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Any opinions or experiences? Both the UKBA and Register Office websites suggest that the service does reduce wait times because the validity of the applications has already been checked, but in practice I suspect that the checked applications are put in a pile with all the rest.

All that means is that the documents will have been checked and found to be complete so there is less likelihood that delays will occur while further/incomplete documents are provided.

It should not affect the time taken but others will correct me if I am wrong. For naturalisation it does allow valuable documents including original passport to be retained by the applicant (obviously not for ILR applications).

Thanks for your reply Bob. If that's the case, it's somewhat different to the impression that the UKBA sets on its website, which says:

"We have found that applications received through the settlement checking service are generally faster to process, as fewer cases are rejected or delayed due to incomplete or missing documents."

"Generally faster to process" is different to stating that there is less chance of additional delay. The experience of using the Post Office checking services for UK Passport and Driving Licence applications is that it speeds up the response significantly, as one would expect when an agent has been licensed to check and confirm validity of the submitted documents.