Frequently asked questions

About this report, the numbers in it, and the things it deliberately does not tell you.

Who publishes this report?

Homeberry AI Solutions Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (no. 16797161) and based in Sheffield, trading as Sorted. It is a private document-preparation service. It is not a government body and is not affiliated with the Government of India, the High Commission of India, HM Government or VFS Global. We publish this report because we process these applications and can therefore count them — and because we sell a service, which is a commercial interest you should weigh when you read our numbers.

Where do the processing times come from?

From applications we complete. For each one we record the date it was submitted and the date the outcome arrived and, once five completed applications sit behind a row, publish the median and 90th percentile of the elapsed days, grouped by service and by consular centre. They are anonymised aggregates: no individual application, and nothing identifying anyone, is published or stored on this site.

Why does a service show “collecting” instead of a number?

Because fewer than five completed applications sit behind it. A median over two or three applications is noise, and in a group that small a published figure starts to describe one identifiable family. So we publish a counter instead — for example “first median publishes at 5 completed applications, currently 3”. We would rather show you an honest empty row than a number that cannot bear weight.

Is any personal data published here?

No, and none is stored here either. The published file is designed to hold counts and day-figures only: its field list is fixed by the schema recorded in the file, and there is no field a name, a reference number or a document could occupy. The aggregation is designed to run on a separate machine in a separate private repository with no hosting connection, to validate its output against that field list before writing, and to abort without writing if anything unexpected appears; until it is running, nothing writes the file at all. This site sets no cookies and runs no third-party analytics.

How often is it updated?

There is no fixed schedule. The reference layer changes when a fee, an address or a specification is re-verified against its source; the timings layer changes when enough completed applications accrue to move a median. Every table on this site shows the date its source file was last updated, so you are never guessing how fresh a figure is.

Can I quote these figures?

Yes — journalists, researchers and community organisations are welcome to quote any figure that is published here: the reference tables now, and each timing once its row publishes. Please quote the sample size and the date alongside the number: a median over eleven applications and a median over two hundred deserve different weight, and dropping the sample size removes the thing that makes the figure honest. Cite it as: UK Indian Birth Registry Report, Homeberry AI Solutions Ltd. The underlying file is public and machine-readable at homeberry.ai/data/processing-times.json.

Why is your median different from what I read in a forum?

Forum posts are single experiences, usually undated, and the memorable ones are the disasters. This report is built to count every completed application in the window, including the unremarkable ones, and to print how many it counted. It is also measuring something specific: elapsed days from submission to outcome for a correctly prepared application. That is not the same as the worst case, and not the same as an official service standard.

Does a fast median mean my application will be fast?

No. The median is the middle of a distribution, not a promise — half of the applications behind it took longer. If you have a fixed date to meet, plan against the 90th percentile instead, and add margin. Appointment availability, postal time and the authority's own decision are all inside the clock we measure and none of them are within anyone's control.

Are the fees on this page what I will actually pay?

The fee table shows what is payable to the Government of India and to VFS Global. Those are not our fees, no document service can waive or discount them, and they are separate from anything we charge. Each row shows the date we last verified it against the official source; a row we have not verified says so instead of showing a number. Fee schedules are revised, so check the date beside the figure and confirm on the official source before you pay.

Should my UK-born child apply for British citizenship or a British passport instead?

Whether your child should apply for British citizenship or a British passport is a question for a regulated immigration adviser — we can't advise on that. We handle the Indian documents whichever way you decide.

How long do I have to register my baby's birth with the UK register office?

42 days in England, Wales and Northern Ireland — GOV.UK, Register a birth, checked 27 August 2026: “All births in England, Wales and Northern Ireland must be registered within 42 days of the child being born.” In Scotland it is 21 days — National Records of Scotland, checked 2 September 2026: “You must register a birth in Scotland within 21 days from the date of birth.” The order in which the UK registration and the Indian filing happen is a separate question, still listed below.

Questions we have not answered here

These get asked constantly, and we could write a confident-sounding answer to every one of them. We have not, because we have not checked them against the official source, and this report is worth reading only for as long as that rule holds. Each one is logged and will be answered once it is verified — with the source and the date attached.

In the meantime, ask us directly on WhatsApp +44 7352 674636: a person will tell you what we know, and will say so if they are not sure.

Does the Indian filing need the full UK birth certificate, or is the short certificate enough?

not published yet We have not verified which form of UK birth certificate the Indian consular process requires against its official source, so we are not going to print one here.

What order do the UK registration and the Indian filing happen in?

not published yet We have not verified the required order of operations between UK birth registration and the Indian consular filing against its official source, so we are not going to print one here.

What is the official published processing time for these services?

not published yet We have not verified any official service standard published by the consulate against its official source, so we are not going to print one here.