Naturalisation Process Severe Delays

[Safeen2]

Hello everyone,

I submitted my online naturalisation application form and did biometric at the end of Jan 2020. Soon after that the pandemic started and I received an email saying that my application takes longer than 6 months due to coronavirus.I emailed HO - FurtherNationalityEnquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk quite few times and contacted MP in more than few occasions and all I received is below message;

" The Home Office advised Mr [...](My MP) that they are still waiting for further checks to be completed with agencies outside of the Home Office. The Home Office advise that they are sorry your application is taking longer than usual, to be processed. As you may be aware, naturalisation, is not an automatic process, and the Home Office have to make a number of enquiries to ensure that applicants can satisfy the statutory requirements. Some of these enquiries are carried out by external agencies on our behalf. The Home Office will endeavour to conclude your application at the earliest opportunity, and will write to you as soon as the necessary checks are complete. Please be assured that, as soon as the Home Office are in a position to reach a decision, you will be notified accordingly"

I recently contacted a solicitor who is asking for £1000 for the pre-action protocol. I do not know if this is a wise step at this stage, and as I have read few messages here I can see that some people have experienced such delays too. I have also noticed that some people have sent complaints and asked HO for their SAR. I wonder what will be best my options step-wise to get a decision from HO. I also wonder how people who have experienced such delays approached HO to get the outcome of their British citizenship application.

any input and shared story is highly appreciated.

[AmazonianX]

This has taken so long

Request for your SAR
Lodge a fresh complaint
Engage your MP again.

[alterhase58]

I recently contacted a solicitor who is asking for £1000 for the pre-action protocol.

Is this just for filling in a form? Or taking it right through to court.

The Home Office actually has a template for raising a PAP with them, helpful....
See here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... ial-review
I have no experience of this but if there's a publicly available template provided by the government then why not use it? You can fill it in yourself and see what response you get.

[secret.simon]

I am not a lawyer and I am sure that I will be corrected by others more learned in the law than me if I am wrong, but I am not sure that a Pre-Action Protocol(PAP) or Judicial Review is even possible at this point.

Judicial Review (of which a PAP is the first step) is a process by which a judge reviews the lawfulness of a decision or action made by a public body. But here, there is neither a decision nor an action. Indeed, one could argue that there is inaction. But I can't see how a JR or even the threat of a JR would cause an action to occur.

Secondly, note that naturalisation is not an immigration application. It fundamentally changes the relationship between you and the state/Crown/community. I doubt that the courts will want to get involved in such a case. So far, in my time on these forums, I have not come across a JR application for naturalisation, never mind one that has succeeded.

In this case, you have a resort to your MP and to drawing on your own patience. You can make a request for an SAR, but that does not progress the case. What it will do is allow you to see what the Home Office has on record for you. You can then review that information to see what may be causing the Home Office to do so many further checks and perhaps correct information that is wrong (kind of like a credit check report, which is an SAR on the credit check companies). And as AmazonianX has mentioned, you can make a fresh complaint.

But you have few recourses to anything other than to wait.

[jafersadeq]

PAP is uesless, I did 3 PAPs form my wife who applied 20/07/2021, she is still waiting, we involved MP 3 times with 6 complaints and no answer from HO, waiting is the only way.
We requested SAR and we found three alias names and we asked them to correct the record, they deleted one alias name and the two are still in the record, we asked HO to delete the two alias names and we are waiting since Feb 2023.
Her immigration record is clear and she was my dependant in my entrepreneur visa, I and my sons got the passports and she is still waiting since July 2021.

[Safeen2]

This has taken so long

Request for your SAR
Lodge a fresh complaint
Engage your MP again.

Thank you for your advice

[Safeen2]

I recently contacted a solicitor who is asking for £1000 for the pre-action protocol.

Is this just for filling in a form? Or taking it right through to court.

The Home Office actually has a template for raising a PAP with them, helpful....
See here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... ial-review
I have no experience of this but if there's a publicly available template provided by the government then why not use it? You can fill it in yourself and see what response you get.

I was told that the fee for just PAP, I am assuming just for filling a form rather than all the way to court.

