Experiences using new UKVCAS for naturalisation/citizenship applications

[CR001]

I applied using the New service on 14-01-2019 , used UkVCAS document checking and recieved email confirming the document uplouded correctly. Finger print taken after two days at Manchester central library after paying £100 for the apointment in addition to £35 for checking the documents. Now I am waiting ? People Told me that waiting time mostly depend on the personality of your case worker , wether if he is a lazy or hard worker. confused to see people met all the requirment get approval in one month while others wait two or three months .Not including the applicants who got legal problems and might wait longer . I hope that is not true

Oh please. I really wish people would just use some common sense sometimes, bearing in mind that many applicants only post the 'favourable' aspects of their circumstances on the forum.

Applying for BC has everything to do with meeting all the requirements of NATIONALITY LAW and the Good Character Requirement and not a 'lazy caseworker'. It is after all not an entitlement but a privilege to be granted citizenship that must be earned.

[starsgate]

The common sense is that I found that Home office gives false information regarding UKvcas 57 operating centres. I live between two centres Wakefield and Swinton 20 minutes driving from my place < I went to Swinton to ask them how it works, then shocked with reality that they are not operating . Wakfield and most other centres might be the same . challnge you if any one applied with UKvcas use any centre except the six core centres. So we left with the option of waiting very long or paying £100 at the core centre in Manchester not mentioning the travel expenses. HO is make people suspecious of the New service . Once you chose the New service and realized the fact that those 57 centre not operating it is too late to reverse to the old service. This part is my experience with new service .HO can not assess the good chracter of people when HO lies about operating centres or discrimnate between people basing on their money vip servises which make the poor applicants wait longer because rich jump infront of them and push them backward the new citizins will lose hope and beleive in the principle of equality.

[Hioru]

Good evening everyone!
What a great website, it took me an hour to read all the post and clarify some of my questions in regards to the new service.

Me and my husband are applying through the new system, hopefully this week we will finish with the application and submit it.

I think i saw eariler in this thread that the “old system” “ is still available ???!!!! Meaning that you can still use the paper form and apply through post office ?? Or maybe i was reading too much about this subject today

There are 3 systems.
1. Online new/UKVCAS - everything is digital
2. Online existing/old - application is digital, you send the evidence by post
3. Paper application - everything is offline, you print the application form, fill it, sign it and send it by post including the evidence.

I guess main difference online and offline, with online you can do biometrics straight-away. With offline you will have to wait for a physical letter inviting you to do biometrics. Plus with online you get your application acknowledgement/case ID sooner (1 working day or so?) whereas with offline allocation can be weeks-months?

1 and 2 should be available.
Not sure about option 3 but I would believe so.

[allyf]

This is exactly what i wanted to mention here is that whats the point of writing the name at the back when we are uploading the front part

UKVI haven't changed the online application to fully reflect the UKVCAS system. No doubt they will do so in due course. Before November last year the original referee form was sent to UKVI. Writing the name and date of birth on the back was to enable them to reattach the photo to the correct form if it became detached.

Also, after we write our name and dob, it advises to glue the picture onto the form?

[Redhotman]

We have been at Croydon core centre yesterday. Appointment was for 4pm, we arrived at 3:30, finished by 4:45. We’ve got everything scanned, they just checked the quality of the scanned docs, didn’t even look at the originals. Took our biometrics. At the end they asked if we are happy them to submit and that was all. Now we have to wait

[fjv90]

FINALLY GOT APPROVAL IN TWO WEEKS. I would like to thank every member of this forum , always help me in clearing any confusion i have ever got. Please see below time line

Eligibility criteria: 10 years long residecny ILR plus 12 months
Language Criteria:MBA Degree (UK)
Nationality :non-eea
Method of application:Online (new service UKVCAS)
Date of application:28-12-2018
Payment method:Online
Date of acknowledgement:29-12-2018 (Via email)
Date of debit of fees:28-12-2018
Date of Biometric letter issued: N/a
Date of biometric letter received: N/a
Date Biometrics enrolled:08-01-2019 ( at croydon UKVCAS)
Date on Approval letter:22-1-2019
Date of receipt of approval:31-1-2019
Date of receipt of ceremony letter: will be booking tomorrow to book


