Timescale of british citizenship answer

[Richard W]

Could you please expand on why my wife only has a six month period of visitation before she would have to leave. She's been here for over four years on settlement, ILR and now a British citizen.

Your wife effectively lost whatever right to enter the UK at a port that she had the moment she became a British citizen. If I were abducted from work in the UK and released in Normandy, I would have no right in British law to enter the UK at a port until I had obtained a passport. It would, however, French law permitting, be lawful for me to swim across - British citizens don't have to enter at ports.

We've discussed this issue before. It was in the thread British Citizenship Basics. The relevant Immigration Directorate instructions are listed at Chapter 1, section 1 - Right-of-Abode.

I'm not entirely convinced that one loses leave to remain on becoming a British citizen - it may remain until one loses British citizenship. However, mine seems to be a minority view.

[wooloomooloo]

Thanks for your input in this matter, Richard. And apologies to all for hijacking the thread, temporarily, at least.

Arrived back at LHR T2 this evening, early as well, landing 1850h. Jeez, what a walk from the plane to arrivals and I thought T3 was bad.

Queued up at UK/EU channel as usual and arrived at the IO's desk.

It's always nice to find a friendly IO and duly handed over both our passports and my wife's BRP. Mine was back within five seconds and then for my wife's.

This is what happened... ermm, nothing. In fact, was probably through there in record time due to no questions, whatsoever. Arrived at the baggage carousel at about 1920h, and our luggage was there in front of us.

When my wife filled out the landing card on the plane, I asked her to append the immigration status question as ILR [though, certain this didn't make any difference, just didn't want to muddy the waters with adding 'British citizen' or 'citizenship'.]

I should add, though, this was a rare oversight, as I haven't missed a trick over the last four years and could potentially have caused a problem. There'll be no more problems going forward for my wife, fortunately, as I'll apply for her British passport tomorrow and send it off on Saturday. Fairly quiet time of year for passport applications, obviously, bar the Christmas break, so should expect passport interview and new passport issued within the next five weeks at most.

I haven't a clue why my wife wasn't challenged by the IO and not going to proffer any ideas as to why she wasn't but worth revisiting in the forum on occasion.

This is the tract of text in the notes that accompanies the citizenship certificate, verbatim, including bold and underlined text:

RIGHT OF ABODE IN THE UNITED KINGDOM - NOTE FOR BRITISH CITIZENS

All British citizens have the right of abode in the United Kingdom. If, as a British citizen, you wished to travel on a non-British passport it must be endorsed to show that you have right of abode. Otherwise, you might experience difficulty proving your right to be re-admitted to the United Kingdom.

Certificates of entitlement to the right of abode are issued by the Home Office to applicants to the United Kingdom and by the appropriate British representative to applicants abroad. A fee is payable in both cases. Certificates can only be issued to someone who does not have a British passport describing them as a British citizen or British subject with right of abode. A certificate will cease to be valid once the passport it is attached to expires and cannot be transferred from one passport to another.

For information on current processing times, information about fees or other matters, contact the Nationality Call Centre on 0845 010 5200. British citizens who are overseas should write to their nearest British representative. Please make sure that any application is made in good time before you wish to travel.

[sotonfarang]

we spoke to a chap at the home office who said that our citizenship result letter will be with us at the by the start of the following week, we waited for 2 weeks, called again and told them this.They said that this was rubbish and he should not have said it and its still being processed, so frustrating!

i then requested the return of our documents as advised by other forum members, which would hopefully spur them on a bit, they quoted 10 working days for the return, it took 1 day.

still heard nothing, bordering on the pathetic now

its 9 months on the 10th of january, 95% are supposed to be completed within 6 months, if it goes over 8 months is the next timeline.

STRESSED!

[sotonfarang]

my wife has now been awaiting an answer 10 months today! absolutely ridiculous

we called them last week

"its still being processed" same answer as we have had repeatedly for the last 5 months (apart from when one bloke lied and said it would be with us by the end of the week)

all well, all we can do is wait i suppose

stressed out

[sotonfarang]

0n february the 10th my wifes application will reach the 10 month wait mark.

we are so fed up with this now and frustrated. when we called last week the man at the home office told me that they were awaiting the outcome of new security check legislation, this has now been decided and all applications were on hold!

they say we will receive a letter outlining this within the next 4 weeks to inform us that our application may take up to another 4 months after that to process. this is an absolute joke.

with all this extra waiting time, then attending a ceremony and it taking 6-8 weeks to get her british passport once all that is done basically takes the total length of processing to a hugely annoying 18 MONTHS !!

i emailed a letter of complaint to them and also emailed our local MP for help.

lets see what this brings, probably nothing as usual.

depressing,

[MAJIC]

For example, referees are required, and some of the processing time is probably spent awaiting replies from those referees. (I don't know if referees are contacted in all cases; but if memory serves, my wife's were.)