Thanks for the advice

[Safeen2]

I am not a lawyer and I am sure that I will be corrected by others more learned in the law than me if I am wrong, but I am not sure that a Pre-Action Protocol(PAP) or Judicial Review is even possible at this point.

Judicial Review (of which a PAP is the first step) is a process by which a judge reviews the lawfulness of a decision or action made by a public body. But here, there is neither a decision nor an action. Indeed, one could argue that there is inaction. But I can't see how a JR or even the threat of a JR would cause an action to occur.

Secondly, note that naturalisation is not an immigration application. It fundamentally changes the relationship between you and the state/Crown/community. I doubt that the courts will want to get involved in such a case. So far, in my time on these forums, I have not come across a JR application for naturalisation, never mind one that has succeeded.

In this case, you have a resort to your MP and to drawing on your own patience. You can make a request for an SAR, but that does not progress the case. What it will do is allow you to see what the Home Office has on record for you. You can then review that information to see what may be causing the Home Office to do so many further checks and perhaps correct information that is wrong (kind of like a credit check report, which is an SAR on the credit check companies). And as AmazonianX has mentioned, you can make a fresh complaint.

But you have few recourses to anything other than to wait.

Thank you for such kind detailed explanation

[hina_pirzada]

PAP is uesless, I did 3 PAPs form my wife who applied 20/07/2021, she is still waiting, we involved MP 3 times with 6 complaints and no answer from HO, waiting is the only way.
We requested SAR and we found three alias names and we asked them to correct the record, they deleted one alias name and the two are still in the record, we asked HO to delete the two alias names and we are waiting since Feb 2023.
Her immigration record is clear and she was my dependent in my entrepreneur visa, I and my sons got the passports and she is still waiting since July 2021.

Hi Jafer,

Can you please confirm how or whom you contacted to remove name alias? My application is pending with HO since last year July, same standard response... I have checked SAR and found 3 Aliases. I don't know where they came from. What I am thinking the Alias HO its own assumptions to check people names. For example a person first name is A B and Last name is C so they can do like this and also use spouse last name D

Alias 1. A B
Alias 2. A C
Alias3. A D

Kindly let me know the procedure so I can request them to remove from my record as well

[jafersadeq]

PAP is uesless, I did 3 PAPs form my wife who applied 20/07/2021, she is still waiting, we involved MP 3 times with 6 complaints and no answer from HO, waiting is the only way.
We requested SAR and we found three alias names and we asked them to correct the record, they deleted one alias name and the two are still in the record, we asked HO to delete the two alias names and we are waiting since Feb 2023.
Her immigration record is clear and she was my dependent in my entrepreneur visa, I and my sons got the passports and she is still waiting since July 2021.

Hi Jafer,

Can you please confirm how or whom you contacted to remove name alias? My application is pending with HO since last year July, same standard response... I have checked SAR and found 3 Aliases. I don't know where they came from. What I am thinking the Alias HO its own assumptions to check people names. For example a person first name is A B and Last name is C so they can do like this and also use spouse last name D

Alias 1. A B
Alias 2. A C
Alias3. A D

Kindly let me know the procedure so I can request them to remove from my record as well

As I told you, most application delayed due to alias names.
Send a complaint to: complaints@homeoffice.gov.uk
Explain the mistakes in your record and they take 30-60 days to answer, after 30 days re-send same email to them. I corrected only one alias name in my wife's record last year, now 2 years waiting with no answer from them, they only decide the application with no alias names.

[jafersadeq]

Do not send PAP, do not ask your MP, no one can help you, no solicitor can help you.
The only way is to correct the alias names, otherwise you wait 10 years with no decision.

[hina_pirzada]

PAP is uesless, I did 3 PAPs form my wife who applied 20/07/2021, she is still waiting, we involved MP 3 times with 6 complaints and no answer from HO, waiting is the only way.
We requested SAR and we found three alias names and we asked them to correct the record, they deleted one alias name and the two are still in the record, we asked HO to delete the two alias names and we are waiting since Feb 2023.
Her immigration record is clear and she was my dependent in my entrepreneur visa, I and my sons got the passports and she is still waiting since July 2021.