Good luck all to all those who are waiting

[iamrezaul]

FINALLY GOT APPROVAL IN TWO WEEKS. I would like to thank every member of this forum , always help me in clearing any confusion i have ever got. Please see below time line

Eligibility criteria: 10 years long residecny ILR plus 12 months
Language Criteria:MBA Degree (UK)
Nationality :non-eea
Method of application:Online (new service UKVCAS)
Date of application:28-12-2018
Payment method:Online
Date of acknowledgement:29-12-2018 (Via email)
Date of debit of fees:28-12-2018
Date of Biometric letter issued: N/a
Date of biometric letter received: N/a
Date Biometrics enrolled:08-01-2019 ( at croydon UKVCAS)
Date on Approval letter:22-1-2019
Date of receipt of approval:31-1-2019
Date of receipt of ceremony letter: will be booking tomorrow to book


Good luck all to all those who are waiting

WOW! That was quick. Congrats!

[bluebird12]

Very quick decision reply ... Congrats fjv90

[shaneoh1980]

I've only just had my appointment at UKVCAS yesterday, so thought I'd share the experience of that. I'll add a timeline to the appropriate thread once I get to the end of the process.

I became eligible to apply January 21st, and did so straight away. I didn't need any extra services and had a preference for a free appointment, but was willing to pay if the wait times were going to be too long. There were a few options, but the earliest one that worked for me was January 31st, so I booked for 4pm at the Croydon centre. There were some earlier, paid times available including weekends.

Arrived at 3:30 because people had mentioned security delays were possible. I didn't have this, got straight in within a couple of minutes (still had to clear security of course). Was immediately given a number and taken for biometrics. This took about five minutes, then I went back to the waiting area. After about ten minutes, I was called up. The lady checked my documents, and re-scanned my passport (every page). I had already done this so not sure if it just wasn't clear enough or what. After she checked all documents, sent me on my way and I was out the door by 4:10.

This might not be a typical experience, but it didn't seem to matter what time my appointment was, more that I was there on the correct day and they obviously weren't that busy. Thanks for all the help and advice!

[dilse4srk]

Hi All

Do we need to scan all blank pages of current passport (as proof of residency) or pages with the stamps?
I submitted my online application yesterday and this is the only confusion left regarding the documents
Thanks

[hermanthegerman]

I attended my appointment in Croydon on 31/1/19 at 7pm. I arrived at 6.58pm went through security and was shown to the biometrics booth straight away. After I was done I met one of their employees to "check" my documents.
There were no chairs to use while they were going through your documents which is slightly awkward.
The employee scanned my passport again (only pages with stamps). She then went through my scans and said they are all legible and asked me if I wanted to add anything else. She did not want to see any originals except the passport. She then submitted my application.
I was out of there at 7.10pm.

The appointment was a free appointment which happened to be the most convenient. I was disappointed with the significantly limited availability at my two local service points. One had not appointments at all and the other one had a single appointment during working hours which was gone by the time I had checked with work if I can take this time off. So my only choice was Croydon in the end.

If you want to get this done quickly just assume you have to travel to the local large center rather than being able to go to your local library.

[smarioana91]

Hello everyone,

I finished the process today and wanted to share my experience, as this forum has been super useful to me along the way.

I became eligible for naturalisation on January 22nd, 2019, having had the permanent residence since 22nd January 2018 (after five years of living in the UK, two as student, three employed full time). I took the Life in the UK test on Jan 29th (what horror - they almost didn't accept my proof of address because I only get e-billed every six months!! - take this into careful consideration - bills cannot be older than 3 months and must be posted) and submitted my application online on February 1st. I found the questionnaire very easy to navigate. If you did the permanent residence application, you will find it very easy (most answers you can copy paste from the PR application form, if you downloaded it). The Home Office page then prompts you to make the payment (1340 pounds, I think + biometrics), but I think before that, you MUST download the two referee forms as pdf. You then get redirected to the UKVI Sopra blabla website, where you can a) book an appointment and b) upload all your documents.

