Nationalisation Application over 5M

[ahany88]

Hi

I submitted a nationalisation application mid May and so far I didn't hear anything back from HO , I tried chasing it a few times but got a different responses.

4th Oct - Application with a case worker under consideration
12th Oct - Application within the standard timeline of 6 months and we will not provide a status update.

On the 21st of October , I sent a letter to the MP asking him to chase the HO , got the below reply yesterday, is there is anything I can do or is this some sort of a standard response.

Application now is over 5 Months, do I need to worry ?

The application still remains within the service standard, we are unable to provide an update.

When processing any application, we have to ensure that the statutory requirements of the Immigration Rules are met. This is achieved by conducting a series of mandatory checks and enquires. It is right and fair that the Immigration Rules are applied consistently in all cases. Therefore, no application will be granted until the mandatory checks are complete, even if this process takes significantly longer than the published service standard for the application type. This is a necessary part of the Secretary of State’s legal right to maintain effective immigration control.

We routinely conduct checks, and make enquiries, with other Government departments and external agencies and we are unable to influence how long these checks may take to be concluded. The extent and length of time taken to complete these checks also varies according to the particular circumstance of each application. As you may be aware naturalisation is not an automatic entitlement, and we have to make a number of enquiries to ensure that applicants can satisfy the statutory requirements. This requires us to undertake a thorough investigation of the facts and in some instances, these have to be pursued at length.

do appreciate the wait in deciding the application must be very frustrating for him. But regrettably it is not possible to provide an exact timescale for when a decision will be reached, as this will depend on the results of the checks returning. Progress on the checks is regularly monitored, and we will write to him if we require any additional information once the checks are complete. I can assure you that we will contact them as soon as a decision has been reached.

[alterhase58]

I wish I could advise on what you should do, apart from waiting - appreciate this is a stressful time waiting for the approval.
However, these emails are common and reported by many members here, it basically means they haven't finished the process.
First of all UKVI don't give meaningful progress updates, and they stick with their target of 6 months. Unfortunately MPs don't have much power over the Home Office, so they get the same type of responses. If there was a problem with your application they would have been in touch before now (we hope).

[ahany88]

Thank you , it's very stressful at the moment especially when I thought it's a straightforward Tier 2 +ILR application and quite lost don't really know what to do and just even get a visibility of what is causing the delay.

I wish I could advise on what you should do, apart from waiting - appreciate this is a stressful time waiting for the approval.
However, these emails are common and reported by many members here, it basically means they haven't finished the process.
First of all UKVI don't give meaningful progress updates, and they stick with their target of 6 months. Unfortunately MPs don't have much power over the Home Office, so they get the same type of responses. If there was a problem with your application they would have been in touch before now (we hope).

[alterhase58]

There probably isn't any issue with your application - the refusal rate is quite low (around 5% I believe).
You also need to remember that whilst you are waiting you have secure residency via ILR, and naturalisation is a discretionary application, i.e. you don't necessarily need it. Probably that's why a long lead time is factored in, and there are no priority processing options (naturalisation comes under nationality law, not immigration regulations).