Hi Jafer,

Can you please confirm how or whom you contacted to remove name alias? My application is pending with HO since last year July, same standard response... I have checked SAR and found 3 Aliases. I don't know where they came from. What I am thinking the Alias HO its own assumptions to check people names. For example a person first name is A B and Last name is C so they can do like this and also use spouse last name D

Alias 1. A B
Alias 2. A C
Alias3. A D

Kindly let me know the procedure so I can request them to remove from my record as well

So are these people are dump? How those aliases came from? Aliases are there own assumptions. I granted visas in the UK and we never use other names. If we found your theory is correct so its means that they should inform us the reason of delay and guide us how we remove those aliases and what documents they need...

As I told you, most application delayed due to alias names.
Send a complaint to: complaints@homeoffice.gov.uk
Explain the mistakes in your record and they take 30-60 days to answer, after 30 days re-send same email to them. I corrected only one alias name in my wife's record last year, now 2 years waiting with no answer from them, they only decide the application with no alias names.

[hina_pirzada]

PAP is uesless, I did 3 PAPs form my wife who applied 20/07/2021, she is still waiting, we involved MP 3 times with 6 complaints and no answer from HO, waiting is the only way.
We requested SAR and we found three alias names and we asked them to correct the record, they deleted one alias name and the two are still in the record, we asked HO to delete the two alias names and we are waiting since Feb 2023.
Her immigration record is clear and she was my dependent in my entrepreneur visa, I and my sons got the passports and she is still waiting since July 2021.

Hi Jafer,

Can you please confirm how or whom you contacted to remove name alias? My application is pending with HO since last year July, same standard response... I have checked SAR and found 3 Aliases. I don't know where they came from. What I am thinking the Alias HO its own assumptions to check people names. For example a person first name is A B and Last name is C so they can do like this and also use spouse last name D

Alias 1. A B
Alias 2. A C
Alias3. A D

Kindly let me know the procedure so I can request them to remove from my record as well

As I told you, most application delayed due to alias names.
Send a complaint to: complaints@homeoffice.gov.uk
Explain the mistakes in your record and they take 30-60 days to answer, after 30 days re-send same email to them. I corrected only one alias name in my wife's record last year, now 2 years waiting with no answer from them, they only decide the application with no alias names.

So are these people are dump? How those aliases came from? Aliases are there own assumptions. I granted visas in the UK and we never use other names. If we found your theory is correct so its means that they should inform us the reason of delay and guide us how we remove those aliases and what documents they need...

[jafersadeq]

They do not guide you, they delay your application for NA, they send your alias names to some international authorities including your country of birth, no one will answer them because it is stange names, so they delay your application till they receive a response.
The response is imposible, so after 3-5 years they decide the application.
Regards

[hina_pirzada]

In my SAR, they have mentioned the following:-

"All checks have been returned and email to relevant team to process the applications as soon as possible". This was April date....

Now, why they decide the applications after 3-5 years if they did not get response from international agencies?.... I am living here for last 13 years and rest of the life in my home country... so why they didn't ask us to provide Police Certificate instead...

the reality is they are not capable to decide the application on time. There are mostly agency staff.

[Safeen2]

Hello everyone,

I submitted my online naturalisation application form and did biometric at the end of Jan 2020. Soon after that the pandemic started and I received an email saying that my application takes longer than 6 months due to coronavirus.I emailed HO - FurtherNationalityEnquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk quite few times and contacted MP in more than few occasions and all I received is below message;

" The Home Office advised Mr [...](My MP) that they are still waiting for further checks to be completed with agencies outside of the Home Office. The Home Office advise that they are sorry your application is taking longer than usual, to be processed. As you may be aware, naturalisation, is not an automatic process, and the Home Office have to make a number of enquiries to ensure that applicants can satisfy the statutory requirements. Some of these enquiries are carried out by external agencies on our behalf. The Home Office will endeavour to conclude your application at the earliest opportunity, and will write to you as soon as the necessary checks are complete. Please be assured that, as soon as the Home Office are in a position to reach a decision, you will be notified accordingly"

I recently contacted a solicitor who is asking for £1000 for the pre-action protocol. I do not know if this is a wise step at this stage, and as I have read few messages here I can see that some people have experienced such delays too. I have also noticed that some people have sent complaints and asked HO for their SAR. I wonder what will be best my options step-wise to get a decision from HO. I also wonder how people who have experienced such delays approached HO to get the outcome of their British citizenship application.

any input and shared story is highly appreciated.