Re a) - there were no free appointments around me fo the next two weeks, and I wanted this to be over asap, so I paid 100 pounds to have an appointment on 4.02 in Birmingham.
re b) make sure you upload everything - even if it's more than you think they want. No document will exchange hands in the UKVI centre later, so make sure everything you want the Home Office to see is uploaded.

I found the uploading procedure very straightforward and functional.

In the weekend between submission and appointment I got the two signatures from my referees, stuck my passport pictures on the references and scanned those too, uploading them to the UKVI page as well.

Today I went for my appointment at 6pm to the Birmingham centre - I arrived extremely early because I came by train from Oxfordshire, but they let me in and gave me a number, which was called rather promptly, first for a check that documents are scanned, then for biometrics, and lastly to check all documents are uploaded well and to scan my passport. The gentleman who dealt with me only scanned the pages with a stamp, scanned by PR permit and that was it. He didn't ask to see any original documents. It was all extremely fast and nice, I can only commend the staff there for how pleasant and helpful they were.

One thing to add, because it really confused me, is what proof of life in the UK means - when you submit online and get to the stage where you need to tick the boxes of the documents you can provide, one category is proof of life in the uk, but it stipulates that they don't accept bills and bank statements (which was the whole thing in the PR application). They say government letters (I don't get any, thank God...maybe only my tax statement every year and the poll card for local elections) or letters from employers. I was very confused about this, so I ended up going overboard and uploading P60s for every year of employment, and a signed and stamped letter from each employer confirming for how long they've employed me and that it was on a full-time basis. Maybe I exaggerated and P60s would've sufficed, but I wanted to make sure.

Good luck everyone, it's not as bad!! I found the PR application worse.

[alsanober]

Hello everyone,

I finished the process today and wanted to share my experience, as this forum has been super useful to me along the way.

I became eligible for naturalisation on January 22nd, 2019, having had the permanent residence since 22nd January 2018 (after five years of living in the UK, two as student, three employed full time). I took the Life in the UK test on Jan 29th (what horror - they almost didn't accept my proof of address because I only get e-billed every six months!! - take this into careful consideration - bills cannot be older than 3 months and must be posted) and submitted my application online on February 1st. I found the questionnaire very easy to navigate. If you did the permanent residence application, you will find it very easy (most answers you can copy paste from the PR application form, if you downloaded it). The Home Office page then prompts you to make the payment (1340 pounds, I think + biometrics), but I think before that, you MUST download the two referee forms as pdf. You then get redirected to the UKVI Sopra blabla website, where you can a) book an appointment and b) upload all your documents.

Re a) - there were no free appointments around me fo the next two weeks, and I wanted this to be over asap, so I paid 100 pounds to have an appointment on 4.02 in Birmingham.
re b) make sure you upload everything - even if it's more than you think they want. No document will exchange hands in the UKVI centre later, so make sure everything you want the Home Office to see is uploaded.

I found the uploading procedure very straightforward and functional.

In the weekend between submission and appointment I got the two signatures from my referees, stuck my passport pictures on the references and scanned those too, uploading them to the UKVI page as well.

Today I went for my appointment at 6pm to the Birmingham centre - I arrived extremely early because I came by train from Oxfordshire, but they let me in and gave me a number, which was called rather promptly, first for a check that documents are scanned, then for biometrics, and lastly to check all documents are uploaded well and to scan my passport. The gentleman who dealt with me only scanned the pages with a stamp, scanned by PR permit and that was it. He didn't ask to see any original documents. It was all extremely fast and nice, I can only commend the staff there for how pleasant and helpful they were.

One thing to add, because it really confused me, is what proof of life in the UK means - when you submit online and get to the stage where you need to tick the boxes of the documents you can provide, one category is proof of life in the uk, but it stipulates that they don't accept bills and bank statements (which was the whole thing in the PR application). They say government letters (I don't get any, thank God...maybe only my tax statement every year and the poll card for local elections) or letters from employers. I was very confused about this, so I ended up going overboard and uploading P60s for every year of employment, and a signed and stamped letter from each employer confirming for how long they've employed me and that it was on a full-time basis. Maybe I exaggerated and P60s would've sufficed, but I wanted to make sure.

Good luck everyone, it's not as bad!! I found the PR application worse.