Having spoke to my wife's professional referee yesterday, she confirmed that she wasn't contacted and my wife's personal referee wasn't approached either. I suspect that it's a mostly random event that referees are contacted nowadays.

"I suspect that it's a mostly random event that referees are contacted nowadays".

Yes! and I suspect,it's what's known in Engineering batches,as "10% Inspection" i.e 10% get inspected,and the other 90% dos'nt

[marksm]

Just out of interest what is the timescale at the minute for applying for British citizenship my wife is applying for hers next week

[sotonfarang]

Just out of interest what is the timescale at the minute for applying for British citizenship my wife is applying for hers next week

I spoke to our local registry office yesterday and they suggest that the general timescale is around 5 to 6 months at the moment on average

as you can see from my posts, my wife`s has so far been nearly 11 months and we have no idea why, nor do the people who operate the home office helpline

good luck, hope you get a quick response.

[marksm]

Thanks for the reply

We applied through the checking service and they told us if we hadn't received any news within the 6 months get In touch with the home office

[sotonfarang]

We just received the reply to our emailed complaint, exactly 20 working days after we complained to them as per they quoted

the email, unsurprisingly , looks like a standard one explaining that they are not obliged to give citizenship to anybody or within any timescale.

due to new legislation there are now more security checks in place and time spent out of the country will now be under more scrutiny.

they quote another 3-4 months for an answer, this will take ours to 15 months in total ( if its true!!)

[bobrussell]

It is not the decision you are writing to complain about. Just the speed of the decision making!

It is good to see they are doing more security checks as it appears they were doing almost none. Time out of country is a simple matter of counting!

Irrelevant whether 'they' are obliged to give citizenship or not. If an applicant ticks all the boxes and there are no reasons why it should be refused, it is not for them to decide on a whim!

I have to say this time for processing is pretty awful. Thankfully those using the checking system do not have to put their lives on hold because they keep the passport.

[wooloomooloo]

It is good to see they are doing more security checks as it appears they were doing almost none.

Indeed. But within this timeframe the Home Office could have performed in-depth security checks on the population of Kidderminster.

[7by7]

<snip>

Time out of country is a simple matter of counting!

Yes, and no.

There is discretion to disregard absences in excess of the maximum during the total residential qualifying period and during the final year; depending on the length of and reason for the excessive absence.

See 4. Excess absences in the 5(3) year qualifying period and 5. Excess absences in the final year from this document.

As for the unreasonable delay in Mrs Sotonfarang's application; any comment on the reasons for that delay would be pure speculation. But one possibility is that they are still awaiting responses from third parties; I doubt that the Home Office are going to make much of an effort to chase those third parties up!

Edited February 21, 2015 by 7by7

[sotonfarang]

well, what can i say?

after being told last week that my wife`s case was unworkable and its likely to take another 4-6 months, which would be a toatal of 15 months, it mysteriously arrived today !!

we are ecstatic

just waiting for a call back from our local registry office to book her citizenship ceremony, once she has attended she can then send off for her passport which, they say, takes between 6 and 8 weeks to be sorted.

hope it doesnt turn out to be 6-8 months with our luck.

anyway, thank you for your comments , its been an interesting thread, just hope that others may benefit from all of our comments.

yipeeeeeee

[sotonfarang]

it took 11 months in total, we applied april 10th 2014

[Stanaris]

well, what can i say?

after being told last week that my wife`s case was unworkable and its likely to take another 4-6 months, which would be a toatal of 15 months, it mysteriously arrived today !!

we are ecstatic

just waiting for a call back from our local registry office to book her citizenship ceremony, once she has attended she can then send off for her passport which, they say, takes between 6 and 8 weeks to be sorted.

hope it doesnt turn out to be 6-8 months with our luck.

anyway, thank you for your comments , its been an interesting thread, just hope that others may benefit from all of our comments.

yipeeeeeee

Sincere congratulations.

It has been a long wait but once your wife gets her UK Passport then it will be all worth while.

[wooloomooloo]

Congratulations to you both, sotonfarang.

My wife applied for her British passport at the beginning of January and received her interview invitation letter eight days later [granted, it is quiet time of year]. I phoned up the hotline the following day and they offered my wife an appointment for the day after that, which was too soon due to her work commitments. I booked her in for the following Monday at 3.15pm and her passport arrived on the Wednesday morning. I was quite impressed with the efficiency of the passport service particularly as they don't get much positive press.

Anyway, we're giving her passport it's first run out later this week with a nice long weekend in Amsterdam.

In regard to the citizenship ceremony, our local registry office only perform this once a month with the Mayor in attendance and I suspect the same across the board. We had holiday booked last November and were too busy with work commitments for the December event so booked a private ceremony at a cost of £125. Something to consider if your timetable doesn't suit.

Good luck.

