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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Anna Tims

Home Office won’t respond to citizenship request for our daughter

Home Office sign, Marsham Street, Westminster
Our correspondents even paid a law firm to prod the Home Office into action, but to no avail. Photograph: geogphotos/Alamy

We applied for British citizenship for our young daughter in November 2021 and paid the £1,000 fee. We have had no update since, despite repeated requests. We paid a law firm £350 to follow up the application and it has refunded us the money because that the Home Office would not respond to it either. We don’t know if the application is pending, declined or simply lost. We asked if we should apply again but got no reply. We have no idea what to do.
JK, Nanterre, France

Enragingly, after 20 months of silence, the Home Office sprang to life as soon as I waded in. You were informed that your application had been successful three days later. “Case worker oversight” was blamed.

Applicants who are experiencing undue delays should raise a formal complaint with the Home Office. If that fails, they should contact their MP, who can refer the complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.

Email your.problems@observer.co.uk. Include an address and phone number. Submission and publication are subject to our terms and conditions

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