Question, How do you download the form?

and

your passport stamps should be enough to prove that you were in UK.

[smarioana91]

Hello everyone,

I finished the process today and wanted to share my experience, as this forum has been super useful to me along the way.

I became eligible for naturalisation on January 22nd, 2019, having had the permanent residence since 22nd January 2018 (after five years of living in the UK, two as student, three employed full time). I took the Life in the UK test on Jan 29th (what horror - they almost didn't accept my proof of address because I only get e-billed every six months!! - take this into careful consideration - bills cannot be older than 3 months and must be posted) and submitted my application online on February 1st. I found the questionnaire very easy to navigate. If you did the permanent residence application, you will find it very easy (most answers you can copy paste from the PR application form, if you downloaded it). The Home Office page then prompts you to make the payment (1340 pounds, I think + biometrics), but I think before that, you MUST download the two referee forms as pdf. You then get redirected to the UKVI Sopra blabla website, where you can a) book an appointment and b) upload all your documents.

Re a) - there were no free appointments around me fo the next two weeks, and I wanted this to be over asap, so I paid 100 pounds to have an appointment on 4.02 in Birmingham.
re b) make sure you upload everything - even if it's more than you think they want. No document will exchange hands in the UKVI centre later, so make sure everything you want the Home Office to see is uploaded.

I found the uploading procedure very straightforward and functional.

In the weekend between submission and appointment I got the two signatures from my referees, stuck my passport pictures on the references and scanned those too, uploading them to the UKVI page as well.

Today I went for my appointment at 6pm to the Birmingham centre - I arrived extremely early because I came by train from Oxfordshire, but they let me in and gave me a number, which was called rather promptly, first for a check that documents are scanned, then for biometrics, and lastly to check all documents are uploaded well and to scan my passport. The gentleman who dealt with me only scanned the pages with a stamp, scanned by PR permit and that was it. He didn't ask to see any original documents. It was all extremely fast and nice, I can only commend the staff there for how pleasant and helpful they were.

One thing to add, because it really confused me, is what proof of life in the UK means - when you submit online and get to the stage where you need to tick the boxes of the documents you can provide, one category is proof of life in the uk, but it stipulates that they don't accept bills and bank statements (which was the whole thing in the PR application). They say government letters (I don't get any, thank God...maybe only my tax statement every year and the poll card for local elections) or letters from employers. I was very confused about this, so I ended up going overboard and uploading P60s for every year of employment, and a signed and stamped letter from each employer confirming for how long they've employed me and that it was on a full-time basis. Maybe I exaggerated and P60s would've sufficed, but I wanted to make sure.

Good luck everyone, it's not as bad!! I found the PR application worse.

Question, How do you download the form?

and

your passport stamps should be enough to prove that you were in UK.

Hello,

to your first question: when I applied for the PR they allowed me to download my application at the end, same for naturalisation. Seems to be part of the online application.

For EEA nationals proving life in the UK entails more than passport stamps, because we (I at least definitely) don't have any. I had one stamp in my passport from a non-EU country, and that was the only page they scanned. So it was quite tedious: letters from employers (signed and stamped, if there's a company stamp), employment contracts, P60s, I also provided my rent agreement to make sure, although I suspect that won't matter.

[alsanober]

Hello everyone,

I finished the process today and wanted to share my experience, as this forum has been super useful to me along the way.

I became eligible for naturalisation on January 22nd, 2019, having had the permanent residence since 22nd January 2018 (after five years of living in the UK, two as student, three employed full time). I took the Life in the UK test on Jan 29th (what horror - they almost didn't accept my proof of address because I only get e-billed every six months!! - take this into careful consideration - bills cannot be older than 3 months and must be posted) and submitted my application online on February 1st. I found the questionnaire very easy to navigate. If you did the permanent residence application, you will find it very easy (most answers you can copy paste from the PR application form, if you downloaded it). The Home Office page then prompts you to make the payment (1340 pounds, I think + biometrics), but I think before that, you MUST download the two referee forms as pdf. You then get redirected to the UKVI Sopra blabla website, where you can a) book an appointment and b) upload all your documents.