An update;

As advised by you all I submitted along complaint not only to complaints Team in HO but also 6 further emails I found through this website on Sunday 9th July 23. I received an email on Monday 10th from further enquiry Team confirming that my application for NA was successful in June 14th 2023. halaluya )))).....now I am waiting to receive a confirmation from local authority for the ceremony.

All the best everyone

[hina_pirzada]

Hi Safeen,

Thats the good news. Many many congratulation. Could you able to share rest of the 6 emails addresses? please might be we will get some benefit.

[AmazonianX]

Hello everyone,

I submitted my online naturalisation application form and did biometric at the end of Jan 2020. Soon after that the pandemic started and I received an email saying that my application takes longer than 6 months due to coronavirus.I emailed HO - FurtherNationalityEnquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk quite few times and contacted MP in more than few occasions and all I received is below message;

" The Home Office advised Mr [...](My MP) that they are still waiting for further checks to be completed with agencies outside of the Home Office. The Home Office advise that they are sorry your application is taking longer than usual, to be processed. As you may be aware, naturalisation, is not an automatic process, and the Home Office have to make a number of enquiries to ensure that applicants can satisfy the statutory requirements. Some of these enquiries are carried out by external agencies on our behalf. The Home Office will endeavour to conclude your application at the earliest opportunity, and will write to you as soon as the necessary checks are complete. Please be assured that, as soon as the Home Office are in a position to reach a decision, you will be notified accordingly"

I recently contacted a solicitor who is asking for £1000 for the pre-action protocol. I do not know if this is a wise step at this stage, and as I have read few messages here I can see that some people have experienced such delays too. I have also noticed that some people have sent complaints and asked HO for their SAR. I wonder what will be best my options step-wise to get a decision from HO. I also wonder how people who have experienced such delays approached HO to get the outcome of their British citizenship application.

any input and shared story is highly appreciated.

An update;

As advised by you all I submitted along complaint not only to complaints Team in HO but also 6 further emails I found through this website on Sunday 9th July 23. I received an email on Monday 10th from further enquiry Team confirming that my application for NA was successful in June 14th 2023. halaluya )))).....now I am waiting to receive a confirmation from local authority for the ceremony.

All the best everyone

Congratulations

[Safeen2]

Hi Safeen,

Thats the good news. Many many congratulation. Could you able to share rest of the 6 emails addresses? please might be we will get some benefit.

sorry for the late reply. These are the following email addresses.
1. furthernationalityenquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk
2. NationalityEnquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk.
3. citizenship.Support@homeoffice.gov.uk.
4. NationalitySupportTeamFMT@homeoffice.gov.uk.
5. complaints@homeoffice.gov.uk.
6. public.enquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk.

I received response only from 2 addresses such as furthernationality.....and complaint email addresses, and both have confirmed that my application for NA has been successful but I have been waiting for over 10 days now.

[hina_pirzada]

Hi Safeen,

Thats the good news. Many many congratulation. Could you able to share rest of the 6 emails addresses? please might be we will get some benefit.

sorry for the late reply. These are the following email addresses.
1. furthernationalityenquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk
2. NationalityEnquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk.
3. citizenship.Support@homeoffice.gov.uk.
4. NationalitySupportTeamFMT@homeoffice.gov.uk.
5. complaints@homeoffice.gov.uk.
6. public.enquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk.

I received response only from 2 addresses such as furthernationality.....and complaint email addresses, and both have confirmed that my application for NA has been successful but I have been waiting for over 10 days now.

Hi Safeen

Just let you know after my MP intervention and directly talked to Home Office Engagement Team, I have received my approval on 24th of July along with my dependent.

