Today I received e-mail of approval from the Home Office for my UK citizenship, exactly two months after submitting the application online and 37 days after the biometric appointment. Help and information I got on this forum was definitely key to making a successful application, and I want to thank everyone for them.
Below I describe my experience with the online application process, focusing on topics that I and others had questions about, hoping that it could be of value to people who are on the same journey or thinking of starting it. I'll be happy to answer questions as I can.
The online application is very similar to those for FLR and ILR. I was glad I had experience with them. Nevertheless I found it useful to download and go through
the paper (PDF) form, so that I would be ready with the information I had to provide before starting.
The biggest difference from FLR/ILR, as well as between the paper and the online forms, is the need for two referees and the referee forms. As an applicant I had to provide the following info about each referee:
- Title, given names, family name
- Sex; date of birth
- Address; yes/no answer to whether the referee has lived at this address for more than 3 years
- Phone number; email address
- Profession
- Yes/no answer to whether the referee has a British Passport; and, if yes, the passport number
- How the referee knows the applicant
Both my referees were out-of-towners; I set up a Zoom meeting with each referee and screen-shared the browser with the application form on it, so that the referee could guide me and verify as I entered the info. This worked well.
When I completed the application form, I came to a page with links to the referee forms as well as a tick box for a statement that I would provide the referee forms (or to that effect, I can't remember precisely). After doing as instructed, I came to the actual submit / fee payment pages. Doing both brought me to a page titled "Mandatory Actions" where I could download referee forms again as well as family consent forms (one of the necessary supporting documents).
I was then sent to the UKVCAS/Sopra Steria site. I had to register first (e-mail verification), then make the biometric appointment. The earliest free appointment at a location convenient for me was three weeks into the future - plenty of time for me to get the supporting documents ready.
The hard deadline for the supporting documents is the biometric appointment, specifically 48 hours before the appointed time if the applicant is doing the scanning and the uploading oneself, or at the appointment if you bring the documents and pay extra fee to have them scanned. With respect to the referee forms, I sent them to the referees with passport photo attached by Royal mail for their verification and signature; but I asked them to do the scanning at their end and e-mail the scans back to me for uploading. Royal Mail was flaky during the lockdown and I was still somewhat nervous about things getting lost or not reaching me in time. I also enclosed stamped-addressed envelopes and asked them to drop the forms in the mail at their leisure.
The biometrics were basically the same as for ILR (passport verification, facial photo, fingerprints), and they went without a hitch. I think they took me about 20 minutes.
