Citizenship Form NA ~ best way to mail form & documents?

Hello forum, it's been a while, going on 5 years since I received my IRL.

Finally looking at the citizenship form, and wanting to inquire what might be the best way to mail in the form and the various documents?

Aside from fastest/tracked/insured etc, do I need to provide a self-addressed paid envelope for the return of my important documents?

Thanks in advance.

Kelley

I used the Nationality Checking Service provided by my council.  Was roughly £100 for them to check the application and make copies of my documents so that I wasn't without my passport for up to six months during processing and could still travel.  Plus, with my council I could apply for my passport at the same time.  This meant I got my passport less than a week after my ceremony and I didn't have to attend an interview.  So I would recommend this service.

If you want to submit by post, I would recommend Special Delivery as that's the most secure.  If you want things returned by Special Delivery, you would need to provide a prepaid envelope for the return.

When I applied two years ago, I included a second special delivery envelope in the special delivery envelope of stuff I sent them. I recorded the tracking number of that envelope and checked every day to see if it has been posted back to me via the Royal Mail tracking service. Therefore I knew a whole day sooner that they were returning my stuff than I would have known otherwise! Never mind that I didn't know what they their decision was

The next day guaranteed service is more than sufficient. I've never had any issues, and it includes insurance of up to £500, which should cover the costs of replacing your U.S. passport and birth certificate if they get lost. Also, you can get a large envelope which is more than sufficient size as you don't have to send nearly as much stuff with your citizenship application as you did for ILR.

Hope that helps

+1 for using the nationality checking service.  Mine was about £65 with Bristol City Council.  Worth the extra cash

Thank you for responses, and yes, going to go with the checking service since it's not the cost of replacing documents but the headache of doing so

Thank you for responses, and yes, going to go with the checking service since it's not the cost of replacing documents but the headache of doing so

Exactly! And so much harder from outside of the US!

Thank you for responses, and yes, going to go with the checking service since it's not the cost of replacing documents but the headache of doing so

I don't think you'll regret it.  I hope your council offers the passport application at the same time.  SUCH A GREAT IDEA!

I recommend paspic.com for your photo.  Take your own photo at home and upload it.  Delivered next day.  You control how you look.    

To be fair, the only reason I didn't use the NCS was because in 2016 they made the fee increases applicable from early March instead of the usual April 6, I didn't realise that until March 10 (I remember, it was my daughter's birthday) so I was in a hurry to get the application in before the fee increase and couldn't get an appointment locally before the application needed to be in to pay the old fees. Anyway, all was smooth enough anyway.

I don't think you'll regret it.  I hope your council offers the passport application at the same time.  SUCH A GREAT IDEA!

I recommend paspic.com for your photo.  Take your own photo at home and upload it.  Delivered next day.  You control how you look.   

I can't even find out if my local council offers NCS.  I'm gonna have to do some shopping around.

But paspic.com!  How did I not know about this service?!  "4 x UK passport photos prints cost only £6.00 with free delivery, and will arrive in just two days. When you then submit your photos with your passport application, you can be confident that your pictures will be approved first time."  I am willing to spend £6 to have a good passport delivered to my front door!  Thanks for this, KF!

I can't even find out if my local council offers NCS.  I'm gonna have to do some shopping around.

Here are the councils in Wales that do.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-checking-service-wales/wales-nationality-checking-services

And England, in case any of these are more convenient.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-checking-service-england/england-nationality-checking-services

Here are the councils in Wales that do.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-checking-service-wales/wales-nationality-checking-services

And England, in case any of these are more convenient.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-checking-service-england/england-nationality-checking-services

Ah, thank you, Larrabee! It looks like Swansea is my nearest.  Now I'll see if they can do my passport application at the same time, or if I have to do that separately.

Edited to add:

It looks like I can do my passport at the same time!  Their fees table says:

Nationality Checking Service  Fees
Adult Application   £75
Joint checking and passport service (per application)   £15

So it's:
* the NCS + passport application submission for £90,
* the citizenship application fee of £1282 (possibly more by the time I can apply),
* passport application fee of £72.50

for a  total of £1444.50?  And then my citizenship ceremony cost will be payable after my application is approved?  Am I missing anything?

  And then my citizenship ceremony cost will be payable after my application is approved?  Am I missing anything?

Only if you want to go with the private ceremony, otherwise, the fee for that is included in the citizenship fee itself. 

Only if you want to go with the private ceremony, otherwise, the fee for that is included in the citizenship fee itself. 

Ooh, I wondered about that.  So all those ceremony fees listed were just for private ones, and not on top of a standard fee?  I will discuss this with my husband when the time comes, but I would be willing to scrape together the extra pennies to do a private ceremony in the end.  I don't even have any guests to invite.  I just want the quick and peaceful thing.

Ooh, I wondered about that.  So all those ceremony fees listed were just for private ones, and not on top of a standard fee? 

I don’t know where you’re looking but something I read today said that the ceremony fee was included in the citizenship fee. It might have been on the instructions for the payment form itself.

I don’t know where you’re looking but something I read today said that the ceremony fee was included in the citizenship fee. It might have been on the instructions for the payment form itself.

I was looking on the Swansea council's service fees page.  https://www.swansea.gov.uk/registrationfees  The section headed "Individual Citizenship Ceremonies".