Re a) - there were no free appointments around me fo the next two weeks, and I wanted this to be over asap, so I paid 100 pounds to have an appointment on 4.02 in Birmingham.
re b) make sure you upload everything - even if it's more than you think they want. No document will exchange hands in the UKVI centre later, so make sure everything you want the Home Office to see is uploaded.

I found the uploading procedure very straightforward and functional.

In the weekend between submission and appointment I got the two signatures from my referees, stuck my passport pictures on the references and scanned those too, uploading them to the UKVI page as well.

Today I went for my appointment at 6pm to the Birmingham centre - I arrived extremely early because I came by train from Oxfordshire, but they let me in and gave me a number, which was called rather promptly, first for a check that documents are scanned, then for biometrics, and lastly to check all documents are uploaded well and to scan my passport. The gentleman who dealt with me only scanned the pages with a stamp, scanned by PR permit and that was it. He didn't ask to see any original documents. It was all extremely fast and nice, I can only commend the staff there for how pleasant and helpful they were.

One thing to add, because it really confused me, is what proof of life in the UK means - when you submit online and get to the stage where you need to tick the boxes of the documents you can provide, one category is proof of life in the uk, but it stipulates that they don't accept bills and bank statements (which was the whole thing in the PR application). They say government letters (I don't get any, thank God...maybe only my tax statement every year and the poll card for local elections) or letters from employers. I was very confused about this, so I ended up going overboard and uploading P60s for every year of employment, and a signed and stamped letter from each employer confirming for how long they've employed me and that it was on a full-time basis. Maybe I exaggerated and P60s would've sufficed, but I wanted to make sure.

Good luck everyone, it's not as bad!! I found the PR application worse.

Question, How do you download the form?

and

your passport stamps should be enough to prove that you were in UK.

Hello,

to your first question: when I applied for the PR they allowed me to download my application at the end, same for naturalisation. Seems to be part of the online application.

For EEA nationals proving life in the UK entails more than passport stamps, because we (I at least definitely) don't have any. I had one stamp in my passport from a non-EU country, and that was the only page they scanned. So it was quite tedious: letters from employers (signed and stamped, if there's a company stamp), employment contracts, P60s, I also provided my rent agreement to make sure, although I suspect that won't matter.

Sorry mate my bad, i should have seen the flag. EEA nationals is different story. buy in case P60s should do the trick.

Good luck

[bookerw100]

For those who may not have noticed, just saw a post in the January timeline of getting approval within 4 weeks of biometrics. here's hoping to see more of the same.

[Nerazzuri]

Agree to many bad quality stories here.. I put mine in 19 Dec.. n still waiting.. no news at all.

i agreed with you too many lier here as some ppl not even applied nothing and are imgrant but only put here to make them self feel better

You don’t need to disparage other forum members by calling them liars. You’ve been told this before: some applications take a couple of weeks, and some can take more than a year. It is down to the nature of each individual’s application, their history, information held on them etc.

[CR001]

Agree to many bad quality stories here.. I put mine in 19 Dec.. n still waiting.. no news at all.

i agreed with you too many lier here as some ppl not even applied nothing and are imgrant but only put here to make them self feel better

If neither of you can post with respect towards other members (many who do get quick approvals, myself included a few years ago) then please rather do not post.

[ignition0]

I've only just had my appointment at UKVCAS yesterday, so thought I'd share the experience of that. I'll add a timeline to the appropriate thread once I get to the end of the process.

I became eligible to apply January 21st, and did so straight away. I didn't need any extra services and had a preference for a free appointment, but was willing to pay if the wait times were going to be too long. There were a few options, but the earliest one that worked for me was January 31st, so I booked for 4pm at the Croydon centre. There were some earlier, paid times available including weekends.

Arrived at 3:30 because people had mentioned security delays were possible. I didn't have this, got straight in within a couple of minutes (still had to clear security of course). Was immediately given a number and taken for biometrics. This took about five minutes, then I went back to the waiting area. After about ten minutes, I was called up. The lady checked my documents, and re-scanned my passport (every page). I had already done this so not sure if it just wasn't clear enough or what. After she checked all documents, sent me on my way and I was out the door by 4:10.

