British Naturalisation Application Processing TimesBritish Naturalisation Application Processing Times
Produced by Freedom of Information officeAuthored by Justice and Home Affairs and published on
06 August 2026.Prepared internally, no external costs.
Request 857972693
I would like to request the following information relating to British naturalisation (Form AN) applications submitted through Jersey:
1. The average and median processing time for naturalisation applications decided during 2025 and, if available, 2026 to date.
2. The shortest and longest processing times for applications decided during those periods.
3. The number of naturalisation applications currently awaiting a decision.
4. The current target processing time used internally for naturalisation applications.
5. FOI response 667825019 (published December 2024) stated that a new technical solution was expected to be implemented in Q1 2025 and would reduce processing times to pre-Brexit levels.
5.1. Was this technical solution implemented?
5.2. If so, what measurable impact has it had on processing times?
5.3. If not, what is the current expected implementation date?
Response
1 – 3 See table below
The exact figure for applications pending ceremony in 2026 has been withheld under Article 25(2) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011. Due to the small number of individuals involved and the possibility that the figure could be combined with other available information, disclosure could enable an individual to be identified. Disclosure would therefore constitute the processing of personal data and would contravene the lawfulness, fairness and transparency principle. The figure has instead been shown as ‘less than five’.
Year
| Number of applications (Total)
| Pending Decision
| Pending Ceremony
| Ceremony Attended
| Average processing time to ceremony (months)
| Median processing time to ceremony (months)
| Naturalisation (months)
| Number of applications (Total)
|
Naturalisation | Min
| Max
|
2025
| 179
| 36
| 105
| 37
| 12
| 13
| 9
| 14
|
2026
| 31
| 30
| <5
| 0
| N/A
| N/A
| N/A
| N/A
|
4 12 – 18 Months (see answer to question 5).
5.1 Yes
5.2 Average processing times have reduced from 18 Months to 12 Months.
5.3 Not applicable, as the technical solution has been implemented.
Articles Applied
Article 25: Personal information
(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if:
(a) it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject, as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018; and
(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.
(3) In determining for the purposes of this Article whether the lawfulness principle in Article 8(1)(a) of the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018 would be contravened by the disclosure of information, paragraph 5(1) of Schedule 2 to that Law is to be read as if sub-paragraph (b) were omitted.
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