British Citizenship - Waiting Time

According to the UK Border Agency website, "Someone who applied in June 2008 should not expect to here (um, that should be "hear" not "here" HO!  )  from us before the end of December 2008".

Ouch.  Thought I'd set this up for anyone who has applied recently or is about to apply to share our wait times.

My dates:

26/06/2008 - Applied using Nationality Checking Service
27/06/2008 - Application delivered to Home Office via Royal Mail
??/??/?? ?? - Home Office acknowledged receipt of application
??/??/?? ?? - Questions from Home Office
??/??/?? ?? - Received decision from Home Office
??/??/?? ?? - attended citizenship ceremony
??/??/?? ?? - Passport!!!

Nothing odd about my application; I have been in the UK 5 years and currently have an ILR granted due to marriage to a Brit. 

Anyone else out there care to share dates?

31/10/07 - Used checking service
1/11/07 - Application delivered to Home Office via Royal Mail (the checking service sent it for me)
5/11/07 (approx) - Home Office acknowledged receipt of application
2/12/07 - Received decision from Home Office
7/12/07 - Received invitation letter for scheduling citizenship ceremony
22/1/08 - Citizenship Ceremony (was earliest available when I rang in December to schedule it)

(So that part was done & dusted in just under 3 months.)

Then I dilly-dallied for a little while on applying for my passport, but I sent it off mid-February and had my passport towards the beginning of March.

I'd been a 3+ year resident, married to a Brit.

18/03/2008 - Applied using Nationality Checking Service
19/03/2008 - Application delivered to Home Office via Royal Mail
25/04/2008 - Home Office acknowledged receipt of application
20/06/2008 - Received decision from Home Office
27/06/2008 - attended citizenship ceremony
??/??/?? ?? - Passport!!!

Based on spousal visa + ILR.
Haven't sent the passport application off yet.

wow, thanks for the heads up. A 6 month delay really makes the nationality checking service essential for most people... I'm not eligible until October, but I've already started putting money aside from each paycheck to fund it.

Squirrellypoo and mbmasters - the website said the same thing at the time I applied so you may not end up having to wait the full six months. If it's a straightforward application then it may not take so long.

04/04/08 - Applied using Nationality Checking Service
05/04/08 - Application delivered to Home Office via Royal Mail
16/05/08 - Home office acknowledged receipt of application
That's it - I'm still waiting to hear anything further.

I think the huge backlog of applications occurred about the time that I applied.  The NCS told me that it would take 12-14 weeks for a decision.  But soon after that, the HO web site  started talking about 7 month waiting times.

According to the lady at the NCS, my application was straightforward.  She even put a note on the envelope so that the case could be expedited as much as possible.

29/04/2008 - Applied via Nationality Checking Service
19/05/2008 - Acknowledgement letter from Home Office

I'm married to a UK citizen and have lived here for five years, so mine was also fairly straight-forward.  I was told when I applied that the waiting period would be about six months, but I'm still hoping I'll be at the lower end of the spectrum!  I would really like to have my British passport in time to go to Gambia in January so I won't have to apply for a visa on my US passport.  I'm a bit worried now that I'll be in the situation that I pay for a visa and then end up getting my British passport in time anyway.     I also really need to stop being lazy and renew my US passport!

I was hoping 6 months was an exaggeration but sounds like some of you have been waiting a 2 or 3 months, ughh.

Got my acknowledgement letter at least, that only took a few days.

06/06/2008 - Sent application to HO (did not use NCS as I had to wait a month for an appointment!!)
20/06/2008 - Received acknowledgement letter

That's it so far! When I applied the website said if you applied in Jan 08 you won't hear until July 08, so it has been updated since!

And doesn't the website say not to ring to check the status until AFTER the proposed waiting times?

SWMBO's timeline so far:

24/06/08 - Applied via NCS.
04/07/08 - Got letter saying we hadn't included the fee, with a new c/c form (we think they didn't try to put it through until after the card had expired - with hindsight, should have activated & used the replacement card).
08/07/08 - Sent new form back, with updated credit card info.
16/07/08 - £655 charged to credit card by Nationality Directorate, Liverpool.

04/04/08 - Applied using Nationality Checking Service
05/04/08 - Application delivered to Home Office via Royal Mail
16/05/08 - Home office acknowledged receipt of application
26/07/08 - Application approval letter received!

This only took a week or so longer than the original estimate by the NCS.

Good luck to all those still in the queue!

Apologies since this has probably been asked a hundred times before, but in the chance someone has a very recent time frame:

How soon will my American passport be returned after filing for citizenship? I'm taking a holiday to the states in September. If I file my application in early August, will the passport be returned before my Sept. trip? Do they return it after the initial review, or hold onto it for the entire time? If I have to wait til after my trip to file, will any of the horrible new proposals have come into play?

Thanks for your help =)

AFAIK, they hold onto it.  Which is why most of us (I assume) have used our council's Document Checking Service - by doing that, the people at the council office do a certified copy of your US passport to send in with your citizenship application & you hold onto your original passport.  I was either going to do that, or have a solicitor do a certified copy for me, because no way was I going to let them keep my US passport for an unspecified term of months on end.

Thank you! That's a big help =)

I know this is OT from this thread, but if you use the NCS does it have to be from your local council or can it be any?  (I'm covered by Rotherham council, but Sheffield would probably be easier to get to...)