This might not be a typical experience, but it didn't seem to matter what time my appointment was, more that I was there on the correct day and they obviously weren't that busy. Thanks for all the help and advice!

Hi Shaneoh,

Could you indicate what documents did you Scan?

Did you need to provide a scan of your language certificate? or its fine with the electronic number? I am surprised this hasn't been asked along the way of the application.

[foez]

I sent my citizenship application on the 21st Jan and received an email from HO stating the decision can take up to 6 months.
I went to the premium lounge in London on the 2nd Feb. While the appointment was quite quick, the person I dealt with wasn't very knowledgable and I'm not sure if he did things right.
I read other people here didn't receive any confirmation emails either and can still see their appointment and uploads pages.

My question is on the document upload page I can see that UKVCAS uploaded my documents under the supporting documents section. On this section the status says "x files uploaded" but the mandatory documents section is empty although the guy at the lounge scanned all my passport pages and got my biometrics. Is that the case for everyone?

I'll call them tomorrow to confirm but wanted to see if anyone else is in the same position?

[Bighto678]

I sent my citizenship application on the 21st Jan and received an email from HO stating the decision can take up to 6 months.
I went to the premium lounge in London on the 2nd Feb. While the appointment was quite quick, the person I dealt with wasn't very knowledgable and I'm not sure if he did things right.
I read other people here didn't receive any confirmation emails either and can still see their appointment and uploads pages.

My question is on the document upload page I can see that UKVCAS uploaded my documents under the supporting documents section. On this section the status says "x files uploaded" but the mandatory documents section is empty although the guy at the lounge scanned all my passport pages and got my biometrics. Is that the case for everyone?

I'll call them tomorrow to confirm but wanted to see if anyone else is in the same position?

u cant see pasport section

[arovbukay]

some good news:

Date Biometrics submitted 01/12/18
Date of Citizenship Ceremony Invitation letter : 11/02/19

I have a few questions regarding the Ceremony, I have checked with my local council and there is availability for the ceremony this Wednesday 13/02/19.

I am due to travel out of the UK at the start of April and require a visa to travel to Malaysia.

1) If I attend the ceremony this week, is that enough time to get my new British passport back before I travel in April?

2) Do I need to surrender my Indian passport once I have attended the Ceremony? What happens if I travel with my Indian passport having attended the ceremony but not applied for my British passport, will my ILR in my Indian passport still be valid on re-entry into the UK

3) can I delay my Citizenship ceremony until after I return (late April)

Thanks in advance.

[mtsgill]

some good news:

Date Biometrics submitted 01/12/18
Date of Citizenship Ceremony Invitation letter : 11/02/19

I have a few questions regarding the Ceremony, I have checked with my local council and there is availability for the ceremony this Wednesday 13/02/19.

I am due to travel out of the UK at the start of April and require a visa to travel to Malaysia.

1) If I attend the ceremony this week, is that enough time to get my new British passport back before I travel in April?

2) Do I need to surrender my Indian passport once I have attended the Ceremony? What happens if I travel with my Indian passport having attended the ceremony but not applied for my British passport, will my ILR in my Indian passport still be valid on re-entry into the UK

3) can I delay my Citizenship ceremony until after I return (late April)

Thanks in advance.

Congratulations!

1. Yes
2. Indian Passport can be surrendered within 3 months from the date you receive your naturalisation certificate at the ceremony. After 3 months, you may have to pay penalties if you travel using Indian Passport. Your ILR becomes invalid the day you become British citizen ie ceremony day, prior to that of course you can travel using ILR and Indian Passport.
3. HO requires you to attend Ceremony within 3 months of approval else application becomes invalid.

[arovbukay]

thanks, i'm going to try and get the ceremony done and apply for my British Passport ASAP

One more question, do I need to send off my Indian Passport as documentary evidence when applying for my British Passport or will copies suffice?

[mtsgill]

thanks, i'm going to try and get the ceremony done and apply for my British Passport ASAP

One more question, do I need to send off my Indian Passport as documentary evidence when applying for my British Passport or will copies suffice?

You need to send your passport along with your naturalisation certificate. Both needs to be originals. If you apply online, turnaround at the moment is very quick (less than 3 weeks).