Slow processing of British citizenship covid and Already booked tickets

[ms12345]

Hi everyone, can anyone give any useful advice please . We applied for my wife and daughter to get British citizenship back in feb . I really thought that by now we would have British passports for both . But covid 19 has put an end to that hope . We have heard nothing from the home office since our application on 22 feb 2020 . We did the biometrics on the4th March 2020 . We have ferry booking for 20 th July To france ,my wife has anual leave booked in advance ( they have to give 6 months notice ) at hospital she works at .Iv tried to apply for schengen visas as I’m British citizen . But the tls application centre is still closed due to covid . Do I have a hope that we can expedite her British citizenship, or just go and try and travel as family member route at the border ??? Any helpful advice would be great !

[Zerubbabel]

Hello

I recommend amending your travel plans. The citizenship is not a travel document.

Once your citizenship is approved, you need to go through the ceremony then only you will be able to apply for a British passport.

I don't believe you would have a strong case to get your citizenship application rushed because you have a holiday booked and you would like to avoid a visa.

[ms12345]

Yes it’s looking like that , I wondered if anyone has tried to travel as a family member of Uk citizen via ferry at any point and particularly while covid restrictions been in place .
Ps
It’s Not that I want to avoid a visa , I can’t see how I can get one unless I try at the border ?

[secret.simon]

The best laid plans of mice and men...

You may be lucky interacting directly with the French PAF directly, if you are driving down, at Dover. But if they refuse, you will have no alternative but to return back.

In extremis, as @Zerubbabel has suggested above, cancel the plans and plan the trip for after the citizenship ceremony and British passport.

Do I have a hope that we can expedite her British citizenship

As @Zerubbabel has said above, naturalisation applications are not expedited because of travel plans. Passport applications perhaps, but not the naturalisation application itself. And in any case, even for those with already approved applications, the Home Office has not yet started releasing citizenship certificates to the local councils. So local councils can't start citizenship ceremonies.

[ms12345]

Thanks for your replies, maybe some things are not meant to be , I’ve got 2 disappointed kids who have been looking forward to a holiday for a long time .

Lots and lots of people have had there plans derailed. And many have lost loved ones .

I have always wanted to try at a border with no visa as I know they should legally let us enter , getting schengen visas has always been a big hassle for us . I want to ask the ferry company p&o if they would let us board under these circumstances,but they don’t have a call centre operating either because of covid .

[secret.simon]

Where are you planning to take the ferry from?

If it is Dover, as I mentioned, you will interact with the French PAF in Dover itself, before boarding the ferry.

Alternatively, try booking a trip via Eurostar. That way, you will definitely interact with the French PAF before your board, at London St Pancras station or one of the other Eurostar stations within the UK.

[ms12345]

Sorry I didn’t see your reply yesterday, Yes we are booked on a ferry from Dover to Calais . Do you think we have a chance ? Have you heard of anyone getting over ok in my circumstance?

[ms12345]

Just a n update for anyone interested, we Drove over to france and back, the French immigration in Dover checked our passports , ILR residency cards , she wanted to see our marriage certificate etc , we had all our original and translation documents used for the ILR application. She let us through , but said this is the last time next time you must get a Schengen visa . Hopefully we won’t need to. ..