Citizenship processing times
Official Home Office figures on British citizenship applications: how many are waiting, how many arrive each quarter, and how many are decided within the service standard.
Applications in progress
Snapshot of applications still being processed at the end of each quarter.
Applications received each quarter
Applications received (submitted online) in each quarter.
What the numbers mean
- The 99.6% only covers straightforward cases. Of the 67,431 applications received in 2025 Q2, 4,132 (6.1%) were classed as non-straightforward, and the Home Office treats those as outside the service standard.
- It measures groups of applications, not today's waiting time. Applications are grouped by the quarter they were received, and a group can only be reported in full once 180 days have passed, so the latest complete group is 2025 Q2. The workbook also lists 2025 Q3 (99.2%) and 2025 Q4 (99.7%), but its own notes say groups after 2025 Q2 did not yet have enough time to be reported in full, so treat those as provisional.
- The queue has grown. Applications in progress rose from 62,092 at the end of 2025 Q2 to 116,510 at the end of 2026 Q2. The figures do not say how long those applications have been waiting.
- Your own wait can differ. These are national totals. The standard is a target for most straightforward applications, not a promise for any single one.
View the figures as a table
| Quarter | Received | In progress | Within 180 days* |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 Q2 | 71,013 | 116,510 | – |
| 2026 Q1 | 92,851 | 118,327 | – |
| 2025 Q4 | 91,441 | 97,304 | 99.7% † |
| 2025 Q3 | 63,918 | 71,188 | 99.2% † |
| 2025 Q2 | 67,431 | 62,092 | 99.6% |
| 2025 Q1 | 75,023 | 59,677 | 97.4% |
| 2024 Q4 | 68,950 | 54,239 | 97.3% |
| 2024 Q3 | 60,295 | 52,139 | 99.5% |
| 2024 Q2 | 60,259 | 55,013 | 99.6% |
| 2024 Q1 | 65,170 | 80,624 | 99.4% |
| 2023 Q4 | 57,286 | 83,416 | 99.8% |
| 2023 Q3 | 61,003 | 90,929 | 99.1% |
| 2023 Q2 | 56,195 | 84,307 | 99.0% |
| 2023 Q1 | 62,489 | – | 98.4% |
| 2022 Q4 | 54,670 | – | 99.0% |
| 2022 Q3 | 44,492 | – | 99.6% |
| 2022 Q2 | 45,324 | – | 99.6% |
| 2022 Q1 | 51,244 | 58,954 | 99.8% |
| 2021 Q4 | 44,521 | 53,707 | 99.8% |
| 2021 Q3 | – | 64,110 | – |
| 2021 Q2 | – | 74,951 | – |
| 2021 Q1 | – | 80,692 | – |
| 2020 Q4 | – | 73,681 | – |
| 2020 Q3 | – | 55,206 | – |
| 2020 Q2 | – | 44,842 | – |
| 2020 Q1 | – | 39,759 | – |
| 2019 Q4 | – | 39,606 | – |
| 2019 Q3 | – | 43,479 | – |
* Share of straightforward applications received in that quarter that were decided within 180 days. A dash means no figure was published. † Provisional: the Home Office notes these groups had not yet had enough time to be reported in full.
Home Office, Passport, Citizenship and Civil Registration (PCCR) Transparency Data, Q2 2026 edition, published 27 August 2026. Updated quarterly. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Britizenship is not affiliated with the Home Office; always check GOV.UK for the latest guidance.