Uk Citizenship Application

[DC1066]

Hi all,

We are about to apply for my wife's citizenship and I was wondering if anyone has any information on current turn around times?

I believe that application numbers have increased recently due to the proposed changes announced, although hopefully this has started to reduce again now it has been announced that the new system wont be implemented until 2011.

This is (hopefully) the last step in a long journey. Looking regularly at the settlement visa thread it reminds me of all the hoops we've had to go through along the way. As well as reason to celebrate when my wife obtains British Citizenship it will also come with a sense of relief.

Thanks,

[mark131v]

Hi DC

we have just completed and it is probably the most simple step of all.

From putting in the papers which are really easy and even more so with the checking service it took about 4 weeks to get the letter advising that we had been succesful

Next you are given the location of your nearest place where you have to attend your citizenship ceremony and we rang up and booked the soonest available ceremony which was about 3 weeks away and within 2 miles of our house.

We had a group ceremony of about 15 people where the wife swore an oath and offered a pledge of loyalty to the Queen then a brief waffle from the town Mayor and that was it. All really really painless.

The wife was given a pack from the Borders Agency containing her naturalisation certificate and a passport application pack and another certificate confirming that she had attended a citizenship ceremony

Next step getting the passport admin and expense out of the way and then it really is all done.

Good luck but iam sure you will not need it all the real hurdles have been completed by this stage

All the best Mark

[DC1066]

Hi DC

we have just completed and it is probably the most simple step of all.

From putting in the papers which are really easy and even more so with the checking service it took about 4 weeks to get the letter advising that we had been succesful

Next you are given the location of your nearest place where you have to attend your citizenship ceremony and we rang up and booked the soonest available ceremony which was about 3 weeks away and within 2 miles of our house.

We had a group ceremony of about 15 people where the wife swore an oath and offered a pledge of loyalty to the Queen then a brief waffle from the town Mayor and that was it. All really really painless.

The wife was given a pack from the Borders Agency containing her naturalisation certificate and a passport application pack and another certificate confirming that she had attended a citizenship ceremony

Next step getting the passport admin and expense out of the way and then it really is all done.

Good luck but iam sure you will not need it all the real hurdles have been completed by this stage

All the best Mark

Thanks Mark.

I've got it all sussed for the application, including the checking service and the ceremony. all ready to go. It's just how long we have to wait. After all the other steps you have to go through its hard to imagine that its nearly done. Still I'm looking forward to attending the ceremony and putting it all to bed.

Congrat's on your wife's citizenship and thanks again.

[bobrussell]

Congratulations on getting this far - the real hurdle is getting that settlement visa! The rest hopefully is ticking boxes and paying more dosh to Gordon Brown - we will be facing this in 3 years time so have a few steps to go. This is subject to my survival as my wife is not going to be impressed with the state of the house after waiting since early July for her visa in Bangkok!

[DC1066]

Congratulations on getting this far - the real hurdle is getting that settlement visa! The rest hopefully is ticking boxes and paying more dosh to Gordon Brown - we will be facing this in 3 years time so have a few steps to go. This is subject to my survival as my wife is not going to be impressed with the state of the house after waiting since early July for her visa in Bangkok!

lol, many a true word said in jest. I've been with my wife for 5 years now - married and in the UK for 3. At times I'm amazed we've both survived this long. The trick is not to apply Western logic to the Thai mind. If you can manage that then everything else is pretty much plain sailing.

Have you got your settlement visa yet? If so, congrat's. At least in three years time it won't be Gordon Brown you'll be paying the money to, but yes it will be a relief to know that this is the last of my dosh he'll be getting - at least from visa applications that is.

Looking back for us the settlement visa was straightforward. It's so infuriating looking at the settlement thread on here and seeing how long people have to wait. I don't want to upset anyone, but three years ago we only had to wait about two weeks.

For us the most frustrating part was waiting for the ILR. This took more than 20 weeks to come through - especially as I was told waiting times were about 4 weeks. We've still got about a month until we put in the application, but I'll keep people posted as

to how we get on.

Good luck to you and your wife. I'd say enjoy the journey, I'm sure you know it'll be challenging, but its fun. Not that I'm qualified, but if I were to offer any advice on the rest of the process it'd be to take the Life in UK test as early as possible. It takes all the pressure off later and avoids having to spend lots of time on courses that are at best varied in quality. Also, remember, there is no such thing as Thai logic

Thanks again,

DC

[chriswatson]

Blimey! 20 weeks!!? That's a nightmare. But it seems using the local council really cuts this time down?

Out of interest, did you do your application autonomously or use the "council service"?

[DC1066]

Blimey! 20 weeks!!? That's a nightmare. But it seems using the local council really cuts this time down?

Out of interest, did you do your application autonomously or use the "council service"?

This was for the ILR and checking up, the memory plays tricks, it was actually about 16 weeks. We applied via post. They wont even let you question the application until after 14 weeks has elapsed. After 14 weeks I called them to see what was happening and they just told me, "it's in the queue."

The worst thing was expecting it after 3-4 weeks and waiting for the post every day like an 8 year old on his birthday. It all worked out ok in the end though and on to the citizenship - fingers crossed.

[chriswatson]

Hmm, so it looks like using the council's service if definitely worth the expense!

Anyone know if the council keep the info given to them and use them for their own purposes, or is it used solely for visa application purposes