[Safeen2]

Hi Safeen,

Thats the good news. Many many congratulation. Could you able to share rest of the 6 emails addresses? please might be we will get some benefit.

sorry for the late reply. These are the following email addresses.
1. furthernationalityenquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk
2. NationalityEnquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk.
3. citizenship.Support@homeoffice.gov.uk.
4. NationalitySupportTeamFMT@homeoffice.gov.uk.
5. complaints@homeoffice.gov.uk.
6. public.enquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk.

I received response only from 2 addresses such as furthernationality.....and complaint email addresses, and both have confirmed that my application for NA has been successful but I have been waiting for over 10 days now.

Hi Safeen

Just let you know after my MP intervention and directly talked to Home Office Engagement Team, I have received my approval on 24th of July along with my dependent.

Hi... many congratulations too.
Thanks for letting me know. I think I should contact MP too because it has been over 2 weeks now and it was supposed to take 10 working days. I will wait a couple of days more then I contact MP if nothing come through this week.

[SBASCO4]

Hi Safeen,

Thats the good news. Many many congratulation. Could you able to share rest of the 6 emails addresses? please might be we will get some benefit.

sorry for the late reply. These are the following email addresses.
1. furthernationalityenquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk
2. NationalityEnquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk.
3. citizenship.Support@homeoffice.gov.uk.
4. NationalitySupportTeamFMT@homeoffice.gov.uk.
5. complaints@homeoffice.gov.uk.
6. public.enquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk.

I received response only from 2 addresses such as furthernationality.....and complaint email addresses, and both have confirmed that my application for NA has been successful but I have been waiting for over 10 days now.

Hi Safeen

Just let you know after my MP intervention and directly talked to Home Office Engagement Team, I have received my approval on 24th of July along with my dependent.

Hi Hina, can you plz share your experience like how did u remove Alias names from ur record?? who to contact and how to contact plz? Thank you

[AmazonianX]

Hi Safeen,

Thats the good news. Many many congratulation. Could you able to share rest of the 6 emails addresses? please might be we will get some benefit.

sorry for the late reply. These are the following email addresses.
1. furthernationalityenquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk
2. NationalityEnquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk.
3. citizenship.Support@homeoffice.gov.uk.
4. NationalitySupportTeamFMT@homeoffice.gov.uk.
5. complaints@homeoffice.gov.uk.
6. public.enquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk.

I received response only from 2 addresses such as furthernationality.....and complaint email addresses, and both have confirmed that my application for NA has been successful but I have been waiting for over 10 days now.

Hi Safeen

Just let you know after my MP intervention and directly talked to Home Office Engagement Team, I have received my approval on 24th of July along with my dependent.

Hi Hina, can you plz share your experience like how did u remove Alias names from ur record?? who to contact and how to contact plz? Thank you

Read previous posts.

[Stelcal]

Hi everyone,

Very interesting posts and congrats to those that were successful.
I would like to ask a couple of questions and would greatly appreciate any suggestions.
Currently I am far away from the 6 months mark (been waiting 3 months now approx.).
Will it make any sense to ask a SAR in a proactive manner - before the 6 months mark, in order to follow the application as much as possible ?
Also, is SAR a one of document sort to speak, or one receives future/further updates as they come along automatically ?
Apologies in advance if these questions sound a bit naïve, but I am completely unfamiliar with these processes
Thank you!

[Beloo]

Hi Everyone

I’m having the same issue with my application, I applied on 14/01/2022 with my spouse and our son (12 years old)and submitted biometrics on 11/02/2022 after 6 months with no response I have sent several emails to all citizenship inquiries emails and I was getting the same standard response that they are waiting for checks. I filed a complaint after 9 months and complaint response was the same, I have escalated my complaint and on November 2022 UKVI admitted that my application was delayed due to IT issue I went further with my complaint to the Independent Examiner of Complaint (ICE) who’s been trying to get an update from home office but there was no solution, on begging of May 2023 the case worker sent me an inquiry asking to confirm my full name ( I always used one full name for more than 10 years) and since then I’m waiting and the last response from further inquiries was back to them waiting for the checks to be returned.
The (ICE) investigator is very responsive but it looks like their role is to chase the home office for updates but with no obligation for home office to respond.

I have requested a SAR 3 weeks ago and I have a question about SAR if someone know please dose SAR results comes back as an email or letter ?