No date on naturalisation certificate. Passport app on hold

[adp1]

Hi,

My wife was naturalised as British last November.

We have just got around to applying for her passport and so submitted all the relevant documents. A couple of weeks after the passport application was submitted via the Post Office check and send service, we received a letter from the Passport Office advising that they couldn't proceed with the application because the naturalisation certificate was missing a date. Included with this letter was my wife's naturalisation certificate, which they had returned back to us. In their letter, they have asked us to send them an original naturalisation certificate which has the date on there, so they can proceed with the application.

This presents us with a problem. The usual procedure for amendments to certificates involves sending the certificate back to the Home Office, along with the other supporting documents, detailing the correction that needs to be made, as well as including a fee for the amendment. This is usual for people who have received their invitation letter for a citizenship ceremony, and on this letter it asks the person to make sure the details of name, etc are correct, and if not, they should do the above.

In our case, all of the details on that letter were correct and my wife went along to the citizenship ceremony. For some reason, there they have given her the certificate with the date missing. We don't feel that we should need to pay anything as the mistake was not ours, and at the same time, even if we did send an amendment letter to the Home Office, they would require my wife's supporting documents, which we would not be able to send as they are all with the Passport Office.

We are wanting to book tickets fairly soon to go abroad, but my wife no longer has a passport, whereas without this problem, we would have been expecting her supporting docs (including her foreign passport) to be sent back fairly soon.

Can anyone offer any help? It seems quite unfair that there should be a big delay when this mistake was not her own. The Passport Office could have easily verified the date of the certificate by a quick phone call to the Home Office, as all the other details on there are correct, and their letter to us doesn't give any help as to how we should acquire another certificate in these circumstances.

I have dug out my wife's ceremony invitation letter and tried calling the number on the back (for those people who need to make a correction to their certificate), but the number is no longer in use. I have phoned the Passport Office helpline and they have emailed the relevant department who will call us back in a couple of days. I think I will also try calling the local council who arranged the citizenship ceremony, to see if they can request a new certificate seeing as the mistake was theirs. I expect though, that they they will need to see my wife's supporting documents, which are of course all with the Passport Office.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has been in this position? They have applied for their first passport, having sent off their naturalisation certificate, but have then received the certificate back from the Passport Office because it has the date missing?

Thanks

[CR001]

It is the council where you attended the ceremony that writes the date on the certificate, not Home Office. Contact the council in the first instance. If they cannot help, you will probably have to apply for a replacement certificate.

Neither the Passport Office or Home Office would necessarily know when your wife attended the ceremony.

[guypeaceful]

Hi,

What was the solution for your issues? I have noticed the date is missing on my certificate too. Just thought of checking before I apply for the PP. Thanks

[fwd079]

Hi,

What was the solution for your issues? I have noticed the date is missing on my certificate too. Just thought of checking before I apply for the PP. Thanks

CR001 has already offered a solution. Look above your own post, please.