To want our passports back from the HomeOffice

[smashedinductionhob]

I mean the Government Home Office, not the little room in your house.:)

Dh has indefinite leave to remain here and has lived here since 1995 and worked here since 2000.

We sent off the forms to get him citizenship on 10th Feb together with both our passports.

I thought it would be like passport renewal where the first thing that happens is that they return your documents. But it seems not. You can't speak to anyone and there is a rather fierce form for getting your docs back that says they will only send them back if they cancel the application.

Is anyone going through this process or works in the system? We want to go on holiday in May and July!

I had to wait at least a couple of months before my documents were returned. If I remember correctly, I applied for citizenship in September and had my passport returned by mid-December. For a February application, I wouldn't expect passports back before May.

I went for citizenship last year (before Brexit, which has clogged the system with everyone in a rush to get citizenship), and got my passport back after about 8 weeks. It came with a letter stating they had already run the relevant checks and they would notify me of the outcome when they had finished processing the application. I got an invitation to the ceremony a couple weeks later.

Why did you have to send your passport in, too? I originally came over on a spousal visa but had been here so long that DH wasn't connected to my citizenship application in any way (and I arrived well after your husband).

i can't remember but the reasons seemed pretty convincing at the time!

This site keeps records of processing times (sending you the January link since it may show how far people before you have progressed): www.immigrationboards.com/british-citizenship/january-2017-naturalisation-timelines-only-t222419.html

Hey thanks!

It's not just if you're travelling out the country that this matters, what if you have to show your passport at a job interview or to collect a parcel from the post office. My OH has no other form of ID

It's a sign that British bureaucracy isn't sensible at times. If there needs to be a physical check that part could be handled speedily and logged against the case number. If there doesn't need to be anything forensic a Post Office or notarised check would suffice.

We now live in an age where foreign travel for family, work and leisure is normal. Sending a passport into a black hole is silly and often impractical.