Immigrationboards.com

Hello,

I was hoping if someone could help. I applied for my citizenship and passport at the same time through NCS Brent and I have my citizenship ceremony soon.

When I rung the NCS today, the advisor mentioned that I will get my passport fairly quickly - I am sure I misheard it but she said 2 days? Could anyone confirm please as my passport has expired and so has my ILE and I am now running the risk of having to terminate my contract at work due to lack of proof of work permit? This happened to my brother yesterday but I would need another thread for that.

Any help would be appreciated

You won't get your passport at the ceremony. You only get the naturalisation certificate. Passport comes in the post/by courier.

ILE does not expire even if you passport does.

3103cpt wrote:Hello,

I was hoping if someone could help. I applied for my citizenship and passport at the same time through NCS Brent and I have my citizenship ceremony soon.

When I rung the NCS today, the advisor mentioned that I will get my passport fairly quickly - I am sure I misheard it but she said 2 days? Could anyone confirm please as my passport has expired and so has my ILE and I am now running the risk of having to terminate my contract at work due to lack of proof of work permit? This happened to my brother yesterday but I would need another thread for that.

Any help would be appreciated

As mentioned, you won't get it at the ceremony. As per the guidance from Brent NCS it will be sent to you by post directly, once you have attended the ceremony and HMPO have processed your passport application. This is what I was told when I applied through Brent NCS as well. There are a few of us on this forum who have applied through this combined AN+Passport pilot scheme, who have now received approvals - but not yet attended the ceremony. So once we have, we should get a better view of how passports will be sent, and what the timelines are like.

You may find following topic discussion around this useful to watch for new updates. http://www.immigrationboards.com/britis ... 99520.html

Note that your ILE will be valid to show your current or new employer until you receive your naturalisation certificate, so I wouldn't worry on that count. Once naturalised your naturalisation certificate would be your proof of citizenship (& thereby right to work) until such a time your British passport is issued.

cs95tdg wrote:

3103cpt wrote:Hello,

I was hoping if someone could help. I applied for my citizenship and passport at the same time through NCS Brent and I have my citizenship ceremony soon.

When I rung the NCS today, the advisor mentioned that I will get my passport fairly quickly - I am sure I misheard it but she said 2 days? Could anyone confirm please as my passport has expired and so has my ILE and I am now running the risk of having to terminate my contract at work due to lack of proof of work permit? This happened to my brother yesterday but I would need another thread for that.

Any help would be appreciated

As mentioned, you won't get it at the ceremony. As per the guidance from Brent NCS it will be sent to you by post directly, once you have attended the ceremony and HMPO have processed your passport application. This is what I was told when I applied through Brent NCS as well. There are a few of us on this forum who have applied through this combined AN+Passport pilot scheme, who have now received approvals - but not yet attended the ceremony. So once we have, we should get a better view of how passports will be sent, and what the timelines are like.

You may find following topic discussion around this useful to watch for new updates. http://www.immigrationboards.com/britis ... 99520.html

Note that your ILE will be valid to show your current or new employer until you receive your naturalisation certificate, so I wouldn't worry on that count. Once naturalised your naturalisation certificate would be your proof of citizenship (& thereby right to work) until such a time your British passport is issued.

Thank you so much for your comprehensive response. My brother has been asked to terminate his contract by his employer yesterday as our old passports with the ILE stamped on it have been cancelled due to us obtaining new passports from our country of origin. Furthermore, we both applied for our British citizenships + BRP and thought this would be sufficient to show our employers proof of right to work.
My brother applied his before mine but the HO made an error with his birth dates on the BRP letter and he could not register it. After weeks of chasing, a new correct letter was issued in late November.
Following this, his employers desperately tried to seek ways to retain him but have been advised by HMRC and HO that he cannot work without a valid proof of work permit. HO have been pretty unhelpful stating that they can only advise him to:
1) Withdraw his application altogether and apply for NTL (which will take time to process anyway)
2) Wait for his citizenship approval letter (frustratingly, no means to track when this will appear)

Please excuse me if there have been any errors on his part (perhaps the late application when we knew passport has been cancelled) but we are very stressed due to this situation. Bro has just graduated and was due to attend assessment centres/job interviews but has had to cancel them. Any advice will be appreciated as I have noted that HO can be very elusive when it comes to getting firm advices. Thanks again and sorry about the long post!

Thank you for the link. I, too, am very curious about how the passport service will work. My ceremony is this week so I will post any findings on the link.

ILE does not expire. The employers can check the right to work with HO easily, see link below. It could be an unfair dismissal.

https://www.gov.uk/employee-immigration ... ent-status

CR001 wrote:ILE does not expire. The employers can check the right to work with HO easily, see link below. It could be an unfair dismissal.

https://www.gov.uk/employee-immigration ... ent-status

Thanks CR001, I did consider that too in the beginning but Brother's HR Team have been ringing him constantly to update that they are chasing HO too. They entered the BRP Ref number on the link above and it could not recognize the number.
He worked in financial services so they apparently have to be strictly compliant with the law, unfortunately. Been on the phone with the HO all morning (nightmare being shuffled from one operator to another) and same answers everywhere - we have to wait for his citizenship approval letter.
I am finding this all very strange tbh as this is unheard of. Would be grateful if anyone can break down the relevant laws in layman's terms.

Moreover, if his employers had already checked when his old passport with ILE was valid, then there is also no requirement for them to recheck his documents.

3103cpt, I concur with what CR001 and vinny have mentioned. I'm curious as to why the employer is requesting the evidence now, unless your brother has perhaps changed employers, in which case it would be expected. I know from experience that I've only ever had to show evidence of my right to work when starting new employment, and then when my current leave was due to expire. At various points in the past I've had my leave to remain endorsed in my former expired passport, without ever transferring it to my new one. It's unfortunate that your brothers employer has been unable to get confirmation from the HO. Do read the links vining has shared as they are informative.

vinny wrote:Moreover, if his employers had already checked when his old passport with ILE was valid, then there is also no requirement for them to recheck his documents.

Hi Vinny,

Thank you for the very helpful posts. We have written to the UKVI office in Liverpool today to seek some form of reference stating that the ILE on old passport is sufficient proof of right to work. But I would really like to speak to somebody face-to-face. I am also strongly opposed to the idea of withdrawing the citizenship application and applying for an NTL.
My brother was a temporary worker through an agency so I don't think he would qualify to raise grievance against HR. My only concern here is how this is going to affect his current career plans as he was actively attending interviews. Unfortunately, I just think he has been a victim of bad luck and hope the citizenship approval arrives soon.

UPDATE : I received my passport within 6 working days of my Ceremony. I asked the lady at the NCS office on the day and she confirmed that my passport would arrive within a week.
Ceremony : 15th January 2015
Passport received : 26th January 2015

So I guess the general presumption made by many folks on this site can be deemed as a valid one. Applications made via NCS does get processed fairly quickly.

On another positive note, my brother also received his citizenship approval letter on Friday and he is attending his ceremony next week. Hopefully, his passport will also be sent within a week and he can return to work. Thanks all for the help.

Congratulations! Glad to hear both you & your brother have received your approvals & that he in particular will now be able to return to work.