[sotonfarang]

well, what can i say?

after being told last week that my wife`s case was unworkable and its likely to take another 4-6 months, which would be a toatal of 15 months, it mysteriously arrived today !!

we are ecstatic

just waiting for a call back from our local registry office to book her citizenship ceremony, once she has attended she can then send off for her passport which, they say, takes between 6 and 8 weeks to be sorted.

hope it doesnt turn out to be 6-8 months with our luck.

anyway, thank you for your comments , its been an interesting thread, just hope that others may benefit from all of our comments.

yipeeeeeee

Sincere congratulations.

It has been a long wait but once your wife gets her UK Passport then it will be all worth while.

Thank you for the good luck wishes

Today we received a letter from our local MP , I sent him an email on the off chance to see if he could help a couple of weeks ago, It turns out that his involvement was the game-changer.

I can`t believe that he actually got involved, fair play to him.I am just about to write him a thank you letter.

wow! that was so fast to receive your passport, hopefully my wife`s will be quick too. have booked a ceremony privately for £75, it varies on area.

enjoy Amsterdam.

[7by7]

Glad to hear that it's finally been sorted, sotonfarang.

Was you MP able to find out the cause of the delay?

[bobrussell]

We are convinced that the intervention of my MP was crucial in smoothing things when my wife had issues returning to the UK using her marriage visit visa. It was decided that as we had already married, the purpose of the visa had changed. I suspect they thought she should have applied for a standard visit visa despite being in possession of an in date visa.

Perhaps technically correct but otherwise completely daft. They then decided that she was likely to try to change to a settlement visa within the UK!

The threat of raising the matter in the House of Commons later that week brought a very apologetic senior immigration officer to the phone the next day! All was satisfactorily resolved at that point.

MP's might get ignored by UKVI but not always so it really is worth contacting them if things get silly!

Nice to hear the good news about citizenship. Ceremony to passport can be very quick!

If sotonferang means you live in Southampton perhaps a weekend break to the Isle of Wight is in order! There is an office where they do passport interviews in Newport and they are a nice, friendly bunch doing the interviews. I have been told Portsmouth can be a bit more of an ordeal!

[sotonfarang]

hahaha Bobrussell any trip to Portsmouth is an ordeal for us Sotonians for sad / immature footballing rivalry reasons so you may be right Newport could be on the agenda, make a nice day of it.thanks for the advice. I am glad your MP got your issue resolved too, shows they are helpful , especially when an election is coming up soon

nope 7by7 the MP or the Home office specified the reason for our delay, maybe lost down the back of a cupboard somewhere, will forever be a mystery.

[sotonfarang]

well, my wife did her citizenship ceremony today. It was a private one which was superb and very relaxed although formal.

it cost us £75 and luckily after getting our invitation to a formal one with the hoards on monday for the 31st of march, we got it booked for only 3 days later.

passport application including certificate was posted shortly after, shouldn`t be long now. happy days

[wooloomooloo]

Your wife could well be in possession of her passport within the next two odd weeks, sotonfarang. Might be a rush on Easter holidays but shouldn't be too bad.

We duly gave my wife's passport its first run out to Amsterdam last weekend. We arrived at Schiphol border control last Friday afternoon and our passports were given the cursory glance and we were gone within twenty seconds of arriving, which surprised my wife.

We arrived back at LCY on Sunday, going through the ePassport gates and my wife was out of there quicker than me. She was obviously pleased with the blasé attitude towards British citizens and I was happy that she was happy.

And, we had a nice time in between. We'll return to the 'dam later in the year.

[sotonfarang]

The Dam is a cracking city, been there many times back in the day when it was still dutch guilders

really glad your wifes passport worked and the freedom that she now has, superb.

i hope to be celebrating my 40th birthday at ankor wat in cambodia on 8th of may, thats the dream.

all well, enjoy your next european adventure

[marksm]

Hi

We have received the good news today that are application has been approved. It took 4 weeks from applying through the NCS to receiving the letter

[7by7]

Congrats to Mrs Marksm.

Her 4 weeks turnaround makes Mrs Sotonfarang's lengthy delay even more inexplicable!

[sotonfarang]

Congrats to Mrs Marksm.

Her 4 weeks turnaround makes Mrs Sotonfarang's lengthy delay even more inexplicable!

haha really? thats incredible, 4 weeks is fantastic

as mentioned it just makes our 11 months even more inexplicable

happy that you didn`t have to go through that, it was extremely painful

[Waterloo]

Hi

We have received the good news today that are application has been approved. It took 4 weeks from applying through the NCS to receiving the letter

Congratulations, the Wife's appointment with the NCS is booked for this coming Monday I hope we are as fortunate!

[marksm]

Congrats to Mrs Marksm.

Her 4 weeks turnaround makes Mrs Sotonfarang's lengthy delay even more inexplicable!

haha really? thats incredible, 4 weeks is fantastic

as mentioned it just makes our 11 months even more inexplicable

happy that you didn`t have to go through that, it was extremely painful

Yes 4 weeks . The slight problem is that we live in Manchester and I asked for the ceremony to be in Manchester. And they give us Swindon which is no where near where we live

[Thongkorn]

12 weeks for my wife's British Citizenship.