverpool Passport Office on the 05/11/2018. Your passport applications are currently going through the examination process.

Correctly completed applications are generally being processed within the timescales of the service you have applied for.

The time it takes to process a passport varies and depends upon:

• how busy we are - April to September is the busiest time
• which service you use
• whether the application is completed correctly
• whether the correct documents have been sent to us
• whether HM Passport Office needs to contact the person who countersigned the application
• whether you are asked to attend an interview before a passport can be issued

See https://www.gov.uk for more information based on your kind of application and where you live.

Don’t book any travel until you have received your new passport. We cannot accept responsibility for travel you book before it arrives. We do our best, but we cannot guarantee to return your passport within a certain time.

Thank you,
Customer Service E-Mail Team

So I am putting two and two together here ... does this mean our citizenship applications have been approved and now the passports are being processed? I mean I know they won't issue till we have booked and attended the oath ceremony (and another question is, when do I book that or do the UKVI directly send approval to local council and they call me or write for when the next ceremony is?) Has anyone else had similar experience? Bottomline is does the two (fees being charged and passport office saying they've received our applications and are processing them) mean they have gotten a go ahead from UKVI and the approval letters would be coming to us shortly?

Confused/Excited/Worried all at the same time!

[trilobite1981]

I think HO is forwarding the passport applications to HMPO after they received any citizenship applications before the decission made. HMPO process the payment and waiting until they received the citizenship application. Not sure though!

[newtoforum2018]

But going through the September and October timelines of the cases on here I think that’s about the time it’s taking, and then a week or two later (of when the passport office takes fees on card) people are receiving their approval letters ... and then after the ceremony attendance they’re rather getting passports quicker than the original 2-3 weeks quoted post that ... so maybe UKVI is nodding to the Passport guys when approved that they can start their processing of those applications ... again all speculation on my part (or perhaps wishful thinking) ... another thing I noticed is the local council sent my documents to UKVI Liverpool (from my Royal Mail special delivery tracking I can see that) and now today the passport office is also saying in their email that they can confirm they received my application and at HMPO Liverpool office ... so obviously they are probably next to each other or perhaps within the same office? Then the question is how or why UKVI received docs two weeks before the passport office ... so that must be the time they processed my application and is now kind of the next step that I got passed on to passport people ... again, could be my wishful thinking ... which is why I wanted to check what others think here and what’s their experiences have been, I mean how long after you did NDRS/JCAP that the passport fees we are charged and then how long after that fee debit that you receive approval letter and are there any on here who got charged for passport fees and then later didn’t get approved or got more questions asked by the home office (after passport fees were taken out) ...

[trilobite1981]

If you are interested below is my timeline. I had my ceremony today and I've been told that the HMPO will start processing my passport and it will take up to 21 days from today to receive it. I have to admit that your wishful thinking is matching with my timeline but I have seen moderators always explain that the payment taken by HMPO is not an indication of decission make. However I wish the way you think will come true

Eligibility criteria: 5 years residency + 1 year ILR
Language Criteria: B1
Nationality: Sri Lankan
Method of application: Online + NDRS (27/09/2018) + JCAP
Date of application: 25/09/2018
Payment method: credit card
Date on Approval letter: 25/10/2018
Date of receipt of approval: 08/11/2018
Date of receipt of ceremony letter: 09/11/2018
Date of Ceremony: 13/08/2018
Date of Passport Application: 27/09/2018
Date of debit of fees: 10/10/2018

[alterhase58]

As pointed out in many threads here, the taking of the fee by HMPO is not confirmation that UKVI have approved your application. And the fee is not refunded if your application is denied.