Hi there

Just a question regarding the processes for UK citizenship.

We've been in the process now for about 10 weeks, we started with an appointment at the local council, payment was taken by the home office roughly 2 weeks later, another 2 weeks following we did biometrics and hereafter we've received nothing since.

My question is, should we be expecting another communication / request before the process is finalised or have we completed all of the usual steps and the next time we hear it will be with the decision?

Appreciate any responses

Short answer - yes, next time will be the decision. Unless something funky occurs like your wife has omitted something from the application. I'm sure that won't be the case though, particularly as you went through the NCS.

My only concern with the decision is that it comes in the normal post, not registered, not signed for, just plain old second class post. That's it.

You say that your wife (I assume it's your wife) applied ten weeks ago. That would be around the beginning of August then. My wife applied at the NCS for citizenship on 1 August 2014 and received her decision at end of October 2014. So you're running about parallel to my wife's application.

Still, it could take longer than three months, though I hope it doesn't. My wife's friend recently received her decision and she waited the full six months. Lovely lady and her and her daughter have their citizenship ceremony next Tuesday.

Thanks for that response, it's very reassuring.

Yes, we applied mid August and then it took 2 weeks for the money to be taken - based on that I'm saying start of September realistically. It is my wife, she has a friend that recently concluded the process after 5 months but I'm not sure if there were any delays involved in that.

If we hear before the end of the year I'll be pleased. I'm just glad we haven't appeared to miss anything so no news is good news right!

What I like about utilising the services of the NCS is that the applicant isn't without their passport for the duration.

I was always nervous that if my wife was parted from her passport and a death or disaster occurred with her family back in LOS then she wouldn't be able to simply jump on the next flight out of the UK. It didn't sit comfortably with me.

Was the main reason that I parted with the extra for a visit to the PEO in Croydon for ILR.

The only time my wife was without her passport in the UK was for her provisional driving licence application. There was no other way and fortunately it was safely returned within days, Special Delivery.

Sister in law is still waiting, no communication until they discovered they had only taken payment for her daughter! She had to send a further payment instruction so they could take the same amount of money from the same bank account that she authorised when her application was processed by the NCS!

Not sure you can compare dates. It seems to depend on which pile the application sits! Someone on here waited a heck of a time to hear, excuses galore about further enquiries. Just got processed when they could be bothered.

NCS are pretty thorough (perhaps more professional than the Home Office). There are very few rejections as they ensure the paperwork is presented correctly. Processing times seem more down to the luck of the draw!